PS Exam Preparation

Comprehensive preparation for the NCEES Principles and Practice of Surveying (PS) exam. 5 modules covering all 5 exam domains with 50 in-depth topics.

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Lesson 1

ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys

Learning Objectives

After completing this topic, you should be able to:

Explain the purpose and legal significance of an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey
Identify the minimum standard detail requirements for ALTA/NSPS surveys
Describe the Relative Positional Precision (RPP) requirement and how it is computed
List and explain the optional Table A items and when they apply
Describe the surveyor's responsibilities regarding title commitments and legal documents
Explain how zoning compliance and underground utilities relate to ALTA surveys
Understand the certification requirements and their implications

Overview

The ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey is the highest standard of boundary survey in commercial real estate practice in the United States. Jointly developed by the American Land Title Association (ALTA) and the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS), these standards provide a uniform national framework for surveys that support commercial real estate transactions, title insurance, and lending decisions.

The current standards were adopted in 2021 and replace all previous versions. Every PS exam candidate must know the ALTA standards in detail because they integrate boundary law, measurement standards, title examination, zoning analysis, and professional certification into a single deliverable.

Key Concepts

Purpose of ALTA/NSPS Surveys

ALTA surveys serve several critical functions in commercial real estate:

Title insurance underwriting -- Provide the spatial information title companies need to insure against survey-related defects
Lender due diligence -- Banks and lenders rely on ALTA surveys to confirm that improvements are within boundaries and that no encroachments exist
Transaction support -- Buyers, sellers, and attorneys use the survey to understand the physical and legal condition of the property
Encumbrance identification -- Locate and show easements, encroachments, rights of way, and other matters affecting the property

Figure PS.5.1 — ALTA/NSPS Survey Workflow

Minimum Standard Detail Requirements

The 2021 ALTA/NSPS standards establish the following minimum requirements:

Boundary determination:

Research deeds, relevant recorded documents, and applicable court records
Locate boundary lines and corners based on the legal description in the title commitment
Show all monuments found, set, or to be set
Present measured and record distances along all boundary lines

Improvements and features:

All buildings, structures, and improvements on the surveyed property
Visible evidence of use by other than the owner (encroachments)
Driveways, alleys, and private roads
All walls, fences, and hedges on or within five feet of the boundary
Evidence of water features affecting the property

Easements and encumbrances:

Plot all easements, servitudes, and rights of way referenced in the title commitment
Identify visible evidence of easements not referenced in the title commitment
Show utilities serving the property

Survey plat requirements:

North arrow, graphic scale, and legend
Basis of bearings
Street names and route numbers
Certificate of survey with signature, seal, date, and professional license number

Relative Positional Precision (RPP)

The RPP concept was introduced in the 2011 standards under the name "Relative Positional Precision," replacing the older "Relative Positional Accuracy" from the 2005 standards, and was retained in the 2016 and 2021 updates. RPP applies only to boundary points, not improvements or other features.

The RPP Standard:

Component	Value
Standard	2 cm + 50 ppm
Confidence level	95%
Applies to	Boundary points only

How RPP is calculated:

RPP = 0.02 m + 50 ppm of the distance between any two boundary points

For a property with a 500-meter frontage:

RPP = 0.02 + (500 x 0.000050) = 0.02 + 0.025 = 0.045 m (4.5 cm)

For a property with a 100-meter frontage:

RPP = 0.02 + (100 x 0.000050) = 0.02 + 0.005 = 0.025 m (2.5 cm)

Key exam points about RPP:

RPP describes the uncertainty in the position of any boundary point relative to any other boundary point on the survey
It does NOT apply to improvements, topographic features, or other non-boundary elements
The surveyor must state the RPP achieved on the survey plat
RPP is a positional tolerance, not an angular or distance tolerance

Table A Optional Items

Table A contains optional survey responsibilities that a client may select in addition to the minimum requirements. The surveyor must negotiate these items before beginning fieldwork.

Item	Description
1	Monuments placed or to be placed at all major boundary corners
2	Address(es) of the surveyed property
3	Flood zone designation with FIRM community/panel number and date
4	Gross land area (and other areas if requested)
5	Vertical relief with source of benchmark and datum
6	(a) Current zoning classification with setback requirements; (b) Zoning compliance determination
7	(a) Exterior dimensions of all buildings at ground level; (b) Square footage of all buildings; (c) Building heights above grade
8	Substantial visible features within 5 feet of each side of boundary (walls, fences, buildings)
9	Location of utilities on or serving the surveyed property from field observations and utility records
10	Governmental agency survey-related requirements as specified by the client
11	Location of wetland areas as delineated by qualified specialist
12-20	Additional optional items for specific situations

Title Commitments and Legal Documents

The surveyor must review the title commitment (or title report) to identify:

Legal description -- The boundary the survey must depict
Schedule B-II exceptions -- Easements, restrictions, and other matters that must be plotted
Record documents -- Deeds, plats, and other instruments referenced in the commitment

The surveyor is not expected to render a legal opinion on the title but must plot the spatial extent of each exception that can be located from the record documents or field evidence.

Zoning and Setback Requirements

When Table A Item 6 is selected:

Item 6(a) requires the surveyor to report:

Current zoning classification
Applicable setback requirements (front, side, rear)
Height and floor area ratio (FAR) requirements, if available

Item 6(b) requires the surveyor to determine:

Whether the current use complies with the zoning classification
Whether existing improvements comply with dimensional requirements
The surveyor reports findings but does not render a legal opinion

Underground Utilities

Table A Item 9 requires utility location from:

Field observations -- Visible evidence of utilities (manholes, valve boxes, meters, transformers, pedestals, overhead lines)
Utility records -- Information obtained from utility companies and public records
Underground utility locating -- When requested, utility locates per ASCE 38 standards (Quality Levels A through D)

The surveyor must clearly distinguish between observed utilities, record utilities, and located utilities on the plat.

Certification

The ALTA/NSPS certification is a formal statement by the surveyor that the survey was performed in accordance with the minimum standard detail requirements. The certification:

Must be signed and sealed by the surveyor
Must identify the applicable Table A items that were included
Names the parties who may rely on the survey (insured, lender, title company)
Constitutes a professional representation that creates legal liability
Must reference the 2021 standards specifically

The certification language is prescribed by the standards and should not be materially modified without consultation with the client and title company.

Common wrong path — rendering legal opinion on title matters. The ALTA survey requires the surveyor to plot the spatial extent of every Schedule B-II exception that can be located from record documents. It does not require — or permit — the surveyor to opine on whether an easement is valid, whether a restriction is enforceable, or whether a deed of trust has been satisfied. Exam questions sometimes frame this as "the surveyor notices that one of the recorded easements appears to have been abandoned — should they exclude it from the plat?" The answer is no. Plot what the title commitment instructs you to plot. Legal effect is for the title company and the parties' attorneys. The surveyor's scope is spatial, not juridical. This is the single biggest liability trap for new ALTA-survey practitioners, and the exam tests it directly.

Quick retrieval check — try before reading on.

▶Your title commitment lists "Exception B-17: 30-ft drainage easement recorded in Book 452, Page 123." On site, you find no physical drainage feature — no ditch, no pipe, no swale — and the adjoining property owner tells you the easement "was never built and is expired." How do you treat this on the ALTA plat?

Plot the easement from the recorded dimensions and location. You do not render an opinion on whether it is valid, abandoned, or expired — those are legal questions. Show the easement as a dashed or hatched area with the book/page reference and a note identifying it as Exception B-17 from the title commitment. You may add a surveyor's note: "Easement plotted per record; no physical evidence of drainage improvements observed at the time of survey." That factual statement is within your scope; any conclusion about validity is not. The title company and the parties' attorneys decide what to do with the exception. Your job is to depict it accurately so they have the spatial information needed to decide.

Exam Tips

The RPP formula (2 cm + 50 ppm at 95% confidence) is one of the most frequently tested values on the PS exam -- memorize it and know how to apply it
Remember that RPP applies to boundary points only, not to improvements or other features
Table A items are optional -- the surveyor is not required to perform them unless specifically requested
The surveyor reviews title documents to identify what must be plotted, but does not render a legal opinion on title
The 2021 ALTA/NSPS standards supersede all previous versions -- if an exam question references an older standard, the 2021 requirements control
Understand the difference between Table A Item 6(a) (reporting zoning) and 6(b) (determining compliance)
Know that ASCE 38 governs subsurface utility engineering quality levels when underground locating is requested

PS Exam Preparation

Module 1: Legal Principles

Module 2: Professional Survey Practices

Module 3: Standards & Specifications

Module 4: Business Practices

Module 5: Areas of Practice