AI Legal Description Generator for Land Surveys

Writing a legal description is one of the most exacting tasks in land surveying. Every bearing must be precise, every distance must match the survey, and the language must conform to state-specific legal standards. A single error can invalidate a conveyance or create a title defect that takes years to resolve.

What Is a Legal Description?

A legal description is the text that uniquely identifies a parcel of land in a way that is legally binding. In metes and bounds states, this description traces the boundary of the parcel using compass bearings, distances, and curve data, starting and ending at a defined Point of Beginning (POB).

A well-written legal description includes:

• Reference to the county, state, and recording information
• A clearly defined Point of Beginning tied to a monument or coordinate
• Each boundary call with bearing, distance, and adjoiner references
• Curve data where applicable (radius, arc length, chord bearing, delta angle)
• Closure statement returning to the POB
• Area of the parcel in acres and/or square feet
• Any easements, exceptions, or reservations

The Problem with Manual Description Writing

Most surveyors write legal descriptions by hand or in a word processor, manually typing each bearing and distance from their field notes or CAD data. This process is:

• Slow. A complex parcel with curves and exceptions can take 1-2 hours to write properly.
• Error-prone. Transposing a single digit — writing N 45° 30' instead of N 45° 03' — creates a description that doesn't close and may be legally defective.
• Inconsistent. Different surveyors in the same firm may use different formatting, abbreviations, and language styles.

How AI Legal Description Generation Works

CADastral's description writer takes your survey data — either extracted from an existing deed or plotted in the deed plotter — and generates a complete, formatted legal description. The AI handles:

1. Proper formatting. Bearings are written in standard notation with degrees, minutes, and seconds. Distances use the appropriate unit (feet, meters, chains).
2. Curve descriptions. Arc segments include all required parameters: radius, arc length, chord bearing, chord distance, and delta angle.
3. Adjoiner language. When available, the description references adjacent property owners or lot numbers along each boundary.
4. Closure verification. The AI confirms the description closes back to the POB and reports any closure error.
5. Area calculation. Total area is computed and stated in both acres and square feet.

From Deed to Description: The Full Workflow

The most powerful use case is the complete cycle:

1. Upload an existing deed document
2. AI extracts the metes and bounds calls
3. Review and edit the calls in the interactive plotter
4. Generate a new legal description from the corrected data
5. Export as a formatted document ready for recording

This is especially valuable for corrective deeds, lot splits, and boundary line adjustments where you're working from an existing description but need to produce a new one.

Quality You Can Verify

AI-generated descriptions aren't a black box. Every call in the generated description maps directly to a segment in the plotter. You can visually verify each line of the description against the plotted boundary before using it. The AI is a drafting assistant — the surveyor remains the professional of record.