Between On X and Huntstand, I’d go with On X. I’ve got HuntStand it’s too difficult to go to a waypoint. On X has a direct go to waypoint feature.

I use OnX. As far as accuracy they themselves are accurate within a few feet . However , as far as corners and land lines, they pull info from the mappers at your courthouse and are only accurate as they have them drawn. You may be checking a line and think " this stupid thing is not right ", well the GPS and satellites are very close, it's probably the goober who plotted it at the courthouse who is off.

I've ran lines with surveyed corners , the OnX blue dot will be spot-on, but the lines and corner location the courthouse has will be off. What's actually out on the ground may vary quite a bit from drawn lines. I have two good examples on my property .

If I have good corners , I run lines with my compass. I may compare with my OnX as I go , I trust my compass and orienteering skills much more than the mapping office in the courthouse. OnX is helpful finding corners and getting lines close. I'll also add OnX is not always off , I've seen it right on the $ , but still don't trust it every time.

I downl9aded on x and huntstand last night. I didnt mess with huntstand much. On x had my location in my pool, which is about 30ft from where i was actually sitting. I was under a metal roof so that might have been effecting the accuracy.

The GIS lines don't ever match survey property lines on landglide or huntstand. They are off from 6 to 10 feet even here at home.

This

Probably the metal roof

Those pins on my pic are dead on where I was standing when dropped. You could tell by trees etc….

In order to get an accurate map, you’ll have to subscriber to a professional service. The freebies take a flat map and overlay it on a round globe. This distorts the accuracy of what you are looking at. That is the reason the one you are looking at has you 30’ away from where you actually are. Look at “Regrid Property App” it is a service that gets high ratings and very accurate but you’ll have to pay for the service.

I agree , if OnX or any other GPS can "see" the satellites, it's very accurate .

True. When the survey came out of the duck hole and it was way different. I actually told the neighboring land owner to fight it. He wouldn’t for some reason which led me to think something wasn’t right with the original.

I asked a good friend that’s been in rural real estate timber management etc since he was born about it and his reply was similar to yours. Mapping is done on a flat earth model and trying to apply to a round earth. He said hills added to actual acreage of timber where as flat ground did not. Also where the surveys start in the county versus where they end and sometimes things have to be adjusted.

I know that entire area around the farm is known to surveyors as extremely problematic and time consuming to get it right

When trying to get the first survey most I talked to declined or wanted so dang much money to do it they would be compensated well.

OK , where does this service get the info for property lines? Only place that has that info is the mapping office at the courthouse and I can say with 100% confidence it is not 100% accurate. Now, if it just shows section , 1/4 sections and 1/4 of 1/4 and such I get it.

Surveying and mapping is 2D . That's why you get more surface acreage in the mountains than flat ground.

How does one get the courthouse to update surveys?

Ours was done in 2012 and still not updated. I’d assume they’re registered and should be updated yearly.

It goes back to the original survey when Alabama became a state . It was done on the ground , flat , without GPS and modern equipment . That genie is out of the bottle and ain't going back in.

Yup our original survey uses rod and chains to ditches and specific trees that no longer exist.

Natchez Trace has monuments with coordinates and direction of the lines as they leave the monument. And it’s still screwed up down there

Here you can see actual surveyed lines and then where NRCS planted bottomland hardwood program.

They plot it from deed descriptions . I've got some corrected that were obvious. As far as a new survey differing from deed description , I don't know how involved they get in that . Go to your mapping office and ask them about it.

Original monumentation may be gone , but there are ways to fine section corners . The land hasn't moved.

I wouldn't risk a fight or a trespass ticket over any of the apps. I know 100% that Onx and the other hunting apps are off on many occasions.
Onx screwed me on a safe route out of a hell hole that I marked going in by at least 50ft in the dark. My hour trek took almost 2 hours and I lost arrows from my quiver in the nasty crap
it took me in to lol. If I'm pushing borders or avoiding getting lost, I use my GPS.

That’s what’s funny 3 landowners and the guy we bought the land from showed a ditch and large stump where that corner was supposed to be. It didn’t line up with the cut line and didn’t line up with any other marker yet Al those guys said that was it as described in the deed.

Hellifiknow

Our surveyor said he went back to the original when the trace came and took the land using those original monuments and they correlated with the traces. Then again one of the land owners grandpas surveyed the land many years ago after the trace and they gained land so they say. Many many years ago it was one man’s land and family split it up as the years went by and folks died off. Our portion wa the only one to get written easement

It’s a big mess at the worse

As I mentioned though. Even the GIS is wrong for the Natchez Trace monuments. That’s really messed up

This is best if u want pay more. They have a free trail .

Just remember the paint is not always correct, survey, or online gps map. Waypoints have shifted some as well as true north over the years. I know one area the boundary between two states is neutral blocks online until challenged. Odds may be favor for whomever has the most money and the last day in court and then neither side may win in some cases. Lot of variables to determine correct lines. Just talk to a veteran surveyor that has traveled a lot and you will be surprised at the differences in line coordinates.