Best Workflow or Steps to stake out single straight 2,700ft line with RTK Torch

GPS/GNSS
1

What is your best steps to accurately layout this border?

My Deed reads “South 29d 09m West 2,677.76 ft to iron pin ; thence with Tract 19”

I will start from the found iron Pin and go 29NE 09m for 2,677ft. Using SW MAPS with my RTK Torch and STAKE OUT option my heading will be 29.15 but SW Maps only goes to one decimal point so I will need to vary a bit between 29.1 and 29.2NE.
Should I stake out from the pin at 10ft, 25ft, 50ft with highly visible stakes, and then use binoculars to ensure as I mark every 100ft distance from the pin is aligned with the Iron Pin and my 10ft, 25ft, and 50ft markers? My neighbor and I have an agreement to make a fire break along this shared 2677ft border, and he understands this isn’t a legal survey so if it varies to some degree he’s ok with it(1-3ft is fine).

I want to put down a highly accurate 2677ft line with stakes every 100ft along the way. If I just use Stake out option starting from the iron pin, by the time I am 2,677ft out a 0.05 degree of compass error by SW MAPS is potentially 2.33ft. Would the best workflow or steps be to set a new starting point at each 100ft stake? Or get a 120point Average at the Iron Pin, and then ask Claude to calculate the Lat & Long of 29N 09min 2,677.76ft from that 120point Average reading? Then work towards the center from each end of the segment?

I’m just a farmer, not looking to become a surveyor, and just want to show my neighbor I am being fair and accurate for our “dirt path” for what it is worth. Thanks in advance for any insights.

2

Use the torch to Find the 2’nd iron pin with a metal detector. RTK both ends then generate points along that line for stakeout.

3

Unfortunately no iron pin at the other end. Several calls later there are some pins so I can confirm accuracy over time, but I am heading out 2,677ft to a empty forest. My neighbors deed actually says to the Oak tree…. but there’s no Oak within 50ft, and no stump, no rotted stump hole. We have estimated the far Pinless end by a pin that is 1 call away into my property, and 3 calls to a pin from neighbors so we think we are +/- 10ft from the proper end point of the 2,677.76ft Again, just doing my best to make it as accurate as possible… within my personal limitations

4

Ah, the joys of Land Surveying.

Any chance the plat lists the magnetic declination used at the time of survey ?

Naturally, if you can find any of the other iron pins referenced it would help you to approximate the lost position.

2,677 feet sounds like that could be a quarter/half section line.

5

No declination noted. And the surveyor is out of business, I looked up his/her CAP Number to try and get more details. I have found various pins on different calls, enough that I could definitely measure them and get some interesting improvements. CLAUDE AI, has done well as well as ChatGPT. The big test is tomorrow (Dec 20) out in the woods. If I can maintain RTK FIX, I will go around to some of the pins to take some readings to see how the various AI’s map it all out. I tried to get CLAUDE to give me an EXPORT for SW MAPS, but my cheap Android tablet kept dying mid-file copy to try to import it into SW MAPS. One challenge at a time. Saturday’s in the WOODS test is a MAJOR milestone if it maintains RTK FIX. I don’t know why this new service would work so much better in the exact same location. I never go this level of consistent results with the legacy service. I’d get RTK Fix, for a few minutes then it would be gone for the rest of the day…. very strange. And I did more factory resets then than I care to count. This new service was perfect from the first second.

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6

Saturday testing in the real woods, went really well Maintained RTK Fix, most of the time. I noticed that my problems start when I approach pine groves, the pines keep their needles. All other trees have lost their leaves. My reporting accuracy over 1,000ft was 0.83 inches !! Fed CLAUDE AI my 120pt Average at the pin and then readings at 1,000ft with my DEED Compass bearing, and per CLAUDEs calculations

“Answer: Yes, this point IS on the line.

Given the GPS accuracies involved (the test point has horizontal accuracy of ±0.83 inches), the point is effectively right on the line - any deviation would be within the measurement error of the GPS equipment itself.

The “1000ft” label is essentially correct (999.02 ft actual), and the point lies on your deed line that runs N 29.15° E from Pin 37-38 “

So I had CLAUDE generate me points all along the line calculated from the PIN. Now I am struggling with SW MAPS to import the file. IT says it’s importing, but nothing shows, no errors. Time to search the community…. SAMPLE File - perhaps it needs a space after each comma?

Latitude,Longitude,Name
35.67652324,-84.57014154,Pin 37-38 Start
35.67665959,-84.57001198,50ft
35.67679593,-84.56988243,100ft
35.67693228,-84.56975287,150ft
35.67706862,-84.56962332,200ft

7

I have tried the Lat-Lon-Alt import with several formats

lat,lon,alt
35.676523239,-84.570141537,860.0,Start
35.676642937,-84.570059353,860.0,50ft
35.676762635,-84.569977168,860.0,100ft
35.676882333,-84.569894984,860.0,150ft

and the id-x-y-z-remarks (below was comma separated, just pasted as table)

id x y z remarks
1 35.676523239 -84.570141537 860.0 Start
2 35.676642937 -84.570059353 860.0 50ft
3 35.676762635 -84.569977168 860.0 100ft

I am finally getting “features” in my list, but they only display if I click on them from the Features list, and they are all on the equator, and not even on the longitude line by hundreds of miles…. Tried all the various AI’s on the proper file format, but no luck This got me the closest (at least it imports something)

SW Maps supports importing points from CSV files, but it requires a very specific format and setup. The app doesn’t use generic headers like “latitude”, “longitude”, “name” — instead, it expects one of two exact header rows (in the first line of the CSV).

Correct CSV Formats

  1. For geographic coordinates (recommended for lat/long):

    • First row (header): Lat-Lon-Alt

    • Subsequent rows: latitude, longitude, altitude (decimal degrees, WGS84/EPSG:4326)

    • Example (simple with name as remarks):
      Lat-Lon-Alt

    • 40.7128,-74.0060,10,New York

    • 34.0522,-118.2437,20,Los Angeles

    • The fourth column (if present) can be remarks or name.

  2. For Cartesian/projected coordinates:

    • First row (header): ID-X-Y-Z-Remarks

    • Subsequent rows: id, x, y, z, remarks

    • Your project must have a defined coordinate system (e.g., UTM).

Steps to Import

  1. Save your CSV file with one of the above headers.

  2. Copy the CSV to the SW_Maps/Imports folder on your device storage (create the folder if missing).

  3. Open SW Maps and load/open your project.

  4. Go to the menu > Import > Points from CSV (or similar option in the sidebar/layers).

  5. Select the file — it should import into the current project/layer.

  6. Zoom to the area or refresh the map to check.

Common Reasons Points Don’t Appear (Even If Import Says Successful)

  • Wrong header format (e.g., “Lat,Long,Name” instead of “Lat-Lon-Alt”).

  • Coordinates not in decimal degrees or WGS84 (e.g., DMS like 40°42’46”N).

  • Switched lat/long columns (lat should be first).

  • No project coordinate system if using X-Y format.

  • File not in the exact Imports folder.

  • Points outside the current map view — zoom out or “Zoom to extent”.

  • CSV encoding issues (use plain text, comma-separated, no extra quotes/spaces).

Try the Lat-Lon-Alt format first — it’s the most straightforward for standard lat/long data. If you share a sample of your CSV (first few lines), I can help pinpoint the issue! There’s also a YouTube video on importing points (mostly shapefiles, but check it for visual steps): “Import Point Features Or Coordinates into SW Maps”.

8

You can try creating a new Layer [Add Layer] in SW Maps. Select Shapefile, KML, etc.

With this concept, you are basically just attempting to get SW Maps to display the line between the two GNSS points that are 2,700ft away. That lets you tie flagging, blaze a tree, drive a stake, etc, anywhere you want to along the line with RTK, not necessarily at the pre-prescribed intervals. That assumes AI will create the shapefile (with .prj file) from the 2 points. You want a .prj file with your shapefile for ITRF2020, since that’s what PointPerfect is using.

Another possible option is to just create a new layer [Drawn Feature] in SW Maps, and create the line between the 2 RTK points yourself on your tablet by selecting the 2 endpoints.

I normally do this in AutoCAD, so I can’t promise either of these suggestions will work…but they “should”…LoL.

9

Thanks, I am about to attempt something similar…. I was able to take CLAUDE’s file, and put it into Google Earth Pro, and it drew a nice line of dots. Now I will try exporting that as KML and KMZ to see of SW MAPS likes that. I did the new layer which finally got me imported Attributes but not pointed in the right place. Once I have a solution, I will post to share with everyone. Thanks so much for your help. I adjusted the elevations and S/N ratio as you suggested and had a very successful Saturday on the farm. I am not declaring success until I try some more challenging areas during the week, but results are EXTREMELY promising

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10

KML WORKED!!! I will document better but here were the basic steps

Take LAT/LONG reading from 120pt average at the pin. Ask CLAUDE AI to calculate all the points I want (every 50 ft) along a heading of N29.15 and name each one with distance, and include final point at 2,677.76ft

Basically generated this

lat,lon,alt,remark
35.676523239,-84.570141537,860.0,Start
35.676642937,-84.570059353,860.0,50ft
35.676762635,-84.569977168,860.0,100ft
35.676882333,-84.569894984,860.0,150ft
35.677002031,-84.569812799,860.0,200ft

Imported that into Google Earth Pro Windows Desktop version, exported as KML, moved it to GOOGLE DRIVE on PC, went to Android Tablet, pulled down off GOOGLE DRIVE, moved to Android table xxx\Android\\yada yada KML folder for SW MAPS, and then did layer import (different that import) and TADA all the dots show!!! However… when I click on the dot, it doesn’t share exact LAT/LONG, it doesn’t do anything but show the dot… so 90% of the way there……

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