Land Mesurement
Land Mesurement
Land Mesurement
An Acre is equal to
43,560 square feet (Sq. Ft.) of area. An acre is also equal to 10 square chains ( 66 x 66 x 10 =
43560 Sq.
Acre: The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is
defined as the area of 1 chain (66 feet) by 1 furlong (660 feet), which is exactly equal to 1640 of
a square mile, 43,560 square feet, approximately 4,047 m2, or about 40% of a hectare
Today we're going to look at the acre - a unit of area commonly used for
measuring tracts of land.
Perhaps you're considering purchasing a new property attached to several acres
of land and you're wondering how big it is?
Or maybe you're studying for an exam and want to know how to convert acres to
square feet, square meters, hectares or other units of area? Well, look no further,
The Calculator Site is here to help with some facts and a handy conversion tool.
Let's start with the facts. An acre equates to the following:
0.404686 hectares
It is important to realise that an acre can be measured in any shape - from
rectangles to circles or even hexagons - so long as the total area of land is
43,560 square feet.
The most common shape for an acre is 1 furlong by 1 chain, or 660 feet by
66 feet. (source: Infoplease)
If you're struggling to get your head around just how big that area actually is, try
visualising 60% of a soccer pitch, 75% of an American football field or 16 tennis
courts in a 4x4 formation. If that doesn't help, consider a car park containing 150
cars parked in a square.
Incase you are wondering, FIFA states that the optimal size of a soccer pitch is
between 69,000 and 86,000 square feet. An American football field commonly
measures around 57,564 square feet (source).
Chain (unit)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1 chain =
SI units
20.1168 m
2,011.68 cm
22.0000 yd
66.0000 ft
A chain (ch) is a unit of length. It measures 66 feet, or 22 yards, or 100 links,[1] or 4 rods(20.1168 m).
There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acreis the area of 10 square
chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong). The chain has been used for several centuries
in Britain and in some other countries influenced by British practice.
By extension, chainage (running distance) is the distance along a curved or straight survey line from
a fixed commencing point, as given by an odometer.
Contents
[hide]
1Origin
2Contemporary use
o
2.1Cricket pitches
2.2Horse racing
2.3Texas chain
3Ramsden's chain
4Other instruments
5References
6External links
Origin[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section
byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged andremoved. (November 2015)
The chain was commonly used with the mile to indicate land distances and in particular in surveying
land for legal and commercial purposes. Starting in the 19th centary, the chain was used as a sub
division with the mile to show distances between railway stations, tunnels and bridges. In medieval
times, local measures were commonly used, and many units were adopted that gave manageable
units; for example the distance from London to York could be quoted in inches, but the resulting
huge number would be unmemorable. The locally used units were often inconsistent from place to
place.
In 1620, the clergyman Edmund Gunter developed a method of surveying land accurately with low
technology equipment, using what became known as Gunter's chain; this was 66 feet long and from
the practice of using his chain, the word transferred to the actual measured unit. His chain had
100 links, and the link is used as a subdivision of the chain as a unit of length.
In countries influenced by English practice, land plans prepared before about 1960 associated with
the sale of land usually have lengths marked in chains and links, and the areas of land parcels are
indicated in acres. A rectangle of land onefurlong in length and one chain in width has an area of one
acre.
Contemporary use[edit]
Location designator painted on a British railway bridge, showing 112 miles and 63 chains; photograph taken
August 2007
In Britain, the chain is no longer used for practical survey work.[2] However it survives on the railways
of the United Kingdom as a location identifier. When railways were designed the location of features
such as bridges and stations was indicated by a cumulative longitudinal "mileage", using miles and
chains, from a zero point at the origin or headquarters of the railway, or the originating junction of a
new branch line. Since railways are entirely linear in topology, the "mileage" or "chainage" is
sufficient to identify a place uniquely on any given route. Thus a certain bridge may be said to be "at"
112 mi 63 ch, meaning that it is at the location 112 miles and 63 chains (181.51 km) from the origin.
In the case of the photograph the bridge is nearKeynsham, that distance from London Paddington
station. The indication "MLN" after the mileage is the engineers' line reference describing the route
as the Great Western Main Line, so that visiting engineers can uniquely describe the bridge they are
inspecting, as there may be bridges at 112 mi 63 ch on other routes.
On new railway lines built in the United Kingdom such as High Speed 1, the position along the
alignment is still referred as a "chainage" although the value is now defined in metres. [3]
The chain is no longer taught in British schools, but has survived for these reasons:
Railways need to keep permanent records of as-built drawings of structures, and of the
topography of routes and junctions;
Chains and links are in many survey and real estate records;