PLSS Point Data Standard for Minnesota

This standard has not yet been adopted by the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council.

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) established corners which form the framework for many geospatial datasets. In Minnesota, counties are responsible for maintaining the PLSS. Minnesota Statute 381.12 provides the requirements for PLSS corner certification. There is no statute which governs standards for coordinate determination and maintenance of the related geospatial data.

The purpose of this standard is to provide a single, commonly accepted set of attribute specifications (field name, type, length, and order) for transferring and aggregating PLSS point data in Minnesota. It may also be used for other cadastral point data, such as local control points. It is intended to be used when data is being transferred between organizations. Use of the standard will improve the ability to share data resources by reducing incompatibilities when acquiring, processing and disseminating PLSS point data. It does not attempt to define internal data capture or storage specifications for data producers.

The points and associated data contained within this standard are to be a summarization of the most recent corner certificate on file for the associated PLSS point. They are not to be considered authoritative data for the location of the PLSS point. The monument in the ground and associated corner certificates are the authoritative data for the PLSS corner.
 

---

Standard and Supporting Materials

• Proposed standard
• Proposed schema spreadsheet
• Proposed domains (within the centralized domains spreadsheet for all standards)

Questions? Contact gisinfo.mngeo@state.mn.us
 

---

Public Review

This draft standard completed a 90-day public review period on February 27, 2026.

The Standards Committee has reviewed all comments and provided responses which are published below. The committee has requested approval of the proposed standard by the GAC at their meeting on May 20, 2026.
 

---

Archive of Public Review Comments

Comments received during the review period:  11/29/2025 - 02/27/2026

Comments received and responses are documented in the document.
 

---

Return to the Geospatial Standards webpage