Support
Frequently Asked Questions
General
What is GLOFieldNotes.com?
GLOFieldNotes.com digitizes historical General Land Office (GLO) field notes. Upload scanned pages of handwritten survey notes and our AI-powered OCR reads the text, extracts survey calls, and places them on an interactive map.
Who is GLOFieldNotes.com for?
It's built for land surveyors, title researchers, forestry professionals, historians, and anyone who works with public land survey records. If you've ever had to manually read through handwritten GLO field notes and plot calls by hand, this tool automates that entire process.
How does the OCR work?
We use AI vision models to read scanned images of handwritten field notes. The AI identifies survey calls including bearings, distances (in chains and links), witness trees, terrain descriptions, and section corner information. Each page is processed individually so per-page results stay clean. Output is structured into a standardized format for mapping.
What file formats can I upload?
You can upload JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and PDF images of scanned field note pages. Each page is processed individually. For best results, use clear scans at 200 DPI or higher.
Do I need to create an account?
Searching BLM records and viewing reference data is free and doesn't require an account. To upload and OCR field note pages, you'll need to sign in and have page credits available.
Pricing
How does pricing work?
GLOFieldNotes.com uses a pay-as-you-go credit system. Each page of field notes costs 1 credit to OCR and geo-locate. Credits never expire. We offer two packages: the Starter Pack ($25 for 25 credits) and the Pro Pack ($100 for 200 credits).
How much does a credit cost?
Credits are sold in packs: the Starter Pack is $25 for 25 credits and the Pro Pack is $100 for 200 credits. The Pro Pack gives you the best per-credit value. See the Pricing page for current offers.
Are credits shared across sites?
Yes. Your credits are shared across all our platforms (GLOFieldNotes.com, Legal-Plot.com, ALTA-Plot.com). Any credits you purchase on one site are available on all of them.
Can I get a refund?
Unused credits can be refunded within 30 days of purchase. Please contact support@legal-plot.com for refund requests.
Is there a free trial?
New accounts may receive complimentary credits to try the service. Check the Pricing page for current offers.
Output
What export formats are available?
Everything lives in one download hub — click the Downloads button on your project page or in the Call Viewer. You can grab a Project ZIP (full PDF report, KML, and all raw scanned field note images in one file), plus KML (Google Earth), KMZ, CSV (spreadsheet), JSON (data), the PDF report, section profiles, and per-document downloads (original JPEG scan, PDF, KML, JSON).
How accurate is the geo-location?
Accuracy depends on the quality of the available coordinate data for your area and the legibility of the original field notes. Corner positions are typically accurate to within a few meters.
Can I view results on a map?
Yes. Calls are plotted on an interactive map with street, satellite, and topographic base layers. Calls are color-coded by type and you can click any marker for full details.
What information is extracted from each page?
The OCR extracts survey calls (bearing, distance, description), witness trees (species, diameter, bearing, distance), terrain notes, section corner descriptions, and any other annotations. Each item is tagged with its position along the survey line.
Can I edit the OCR results?
Yes. After OCR processing, you can review and edit individual calls and correct any misread values.
Can I walk the original survey lines in Street View?
Yes — this is one of our favorite features. Every geolocated call (creek, ravine, road crossing, ditch, corner) has a camera button that opens Google Street View at the mapped call location, pointed in the same direction the original surveyor was walking down the section line. Because most western roads follow section lines, imagery often exists within a few meters of the call. The ravines, roads, and trails described in 1800s field notes are often still visible on the ground today. A flip button turns the camera 180° to look back down the line, and a date dropdown lets you flip through every capture year at that spot instantly — useful for spotting trees filling in, slopes changing, or water moving over time.
Where do I find the per-call Street View buttons?
In three places: the Call Index table (camera button next to each geolocated call), the map (click a marker, then 'Street View' in the popup), and the Call Viewer, which shows each scanned page side by side with its parsed calls. Calls with a green badge have Street View coverage nearby; gray means no panorama was found within 15 meters.
Can I see the monument location in Street View?
Yes. Every geolocated project includes a Corner Street View panel in the right sidebar. Each PLSS corner is automatically checked for Street View coverage within about 15 meters, and when a panorama exists you can browse its full capture history, aimed toward the corner. The monument itself is often visible in the imagery — the viewer opens pointed at the corner, so pan left and right to look for corner posts, rebar caps, aluminum disks, mounds of stone, or disturbed ground near the pin. Browsing different capture years can reveal a monument that's obscured by vegetation in the most recent imagery.
What should I look for when trying to find a corner monument in Street View?
Common evidence includes: a short wooden or metal post (sometimes painted orange or with a cap), a piece of rebar at or near ground level, a brass or aluminum disk stamped with survey data, a small mound of stones, or a blaze on a nearby tree (on older corners). The monument may be partially buried or obscured by vegetation — pan slowly and look at ground level within a meter or two of the GPS pin.
Coverage
Which states are supported?
GLOFieldNotes.com supports all 30 public land survey states. Visit the BLM Records page for the full list of supported states and meridians.
Can I process notes from any state?
Yes, you can OCR field notes from any of the 30 public land survey states.
Where do the BLM records come from?
We index over 106,000 field note records from the Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office Records system. You can search by state, county, township, and range to find the exact records you need.
Account
How do I create an account?
Click 'Sign In' in the top navigation bar. You can create an account using your email address or sign in with Google. Your account is shared across all our platforms.
How do I check my credit balance?
Your credit balance is displayed in the top navigation bar when you're signed in. You can also view it on the Pricing page.
Can I delete my account?
Yes. Contact support@legal-plot.com to request account deletion. We'll remove your account data and any remaining credits will be refunded.
I forgot my password. How do I reset it?
Use the 'Forgot password' link on the sign-in page. You'll receive an email with instructions to reset your password.
How do I contact support?
Use the assistant or message form on this page, or email support@legal-plot.com directly. We typically respond within one business day.
Contact Us
Email: support@legal-plot.com
Send us a message and we'll get back to you within one business day.