Smartphone Version Now Available!

I have just put together a simple version of the site that should help with inputting tract information while using a touchscreen smartphone such as an iPhone or Android device. Basically, it is the same TractPlotter.com that you’re used to, but with extraneous text stripped away and a set of buttons handy for rapid input of deed calls. Of course, you can still use your phone’s built-in keyboard, but switching back and forth between letters and numbers got a little tedious for me.

At the top of the interface, you have a unit dropdown. Choose your units here, and then insert them at the end of your calls by touching the “Unit” button. You can use different units on different calls. “del” acts as a backspace, and the rest should be self-explanatory.

Hopefully, you should be able to scale the page such that the buttons are a good size to touch, but you can still see enough of the input area to see what you’re typing. There are a few little formatting snags, but I figured I’d just throw this one out there in a “beta” format while I’m still learning how to format web pages for mobile devices.

Please provide any feedback here in the comments! Unfortunately, I do not have an Android device to test. I will try to get my hands on one ASAP, but let me know if anything major is missing or not working!


A Primer on Metes and Bounds Descriptions, Part I

Well, a week has passed since my last entry, so I guess it’s time to write again.  First off, here’s this week’s Plot of the Week: This plot describes a tract 37.7 acres in area with a closure of less than 0.004 feet!  Now that is just amazing.  I love the graceful curve that forms


Wow, it’s been a while!

My apologies for the long delay since last writing.  I am just writing now to let you know that I have made some updates to the site code.  There were previously some errors in certain situations.  Most notably, when tracts had a straight north-south line, in a small percentage of cases, the acreages could be


Percent Error and Area

I just had a realization about the area error (“+/- X acres”) that I’ve been computing.  The way it is currently calculated is very simple.  Take the perimeter error percentage (also displayed in the results), multiply that by the computed area, and voila.  A simple way of expressing the potential error of the calculated area. 


Mineral Acres

First off, I would like to thank everybody who has commented so far.  It is gratifying to see that the site is being put to good use.  Every comment is useful or thought-provoking in some way.  For example, now I am considering offering “lifetime memberships” or something like that that would be a one-time cost


Welcome!

Welcome to the Tractplotter.com Development Blog. I am the owner/developer/proprietor of TractPlotter.com. I also have a “day job” as a landman in the Barnett Shale area of Texas. This is what prompted me to write my own tract plotter, as the existing solutions all seemed to be lacking. I would like to fill you all