LOT PLOTTER

Have you ever wanted to see where a lot actually is, using nothing but the title?

You can do it for free with Lot Plotter, a tool by NAMRIA on the Geoportal Philippines website.

Every title has a technical description. It starts from a tie point, a fixed reference marker, and then lists the bearing and distance to each corner of the lot. Lot Plotter turns those numbers into a shape on the map.

Here's how:

1. Go to geoportal.gov.ph, open the Menu, then Map Apps, then Lot Plotter.

2. In the Plot TD window, choose the tie point's location and name. Copy these exactly as they appear on the title.

3. Enter the bearing and distance from the tie point to Corner 1, then click Add Corner.

4. Do the same for Corner 1 to Corner 2, and so on until you've entered every corner.

5. Click Done. The lot's boundary is drawn on the map.

6. Use Switch Basemap to compare it with satellite imagery, and Export Map to save it as an image.

Why bother?

• You can check that the lot in the listing photos is the same lot on the title.

• You can spot overlaps with roads, creeks or neighboring lots.

• It's a quick sanity check before you spend money on due diligence.

One reminder. This is for simple location checks only, as NAMRIA itself says. It isn't a survey. For an actual purchase, have a geodetic engineer do a relocation survey.