Mapping to Centre Lines
It is not uncommon for house plots, particularly in urban areas, to be described in the deeds as extending to the centre line of the road. In more rural settings, plots of land are sometimes bounded by the centre of a stream or river, or by the centre of a road or track. The description of the land to be registered may be shown on a deed plan or, if the deed is a previously recorded deed, described in the deed with a full bounding description.
Mapping to the centre line in the Plan Creator
If the legal extent of the cadastral unit you are mapping in the Plan Creator goes to the centre line of a road, track or water feature, the Centre Line tool may be helpful. This tool allows you to toggle on & off the centre line data that the OS have created to be used with their transport network and water network data sets. The OS centre line feature will not show on pdfs, prints or on authorised versions of title plans on ScotLIS.
Care must still be taken that the correct legal extent of the cadastral unit is accurately mapped, with the dimensions based on the deed for extent (taking into account the tolerances of the OS basemap in that area). The centre lines displayed on the OS map are an approximation of the centre line and are used by the OS to associate attribute data to the road and to give an indication of the centre of the feature. In urban areas, in particular, where the street patterns are often grid-like, these centre lines may well be a good representation of the physical centre of the road and can be used to help create the cadastral unit. Where road, track, or water features are more complex or curved in shape, the measurements should be checked before relying on them when plotting to the physical/legal centre of the feature.
Unlike in previous OS mapping products, if surrounding map detail is updated or moved due to improved accuracy, the centre line feature will normally also be updated by the OS.
Example 1 |
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For example, in this urban area, the OS centre line features displayed on the Plan Creator are going to be useful for properties on the terraced streets running approximately SW-NE if any of them are to be plotted to the road centre lines. However, if you consider the wider road lying to the north of the terraced streets, even visually without measuring it can be seen that the OS centre line feature is only an approximation and any titles extending to the centre line of the road would need to be measured and accurately plotted without using the OS feature. |
Example 2 |
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For example, in this rural area, the OS centre line features displayed on the Plan Creator could be useful for properties in this area if any of them are to be plotted to the road, track or river centre lines. However, caution and common sense must still be applied - if you consider the track in the SE corner of the illustration, the OS centre line feature is visibly not in the middle so any titles extending to the centre line of the track would need to be measured and accurately plotted without using the OS feature. And where the stream running south joins the river, the connection of the two OS centre line features again is just an approximation so that part may need to be measured and accurately plotted without using the OS feature. |
Example 3 |
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For example, in this section of map, the OS centre line features displayed on the Plan Creator could be useful for properties in this area if any of them are to be plotted to the centre line or medium filum of the river. However, caution and common sense must still be applied, particularly in relation to that section of the river where there are islands. The OS centre line feature shows the centre of the various channels around the islands, rather than the centre of the river course itself. Therefore, any legal boundary to be mapped in this part of the river would need to be measured and accurately plotted from the deeds without using the OS feature. |
Previous OS road centre line info on the DMS
On the OS base map that was previously used in the DMS, a grey line feature was shown in the middle of roads - this was not an accurate representation of the centre line of the road but was simply an approximation, and was used by the OS to associate attribute data to the road. The position of the grey line feature was not normally moved or updated by the OS when they moved or updated the surrounding details. The grey line feature does not show on prints or on authorised versions of cadastral unit extracts/title plans in ScotLIS. On the OS basemap in the Plan Creator, the former grey line feature is no longer shown.
Current registration competing with an existing registration in the centre of the road, track or river?
Occasionally, an application will be received to register a cadastral unit that overlaps with an existing registration that has been wrongly mapped to coincide with a centre line feature on the OS that does not lie exactly in the centre of the road, track or water course (this could be the grey line feature on the DMS, or to an approximated section of the OS centre line feature on the Plan Creator). Although this is a competition in title and should result in automatic rejection of the current application, in some instances it may be possible for the Keeper to resolve the matter without the need to charge the current applicant a rejection fee and incur the time and costs involved with researching and applying for rectification of the existing title. This will not be possible in all instances, however. Whilst it should not be common practice to investigate competing titles before rejection, if you believe that a competition in title has been caused by the Keeper incorrectly increasing the extent of a cadastral unit so that its boundary plotted onto an OS centre line feature, refer your application to a plans referral officer. The referral officer, once they have confirmed that the existing registration has been incorrectly mapped, should refer to a Senior Plans Advisor who will liaise with Rectifications and consider whether rectification is appropriate or whether the current application should be rejected after all.
Registers of Scotland (RoS) seeks to ensure that the information published in the 2012 Act Registration Manual is up to date and accurate but it may be amended from time to time.
The Manual is an internal document intended for RoS staff only. The information in the Manual does not constitute legal or professional advice and RoS cannot accept any liability for actions arising from its use.
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