Synthetic PLSS: a meter-based land system approximating the PLSS of the western U.S.

Land units in a synthetic meter-based system proximate to the PLSS.

Though it is based on legacy units, the Public Land Survey System that guides property lines in the western half of the United States can be well approximated by the quadruplings of a 25-meter square (a land area equal to a quarter-quarter hectare.) The advantage of using this Synthetic PLSS for solar furnaces is that the basic units are truly international (meter and hectare) while the field sizes are also nearly commensurate with the unalterable grid of property lines the Desert Southwest. It also extends the binary, or quartering-based, range of the PLSS (which only extends from one section down to 10 acres) by three more quarterings.