The parcel boundary map, and why it's "indicative"

Where the outline comes from

The green outline on a report’s map isn’t from WinDeed. The deeds office holds a centroid and two diagrams with the boundary drawn onto them, not coordinates. The outline shown instead comes from the Surveyor-General’s cadastral GIS layer, matched to the property by point-in-polygon.

Why it’s “indicative”

The cadastral layer is a digitised index, not the survey record itself, so its area can disagree with the title deed. On one property, for example, the cadastral layer measures 1 105 m² where the title deed registers 914 m². When the two disagree, the registered extent is the legal figure — the outline is shown for position and shape, not as a second measurement to weigh against it.

When there’s no outline at all

Some properties have no surveyed parcel on record in the cadastre. When that happens, the map says so plainly rather than drawing a guess, and the satellite and cadastral images still show the boundary the way the deeds report itself drew it.

Next: open a report and scroll to “Parcel boundary” to see your own property’s outline.