Alternative Text Description for Submerged State Land Records

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Map Overview
• Geographic Context
• Key Insights
• Visual Elements
• Symbol Guide
• Additional Information
• Data Context

MAP OVERVIEW

This map displays submerged state land records for Florida, representing parcels described in deeds, leases, easements, and other instruments archived by the Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. The map shows the spatial distribution of submerged lands under state ownership or control throughout Florida's coastal waters, rivers, and other water bodies. This is a document-based spatial index rather than a current ownership or tax map, representing historical state land transactions involving submerged parcels.

GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT

The map covers the entire state of Florida and its surrounding submerged lands. Major cities labeled include Jacksonville on the northeast coast, Orlando in central Florida, Tampa on the west coast, Miami on the southeast coast, Cape Coral on the southwest coast, and Palm Coast on the east coast. The panhandle region extends westward, with Pensacola, Tallahassee, and surrounding areas visible. Neighboring states Georgia and Alabama are partially visible to the north. The Gulf of America borders Florida's western coast, while the Atlantic Ocean borders the eastern coast. The Florida Keys extend southward from the mainland, and the Straits of Florida are labeled at the southern edge of the map.

KEY INSIGHTS

Submerged state land records are concentrated along Florida's extensive coastline and in specific inland water bodies. The most notable concentrations appear along the Tampa Bay area on the west coast, the greater Miami metropolitan area on the southeast coast, and the Melbourne-Palm Bay region on the east coast. Scattered parcels appear throughout the panhandle's coastal areas, particularly near Pensacola. The pattern reveals state interest in submerged lands primarily in coastal regions, estuaries, bays, and major river systems. One isolated parcel appears in the waters south of the Florida Keys in the Straits of Florida. Interior portions of the state show fewer submerged land records, with occasional parcels along major river corridors and inland water bodies.

VISUAL ELEMENTS

Submerged State Land Records

This layer represents parcels described in archived Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund land record documents, filtered to show only submerged land records.

Submerged Land Parcels (blue diagonal hatching)

Appearance:

Polygons filled with blue diagonal lines running from lower-left to upper-right, creating a hatched pattern. The parcels vary in size from small coastal segments to larger areas covering portions of bays and estuaries.

Distribution:

Parcels are distributed along both the Atlantic and Gulf of America coasts, with concentrations in urbanized coastal areas. Inland occurrences are limited but present along major waterways.

Notable locations:

• Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg area on the west coast shows dense clustering of parcels
• Miami and southeastern coastal area displays numerous parcels along the coast and in Biscayne Bay
• Melbourne and Palm Bay region on the east coast contains significant parcel concentrations
• Jacksonville area shows parcels along the St. Johns River and coastal areas
• Pensacola region in the western panhandle displays scattered coastal parcels
• One isolated rectangular parcel located in open water south of the Florida Keys

Spatial patterns:

Parcels follow coastal boundaries and estuarine systems, indicating state management of submerged lands in navigation channels, ports, bays, and nearshore waters. Linear arrangements along coastlines suggest jurisdictional boundaries between state-owned submerged lands and adjacent uplands or federal waters. Clustering in urbanized areas reflects higher levels of historical state land transactions in regions with commercial, industrial, and residential waterfront development.

Overlapping Patterns

In areas such as Tampa Bay and Miami, multiple small parcels appear adjacent to or overlapping one another, suggesting complex historical patterns of state land transactions, subdivisions, easements, and leases in these heavily developed coastal regions.

SYMBOL GUIDE

• Blue diagonal hatched polygons: Submerged state land record parcels described in archived TIITF documents, filtered to show only those designated as submerged lands

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This map represents a document-based spatial index rather than a comprehensive inventory of current state ownership. Selecting a parcel may return information about multiple documents associated with that parcel throughout the history of state land transactions. The map includes acquisitions, dispositions, and encumbrances related to submerged state lands. Not all state-owned submerged lands may be represented if they lack corresponding archived documents in the Title Archives. The focus is on submerged lands, which are underwater lands beneath navigable waters owned by the state in its sovereign capacity.

DATA CONTEXT

Data Source:

The data comes from the Title Archives of the Division of State Lands, Department of Environmental Protection for the Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. The polygons are derived from parcels described in archived deeds, leases, easements, and other land record instruments. Data source layer name: DSL_PARCEL_COMPOSITE_OCT25.

Definition Query:

The map displays only records where the submerged land indicator is designated as 'Y' (SUBMERGED_LAND_IND_TEXT = 'Y'), filtering the dataset to show exclusively submerged land parcels rather than upland state properties.

Scale Information:

The map is displayed at a statewide scale showing the entire state of Florida and its surrounding waters. This scale is appropriate for understanding the overall distribution of submerged state land records across the state but may not reveal fine details of individual parcel boundaries or small coastal features.

Coordinate System:

NAD_1983_HARN_Florida_GDL_Albers (WKID 3087).

Time Period of Content:

The data represents historical land records archived through October 2025, as indicated by the data source layer name. Individual parcels may be associated with documents from various time periods throughout the history of state land management.

Limitations:

This is a document-based index representing parcels described in archived instruments, not a definitive map of current ownership or a substitute for title research. The spatial accuracy depends on the quality of legal descriptions in historical documents. Some areas may lack representation if no corresponding archived documents exist. The dataset includes historical transactions that may have been superseded by subsequent actions.

Map Coverage:

The map extends across the entire state of Florida from the Georgia and Alabama borders in the north to the Straits of Florida in the south, encompassing coastal waters along both the Gulf of America and Atlantic Ocean, as well as inland water bodies where submerged state land records exist.

The alternative text description of this map was AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies.