Convert mile (US survey) to foot (US survey) Online | Free Length Converter

Mile (US Survey)

The US survey mile is a unit of length used in land surveying in the United States. It is defined as exactly 5,280 survey feet, with one survey foot equal to 1200/3937 meters (approximately 0.3048006096 meters). This makes the US survey mile equal to about 1,609.3472 meters, slightly longer than the international (statute) mile, which is exactly 1,609.344 meters.

The US survey mile was established to maintain consistency with older land measurement systems based on the Mendenhall Order of 1893. It was commonly used in mapping, legal land descriptions, and public land surveys.

Although the difference between the survey and statute mile is very small (about 3.2 millimeters), it can be significant over large distances. As of 2023, the U.S. has officially retired the survey foot (and survey mile) for most applications, favoring the international foot and mile to standardize measurements.

Foot (US Survey)

The US survey foot is a unit of length used historically in the United States for land surveying and mapping. It is defined as exactly 1200/3937 meters, which is approximately 0.3048006096 meters. This makes it very slightly longer than the international foot, which is exactly 0.3048 meters.

The US survey foot was established to maintain consistency with earlier land surveys and legal descriptions in the U.S. It was used extensively in the Public Land Survey System and other cadastral surveys.

Key points:

• 
  

  1 US survey foot = 1200/3937 meters ≈ 0.3048006096 meters

  
  
• 
  

  Slightly longer than the international foot by about 0.0006 millimeters

  
  
• 
  

  Used primarily in land surveying and legal documents

  
  
• 
  

  As of recent years, the US has been phasing out the US survey foot in favor of the international foot for standardization.

  
  

Though nearly identical to the international foot, the US survey foot remains important for understanding older land records and measurements.