Reference

Release Notes

What's new in each version of GPS Stakeout — features added, improvements made, and bugs fixed.

You're all caught up.
New features and fixes will appear here as they ship in the next update.

Version 1.12 September 4, 2026 Update

Quarter-section PLSS lookup, a free-tier adjustment, sharper deed parsing for two real-world description styles, and new in-app guidance.

New

PLSS Section lookup now resolves quarter, quarter-quarter, and quarter-quarter-quarter section citations (e.g. "NE¼ NE¼ NE¼ of Section 14"), not just whole sections — clearly labeled in the app as a geometric estimate, not a separately-surveyed corner. See PLSS Section
New Guided Tips (on by default, toggle under Settings) — quick empty-state hints on the Corners and Map tabs for first-time use

Free & Pro

Free tier now includes 2 corners per plat (previously 3) — a locked 3rd corner still shows live distance and bearing, dimmed, so you can see what you're navigating toward before upgrading

Accuracy

Bearings now parse when the degrees symbol was typed as a quote mark instead of ° — e.g. S 87' 08' 23" E or N 88" 43' 03" W. Older deeds typed on machines with no ° key are full of these, and previously every such course was dropped
A course whose bearing can't be read is now flagged instead of quietly becoming an estimated right-of-way line pointing due north. The check previously only recognised bearings spelled out in full ("south…west"), so abbreviated calls like S … W slipped through unwarned
A deed that opens by running a tie course from a section corner to the true place of beginning no longer counts that course as a boundary line. The tie is skipped with a note, so corner numbers run 1, 2, 3… without a gap and the acreage comes out right

Interface

Saving a plat with open parser warnings now asks for one confirmation instead of saving past them silently

Version 1.11 August 18, 2026 Update

Sharper deed parsing, a decluttered AR boundary view, and a batch of interface fixes.

New

Deed parsing now reads bearing-and-distance courses even when a distance is missing its foot-mark (e.g. "73.37" instead of "73.37'"), so more deeds parse without hand-editing — with a "verify against the plat" flag
The included sample plat now appears on the map immediately on first run, so a new install has something to explore right away
The augmented-reality boundary feature is now called "AR" throughout the app and docs, to match how it works

Accuracy

Deed parsing flags impossible bearing values from a bad scan (minutes or seconds of 60+, or degrees over 90) so an OCR misread gets caught before it places a corner

AR Boundary Mode

Declutters tight parcels — near-straight "pass-through" corners drop their name flag (keeping the stake), and distance tags are hidden on very short legs
Larger, clearer corner and distance labels, plus a lower fence that sits closer to the ground
Boundary lines now fade with distance — solid up close, fainter far away where accuracy is weakest
Re-Align now snaps the overlay to a known corner you're standing on, pinning it exactly under your feet and removing GPS offset at that point — with a re-align reminder for best accuracy when you start far from the boundary

Fixes

Fixed the accuracy readout overlapping the dial on iPad's large Navigate compass
The deed-entry Parse button now correctly greys out after a scan auto-parses, and lights up again only when you change the text
The Bearing Basis Apply button stays greyed out until you actually change the basis or declination, so it no longer looks like there's a pending change when there isn't
The Plat sheet now shows the bearing offset that's actually applied (True North shows none) instead of the last solved rotation, so switching to True North no longer looks like a rotation is still in effect

Version 1.0 August 12, 2026 Initial Release

First public release of GPS Stakeout.

New

Metes-and-bounds deed text parsing with thence-delimited boundary traversal, automatically skipping commencement / tie-line courses
Camera OCR to scan printed deed descriptions — multi-page scanning with auto-crop and de-skew
PLSS section lookup via BLM national database (Township, Range, Section)
Manual coordinate entry for corner placement
Live GPS navigation to individual corners with distance and compass bearing
AR Boundary Mode — your property lines and corner stakes laid on the real ground with ARKit world tracking, staying pinned in place as you walk and turn
External Bluetooth GPS receiver support (Dual XGPS160, Bad Elf Pro, Garmin GLO 2)
Live GPS accuracy ring on the map, with the position dot drawn from the active receiver
Bearing basis control (true, grid, magnetic, or assumed north) with automatic detection from the deed text and compass-read magnetic declination
Two-point calibration — solve the exact parcel rotation from two known corners
Feet / meters unit preference, applied app-wide and defaulted to your region
Plat folder organization and recently opened list
Satellite and standard map views with fit-to-plat button
Averaged anchoring (point occupation) — anchoring collects GPS fixes over 15/30/60 seconds, rejects outliers, and anchors on the average instead of a single reading
GPS confidence meter — a four-bar quality read driven by how far the position wanders while you stand still, cross-validated against a second receiver
Anchor quality tracking — each corner records the accuracy it was anchored at ("Anchored at ±3 ft"), the floor on every later arrival
Receiver comparison and fix-latency readouts in the GPS Source sheet
Sticky "Use iPhone GPS only" toggle for conditions where the built-in receiver outperforms an external one

Accuracy

Navigation is pinned to the receiver that captured your anchor, so corner positions and your live position always share one coordinate frame — mixing receivers previously injected the difference between them straight into arrival distances
Warning when navigating on a different receiver than the one that measured your anchors, and when a rotation solve would mix receivers
Confirmation before re-anchoring moves the boundary further than the current fix quality justifies — the common cause of results that swing between walks
Two-point calibration now warns when the anchors are too close together for the solved rotation to be meaningful
Solved rotation is reported in declination convention with an E/W suffix, and persists correctly through re-plots

Interface

Vintage surveyor compass on the Navigate screen — a brass-and-navy dial with a single copper direction pointer, degree ring, and compass rose; scales up to fill an iPad's screen and stays crisp at any size
Confidence built into the compass — a green/amber/red ring around the dial and an engraved "±ft" readout pinned upright at the bottom, so how far to go and how much to trust the fix are both on the instrument
AR boundary rebuilt on ARKit world tracking — a low fence traces the property lines on the real ground with a flagged corner stake at each corner and leg distances along the sides; it stays pinned as you rotate and walk (the old version drew from the compass and drifted). "Re-Align AR Overlay" re-anchors the scene from where you're standing
App locked to light appearance for consistent, legible rendering