Check the land description and report boundary before you confirm

A familiar shape still needs a careful check

You have a land description in a listing worksheet and a boundary file from the seller. The map looks familiar, but does it cover the land you intend to include in the report? Before working through crop history or terrain, take a few minutes to compare those inputs.

Ironpost asks you to confirm the parcel before payment. A description can resolve successfully and still refer to a different parcel from the one you intended. Treat that confirmation as a reading task: compare the identifier, the area and the outline with the material you brought to the order.

The checklist below is a suggested preparation routine. It helps you organise the input to a report; it does not establish ownership or locate a legal boundary on the ground. Keep questions needing supporting documents or professional confirmation open.

1. Keep the original description beside your working copy

Start with the full description as supplied, the document it came from and the date you received it. Compare your typed entry with that original one part at a time. Look for a missing directional part, a swapped number or a qualification that disappeared when someone shortened the text for a spreadsheet.

Write down which land the report is intended to cover. If your listing includes several parcels, keep a separate reference for each. If only part of a larger parcel is involved, make that distinction explicit in your working notes before choosing a description or file.

Keep driving directions in a separate field. Ironpost asks for a supported land description or a boundary file. A convenient address or familiar place name should not replace the input the product uses to identify the land.

2. Choose the input that represents the intended area

The Ironpost coverage guidance checked on September 24, 2026 offers land description resolution for Alberta and whole lots in Ontario. It directs part of an Ontario lot, and land outside those description routes, to a KML or KMZ boundary upload. Read the current coverage notes before starting.

Do not remove a reference to part of a lot just to make a description fit the whole lot route. That would change the land being requested. Obtain a suitable boundary file for the intended area and retain the material that explains what the file represents.

For an upload, record the filename, who supplied it and when. If several versions arrived, ask which one is intended for this report. A name such as “final” is not enough to explain why one file was selected. Sign in, choose the province and use the boundary upload in the order step.

3. Compare the returned parcel with your input

On the confirmation screen, read the submitted description and the returned parcel details. Where a published source supplies an identifier, compare that identifier with the document you started from. Then review the displayed boundary and acreage together. A plausible acreage alone cannot tell you that the right land was selected.

For a supplied file, check that the displayed outline represents the area you intended to send. Look for an omitted part or an additional area that needs explanation. Keep the file identified as supplied material; successful upload validation does not make it a survey.

When the screen cannot provide a detail, leave it unknown in your notes. Do not complete a missing location or source fact from memory and then present it as something the report confirmed.

4. Pause on differences before confirming

If a description looks wrong, use the correction option and read the newly returned details. If the supplied outline does not match the intended area, resolve that input problem before confirming it. Do not approve an outline on the assumption that the finished report will repair it.

An acreage difference deserves a specific question. Record the figure shown by Ironpost, the figure in the other document and the source of each. Ask whether both refer to the same area and how each figure was obtained. Avoid replacing one with the other simply to make the listing documents agree.

Keep the next action concrete: identify the document to check, the person to ask or the corrected file to obtain. Leave the confirmation pending while a difference affecting the report area remains unresolved.

5. Keep the boundary context with the report

Once the inputs agree with the land you intend to report on, confirm the parcel deliberately. Retain a short working note with the description or selected filename, its source, the date checked and any questions that remain outside the report’s scope. Use your brokerage’s process for storing the supporting material.

When preparing the listing, read the finished parcel page and its source notes before reusing an acreage or map. Explain which boundary the report used rather than implying it resolved every boundary question. The Ironpost sample below shows how parcel information and source references appear in the report.