Thanks, Glen.
I don't see a lot of disagreement in these threads on the basics, but mostly a difference in what people put the emphasis on. My summary of the topic:
1. In any case, the future user of the plat must orient to some combination of platted information. If more useful information (such as an reproducible basis of bearing) can be added at minimal cost, it should usually be added. Some people haven't found it worth the effort to use an absolute basis of bearings, but others have.
2. A measured, reproducible basis of bearing (from geodetic north, grid north, or whatever) provides one (1) more redundant piece of information that may help in the future. The metadata should be there to define exactly what was used (compass, astro, GPS vector?) and indicate its likely accuracy.
3. A basis of bearing referred to (whichever) North is no more or less valuable than adding another bearing to another stable ground point distant from the parcel being platted, for instance a far corner of the subdivision, another monumented quarter corner, or a church spire (land surveying could take a cue from old NGS practice).
3a. ... nobody is going to bulldoze True North or Grid North.
2. Without such a bearing you have to find one more monument on the parcel to orient the plat to the real world, and if the monuments aren't far apart their bearing has a lot of uncertainty.
4. A basis of bearing that is not measured, like a statement that "east line of parcel is assumed North" is useless beyond telling us "don't look for absolute bearing information on this plat." Any other single line on the plat could be assumed to have its labeled bearing.
5. After adjustment, and without knowing what was held in the adjustment, there is little practical difference between giving bearings of the plat lines versus giving interior angles. One set can be calculated from the other, and are equally useful (but perhaps not equally convenient) if the plat values close mathematically. A North-referenced bearing can be thought of as another one of the angles to a very distant point, or vice versa.
Sounds like a good summary.
