Platting is an essential part of the land development process. It defines the boundaries, usage and encumbrances on a particular piece of land. A plat is a graphical depiction of the legal definition of a certain piece of property through lines, annotation, distances, measurements and notes.  The example below is a layout of a subdivision plat, which is divided into blocks, lots, and reserves that help define where buildings, streets, utilities and other subdivision amenities can be placed.