Simply defined, an ALTA survey is a boundary survey plus a lot more ~ one that adheres to a set of minimum standards established by the American Land Title Association (ALTA) and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) in order to overcome the inherent fact that in today’s US land tenure system, there is no guarantee of ownership of real property. A deed alone is only evidence that it might be owned.
That’s when title insurance comes into play. Since a bank will not lend money to purchase or develop real property unless it is provided a title policy to insure its investment, the ALTA was designed to establish “a level of standards that all parties in the commercial transaction are ensured a common standard.”