What are S1, S2, S3, S4? Understanding adjacent village survey sheets
A quick explainer on why village survey maps are split into numbered sheets, how they fit together, and how to join them without losing detail.
When you download a village map from the Commissionerate of Survey and Settlement, Tamil Nadu, the sheets are often labelled with a number — S1, S2, S3, S4. These are not different maps; they are tiles of the same village.
How the tiles fit together
Think of the village as a single large drawing cut into a grid. Each tile is one cell. Numbering usually runs row by row from the top-left, so S1 is top-left, S2 top-right, S3 bottom-left and S4 bottom-right. Adjacent tiles share an exact boundary line — the right edge of S1 is the left edge of S2.
Why you can't just overlap them
Because the sheets meet along a shared line rather than overlapping, dropping one on top of another hides map content. The trick is to crop the printed frame, make the white margin transparent, and butt the edges together precisely — which is exactly what this tool automates.
Joining without losing detail
- High-resolution rendering keeps survey numbers and field boundaries crisp.
- Auto frame-crop removes only the border, never the map content.
- Export preserves the resolution of the most detailed placed sheet.
Frequently asked questions
What do S1, S2, S3 and S4 mean on a village survey map?+
They are not different maps but tiles of the same village — think of the village as a single large drawing cut into a grid, where each tile is one cell. Numbering usually runs row by row from the top-left, so S1 is top-left, S2 top-right, S3 bottom-left and S4 bottom-right.
Why can't I just overlap two adjacent survey sheets?+
Because the sheets meet along a shared exact boundary line rather than overlapping — the right edge of S1 is the left edge of S2 — dropping one on top of another hides map content. The correct method is to crop the printed frame, make the white margin transparent, and butt the edges together precisely, which this tool automates.
Will joining the sheets reduce the quality or detail of the map?+
No. High-resolution rendering keeps survey numbers and field boundaries crisp, the auto frame-crop removes only the border and never the map content, and export preserves the resolution of the most detailed placed sheet.
Can I join sheets that aren't numbered?+
Yes. If your sheets aren't numbered you can still join them — just drag each one into place by eye and let edge-snapping handle the precision.