Convert Square Kilometer (km²) to Square Rod (US Survey) (rod² (US)) instantly.
About these units
Square Kilometer (km²)
A square kilometer equals one million square meters and is the standard unit for expressing large land areas, especially in geography, ecology, national planning, and environmental science. Countries, cities, national parks, forests, wetlands, and even ocean surface regions are frequently described in km². Because it provides a manageable scale for features too large for hectares or acres, it is widely used in atlases, scientific papers, and government reports. The square kilometer also plays a major role in ecology, where species ranges, habitat fragmentation, and conservation zones are measured using this unit. In geopolitics, km² help define national borders and territorial claims, making it a powerful instrument of scientific and political discourse.
Square Rod (US Survey) (rod² (US))
The US survey square rod is defined using the survey foot and differs negligibly from the international square rod. This distinction matters in legal contexts, especially when interpreting older property descriptions dating back to the 19th-century PLSS-era surveys. The unit persists primarily in legal documents and rural land records, ensuring that historical boundaries remain consistent even as measurement standards evolve.