used in mapping the United States along train routes in the 19th century. Railroads in the United States have long since used decimal fractions of a mile. Some subways such as the New York City Subway and the Washington Metro were designed with and continue with a chaining system using the 100-foot engineer's chain. In the United States, the chain is also used as the measure of the rate of spread of wildfires (chains per hour), both in the predictive National Fire Danger Rating System as well as in after-action reports. The term chain is used by wildland firefighters in day-to-day operations as a unit of distance. Australia and New Zealand In Australia and New Zealand, most building lots in the past were a quarter of an acre, measuring one chain by two and a half chains, and other lots would be multiples or fractions of a chain. The street frontages of many houses in these countries are one chain wide—roads were almost always wide in urban areas, sometimes or . Laneways would be half a chain (10.1 m). In rural areas the roads were wider, up to where a stock route was required. roads were surveyed as major roads or highways between larger towns, roads between smaller localities, and roads were local roads in farming communities. Roads named Three Chain Road etc. persist today. The "Queen's Chain" is a concept that has long existed in New Zealand, of a strip of public land, usually 20 metres (or one chain in pre-metric measure) wide from the high water mark, that has been set aside for public use along the coast, around many lakes, and along all or part of many rivers. These strips exist in various forms (including road reserves, esplanade reserves, esplanade strips, marginal strips and reserves of various types) but not as extensively and consistently as is often assumed. Cricket pitches The chain also survives as the length of a cricket pitch, being the distance between the stumps. Measuring instruments Civil engineers and surveyors use various instruments including chains to measure distance. Other instruments used for measuring distance include tapes and bands. A steel band is also known as a "band chain". Surveyors' chain (Gunter's chain) In 1620, the polymath Edmund Gunter developed a method of accurately surveying land using a 100 link chain, 66 feet long called the Gunter's Chain. Other surveyors chains have been used historically.