How to measure the size of a land parcel?

How do I measure the size of a piece of land in SL? I know I can read off the area but how do I measure the linear distance`For example if I see that someone has a piece of land at 840m2 for rent how can I measure how long and how wide it is? Sometimes they can be strange shapes too.

Under View, enable Property Lines. Look at the property line and you will see a notch every 4 meters.

Thanks for the tip Dytska, I'll try that.

Another way, which may be useful if measuring oddly shaped parcels and assuming you have build rights on the land, is simply rezzing and stretching a prim.

Prims and land use the same SL standard of measurement, as does everything else. You can also measure your avatar that way (and the results usually surprise people).

I've never really thought about this too much as all my past parcels have been reasonable normal (logical) Rectangle or Square shapes, though I have seen some very irregular parcels owned by others.

Just out of interest, what's the smallest section/clump/angle that a parcel can have?

If you wanted to zigzag cut it like a staircase lying flat, how small could the zigzags be?

The parcel grid is 4m squares, so the smallest parcel is 16 square meters, and the smallest zigzags are 4m on a side.

Even if you do not own a parcel you can still right click and use edit terrain to enable land selection. Click and drag in either E-W or N-S direction from one edge and count the number of 4m steps to the other side.

It helps to raise your camera viewpoint up and over the parcel. Remember also that the selection distance is limited by the graphics draw distance so increase this temporarily if needs be.

Rime

Is it now allowed to still sell a large plot of land with a 4mx4m separate block in (or near) the middle of it.
So some poor unsuspecting buyer comes along and only then realises this plot is not his, but can be his for a LARGE price.

That's called "donut holing" and you can AR it.

The first method was good enough for me. It enabled me tosee the shape of an irregular piece of land so that I could build a shop/house for it before I started renting.
Thanks for all the tips.