Township Canada Python SDK

Convert Canadian legal land descriptions (DLS, NTS, Geographic Townships) to GPS coordinates and back. Covers Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Ontario.

Documentation · GitHub · PyPI

Installation

pip install townshipcanada

Quick Start

import os

from townshipcanada import TownshipCanada

tc = TownshipCanada(os.environ["TOWNSHIP_API_KEY"])

# DLS (Dominion Land Survey) — Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
result = tc.search("NW-36-42-3-W5")
print(f"{result.latitude}, {result.longitude}")
# 52.123456, -114.654321

# NTS (National Topographic System) — British Columbia
result = tc.search("A-2-F/93-P-8")

# Geographic Townships — Ontario
result = tc.search("Lot 2 Con 4 Osprey")

Get an API key at townshipcanada.com/api.

Examples

1. Oil & Gas: Convert Well Locations to GPS

from townshipcanada import TownshipCanada

tc = TownshipCanada("your_api_key")

well_locations = [
    "NW-36-42-3-W5",
    "SE-1-50-10-W4",
    "10-14-42-4-W4",
]

# Batch convert all at once (up to 100 per request, auto-chunks larger arrays)
result = tc.batch_search(well_locations)

for item in result.results:
    print(
        f"{item.legal_location} -> "
        f"{item.latitude:.6f}, {item.longitude:.6f} "
        f"({item.province})"
    )

2. GIS Pipeline: Reverse Geocode Field Coordinates

from townshipcanada import TownshipCanada

tc = TownshipCanada("your_api_key")

# GPS coordinates from a field survey
field_points = [
    (-114.648933, 52.454928),
    (-110.456789, 50.321654),
    (-106.123456, 52.789012),
]

# Batch reverse geocode to legal land descriptions
result = tc.batch_reverse(field_points, unit="Quarter Section")

for item in result.results:
    print(item.legal_location)

3. Real Estate: Look Up a Single Parcel with GeoPandas

import geopandas as gpd
from shapely.geometry import shape

from townshipcanada import TownshipCanada

tc = TownshipCanada("your_api_key")

result = tc.search("NW-36-42-3-W5")

# Convert the grid boundary to a Shapely geometry
if result.boundary:
    geometry = shape(result.boundary.model_dump())

    gdf = gpd.GeoDataFrame(
        [{"legal_location": result.legal_location, "province": result.province}],
        geometry=[geometry],
        crs="EPSG:4326",
    )

    print(gdf)
    # gdf.to_file("parcel.geojson", driver="GeoJSON")

Async Support

import asyncio

from townshipcanada import AsyncTownshipCanada


async def main():
    async with AsyncTownshipCanada("your_api_key") as tc:
        result = await tc.search("NW-36-42-3-W5")
        print(result.latitude, result.longitude)


asyncio.run(main())

CLI

The SDK includes a command-line tool:

# Set your API key
export TOWNSHIP_API_KEY="your_api_key"

# Convert a legal land description
township convert "NW-36-42-3-W5"
# 52.123456, -114.654321
#   Location:  NW-36-42-3-W5
#   Province:  Alberta
#   System:    DLS
#   Unit:      Quarter Section

# Reverse geocode
township reverse -- -114.654321 52.123456

# JSON output
township convert "NW-36-42-3-W5" --json

API Reference

TownshipCanada(api_key, *, base_url=..., timeout=30.0)

Method	Description
search(location)	Convert legal land description to GPS
reverse(longitude, latitude, *, survey_system=None, unit=None)	Find legal land description at GPS
autocomplete(query, *, limit=None, proximity=None)	Get search suggestions
batch_search(locations, *, chunk_size=100)	Batch convert up to 100+ descriptions
batch_reverse(coordinates, *, survey_system=None, unit=None, chunk_size=100)	Batch reverse geocode up to 100+ points
boundary(location)	Get boundary polygon only
raw(location)	Get raw GeoJSON FeatureCollection

All methods are also available on AsyncTownshipCanada as async/await.

Return Types

SearchResult — returned by search(), reverse()

Field	Type	Description
legal_location	str	Normalized legal description
latitude	float	Centroid latitude
longitude	float	Centroid longitude
province	str	Province name
survey_system	str	DLS, NTS, or GTS
unit	str	Resolution unit
boundary	Polygon | MultiPolygon | None	Grid boundary polygon
raw	List[Feature]	Raw GeoJSON features

BatchResult — returned by batch_search(), batch_reverse()

Field	Type	Description
results	List[SearchResult]	Successfully converted
total	int	Total items submitted
success	int	Successful conversions
failed	int	Failed conversions

AutocompleteSuggestion — returned by autocomplete()

Field	Type	Description
legal_location	str	Full legal land description
latitude	float	Centroid latitude
longitude	float	Centroid longitude
survey_system	str	Survey system
unit	str	Resolution unit

Exceptions

Exception	HTTP Status	Description
ValidationError	400	Invalid request parameters
AuthenticationError	401	Missing or invalid API key
NotFoundError	404	No results found
RateLimitError	429	Rate limit exceeded
PayloadTooLargeError	413	Batch exceeds 100 items
ServerError	5xx	Server-side error

from townshipcanada import (
    TownshipCanada,
    AuthenticationError,
    NotFoundError,
    RateLimitError,
    ValidationError,
)

tc = TownshipCanada("your_api_key")

try:
    result = tc.search("INVALID")
except NotFoundError:
    print("Location not found")
except AuthenticationError:
    print("Check your API key")
except RateLimitError as e:
    print(f"Rate limited — retry after {e.retry_after}s")

Supported Survey Systems

System	Provinces	Format Examples
DLS (Dominion Land Survey)	AB, SK, MB	NW-36-42-3-W5, 10-36-42-3-W5, 36-42-3-W5
NTS (National Topographic System)	BC	A-2-F/93-P-8, 2-F/93-P-8
GTS (Geographic Townships)	ON	Lot 2 Con 4 Osprey

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• Dependencies: httpx, pydantic

License

MIT — Maps & Apps Inc.