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Crown Dispositions Overlay (AB)

Status: Planned (free-data path) Issue: #152Bundle: Energy Bundle (gated behind metadata.energy_bundle = true on Business plans).

Crown Dispositions Overlay (AB)

Status: Planned (free-data path) Issue: #152Bundle: Energy Bundle (gated behind metadata.energy_bundle = true on Business plans).

Goal

Render Alberta Crown surface and subsurface disposition polygons on the DLS grid so operators can identify where Crown leases, licences of occupation, mineral surface leases (MSLs), pipeline rights-of-way, and other Crown-held land interests sit relative to a proposed surface location. Closes a gap that today requires switching between the Alberta Energy GeoView portal and an internal GIS to evaluate disposition overlap.

Free-data path

Alberta publishes most disposition geometry through the Alberta Energy GeoView ESRI REST endpoints and the Land Status Automated System (LSAS). These are free to ingest under the existing Alberta Open Government Licence — no paid feed required.

SourceCoverageFormat
AB Energy GeoView — Surface DispositionsMSL, MLL, PIL, LOC, etc. polygon geometryESRI REST
AB Energy GeoView — Subsurface DispositionsMineral, petroleum & natural gas dispositionsESRI REST
AB Open Government LicenceAttribution + redistribution permittedn/a

Customer-facing layer model

The catalog entry will likely group dispositions by activity class so operators can toggle just what they need:

  • Surface dispositions — MSL (Mineral Surface Lease), MLL (Mineral Lease for Lignite), LOC (Licence of Occupation), PIL (Pipeline Installation Lease), DLO (Departmental Licence of Occupation)
  • Subsurface dispositions — Petroleum & Natural Gas (PNG) lease, Crown Coal lease, Oil Sands lease
  • Linear dispositions — Pipeline ROW, road ROW, transmission ROW where they're separately licensed

Disposition geometry is large at province scale; PMTiles will need careful level-of-detail tuning to keep file size manageable and rendering smooth at all zoom levels.

Attribute coverage

Each disposition row should carry at minimum:

  • Disposition number (e.g., MSL 123456)
  • Activity class
  • Holder (operator) name
  • Status (active, suspended, expired, surrendered)
  • Issued date, expiry date where applicable
  • Linked LSDs/quarter sections (for joining against well + parcel layers)

Acceptance criteria progress

  • PMTiles pipeline pulling from AB Energy GeoView (daily refresh)
  • Layer config: app/config/mapLayers/dataCatalog/crownDispositions*.js (one file per sub-group)
  • Catalog entry in app/config/mapLayers/index.js with disposition-class legend
  • API endpoint for disposition lookup by LSD (server/api/dispositions/...)
  • Entitlement gating: requireEnergyBundle(event) on API; layer visible to all Energy Bundle subscribers
  • Attribution string in catalog UI: "Source: Alberta Energy GeoView (Open Government Licence — Alberta)"

Related layers

  • AER Wells — wells frequently sit on the dispositions this layer surfaces
  • Alberta CCS / Pore Space Tenure — subsurface tenure layer with overlapping scope
  • Oil & Gas Fields (oilGasFields) — existing shipped layer
  • Asset/operator history snapshot (#151) — derived view that uses disposition attribute joins

Future provinces

The same data model extends to BC and SK Crown disposition feeds, but each province's open-data licensing terms differ. Phase 1 ships Alberta only; phase 2 evaluates the BC GeoBC and SK ISC equivalents.