Input Format Reference — How to Type Legal Land Descriptions

Not sure how to type your legal land description? This guide shows the expected format for every survey system Township Canada supports, along with the most common mistakes and how to fix them.

Quick reference: expected formats

Each survey system has a specific input format. Here is what Township Canada expects:

Separate components with dashes or spaces. Both SW 25 24 1 W5 and SW-25-24-1-W5 work.

Common mistakes and fixes

These are the input errors that come up most often, based on real customer support conversations.

Missing "W" on the meridian

The meridian must include the "W" prefix. A bare number is ambiguous.

If you know the province, you can infer the meridian: Alberta is usually W4 or W5, Saskatchewan is W2 or W3, Manitoba is W1.

Extra text from databases

Government databases and spreadsheets often include extra information after the legal description. Strip everything that is not part of the location.

Special characters

Characters like apostrophes, smart quotes, and non-breaking spaces break conversions — especially in batch mode. These are invisible and usually come from Excel, Word, or PDF copy-paste.

"LT" instead of "Lot" in Ontario

Ontario tax bills often abbreviate "Lot" as "LT". Township Canada needs the full word.

Sub-lot fractions (E 1/2, N 1/4)

Older legal documents sometimes include sub-lot fractions like "E 1/2 OF N 1/2". Township Canada does not support these — the smallest unit is a quarter section (NE, NW, SE, SW) for DLS or a full lot for Ontario.

Multiple locations in one line

If your source has several quarter sections compressed into one line, split them into separate searches or use batch conversion.

SE15, NE10, NW11-33-5 W5 is actually three locations:

• SE-15-33-5-W5
• NE-10-33-5-W5
• NW-11-33-5-W5

Leading zeros

04-26-W2 and 4-26-W2 are equivalent. Township Canada handles both. If you get unexpected results with leading zeros, the issue is likely something else — double-check the full description.

Cleaning data from common sources

ABSA / AER spreadsheets (Alberta)

These exports often include station names, operator codes, or well status columns alongside the legal description. Copy only the LSD/section column. Strip any text in parentheses.

Saskatchewan HabiSask exports

HabiSask uses leading zeros and sometimes includes location qualifiers. Remove qualifiers and let Township Canada handle the zeros.

Ontario property tax bills

Tax bills include parcel numbers (PCL), mining claim references, instrument numbers, and other registry metadata. The only parts Township Canada needs are:

• Lot number
• Concession number
• Township name

Example: from "PCL 6123 SEC NS; BROKEN LT 29 CON 10 NIPISSING BEING MINING CLAIMS PS1696 & PS1697", extract Lot 29 Con 10 Nipissing. "BROKEN LT" just means an irregular lot — use the lot number normally.

Oil & gas well databases

Well databases use UWI (Unique Well Identifier) format, which looks similar to DLS but includes extra components. Strip the well event sequence and location exception codes to get the base legal description.

Batch conversion format tips

When pasting data into batch conversion:

• One location per line — do not put multiple descriptions on one line
• No headers — do not include column names like "Legal Description" in the paste
• Clean your data first — use Excel's TRIM() and SUBSTITUTE() functions to remove extra spaces and special characters before copying
• Don't mix with blank lines — blank lines can cause parsing errors
• Mixed formats are OK — you can include DLS, NTS, and Ontario descriptions in the same batch

Still stuck?

If your description does not match any format above, try the AI Assistant — it can help normalize messy inputs. Or contact support with the exact text you are trying to convert.