AER Pipelines Map: Visualize Alberta Oil and Gas Pipelines on the DLS Grid
Township Canada renders every AER-licensed pipeline as a line layer with mid-point labels. For operators, integrity teams, and right-of-way planning.
AER Pipelines Map
Alberta has roughly half a million kilometres of licensed pipeline distributed across natural gas, crude oil, multiphase, water disposal, fuel gas, and CO2 service. Every segment is licensed by the Alberta Energy Regulator and tracked by start/end DLS legal land descriptions. Township Canada renders the full network as a line layer on the same map as wells, facilities, and parcels.
What the layer shows
- Line geometry for every AER-licensed pipeline segment
- Mid-point label points computed via
ST_LineInterpolatePoint— drops the label at the centre of each segment so the line layer stays readable at low zoom - Stack ordering with the line beneath label points so the geometry stays visible when labels are toggled
The PMTiles for the pipeline layer use --coalesce-densest-as-needed to keep southern-Alberta tile sizes manageable. In central-southwest Alberta where the density is highest (5000+ segments per township in a few areas), the PMTiles pipeline collapses adjacent segments at low zoom so the visual stays legible.
Use cases by role
Operators planning new gathering infrastructure — toggle the pipelines layer to see existing tie-in candidates near a proposed wellsite. Cross-reference with the AER Facilities layer (battery, gas plant, compressor, etc.) to identify the actual destination points.
Integrity teams — for a planned ILI (in-line inspection) campaign, the layer shows the segments to schedule against. The mid-point labels make it straightforward to identify named lines from the map view.
Right-of-way planning — for a new pipeline corridor, the existing network lets the engineering team identify parallel-routing opportunities (sharing existing ROW corridors saves environmental assessment time) and proximity conflicts.
M&A diligence — when evaluating an acquisition target's infrastructure footprint, the pipelines layer plus the AER Wells layer plus the BA licensee snapshot API give a full picture without round-tripping the AER directives portal.
Surface-rights holders — when a pipeline crosses your land, knowing the licensee and the line ID is the first step to engaging on integrity, leak history, or right-of-way maintenance.
Combining with other layers
The pipelines layer is most useful in combination:
- + Wells layer — shows which wells are tied into which lines; especially relevant for shut-in or suspended wells where the gathering infrastructure remains
- + Facilities layer — shows the destination batteries, gas plants, and compressors that the lines connect to
- + Crown dispositions overlay (planned) — shows the surface dispositions (PIL, LOC) that license the right-of-way
Coverage
- Alberta: full AER coverage
- Saskatchewan, BC: not yet — see roadmap
The pipeline layer ships as part of the Energy Bundle. See the Energy use case page for the full layer set.
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AER Pipelines Map: Visualize Alberta Oil and Gas Pipelines on the DLS Grid
Township Canada renders every AER-licensed pipeline as a line layer with mid-point labels. For operators, integrity teams, and right-of-way planning.