Surveying
Convert survey plan descriptions to GPS coordinates, batch-process section corner inventories, and export directly to Shapefile and DXF.
Free account for individual lookups. Contact sales for Business plan pricing and API access.
The Problems
Survey plans list locations in DLS, not coordinates
Project briefs, survey plans, and client documents describe sites by section, township, range, and meridian. Before mobilizing a crew, the party chief needs GPS waypoints for each location. That means translating every legal description into coordinates — a step that sits between receiving the project brief and loading field equipment.
A transposed number sends a crew to the wrong section
A township and range swapped in a rushed conversion doesn't produce an obvious error. It produces a valid-looking coordinate set that puts the crew eight or sixteen kilometres from the right location. Catching that before fieldwork starts — not after a crew day is burned — requires checking each description against its expected geographic position while still in the office.
Large projects have hundreds of locations
A municipal road improvement program might list 240 section corners. A pipeline survey plan might have 80 crossing points. A boundary retracement project might cover 50 quarter sections across three townships. Converting each one manually takes hours, and each manual step is another opportunity for a transcription error to enter the dataset.
Survey software needs specific file formats
GIS platforms use Shapefile. CAD programs need DXF. Different clients expect different deliverables — one asking for GeoJSON for a web portal, another needing KML for Google Earth field verification. Converting between formats after the survey adds overhead and introduces one more hand-off where data can drift.
What Township Canada Does
DLS to GPS conversion
Enter any DLS description — LSD, quarter section, or section — and get the centre-point GPS coordinates with the survey grid boundary displayed on the map. Confirm the location matches your project expectations before the crew loads the truck.
Enter NE-14-032-21W4 and confirm the northeast quarter of Section 14, Township 32, Range 21, West of the 4th Meridian — approximately 51.36°N, 112.81°W, near Drumheller. The survey grid overlay shows adjacent sections and quarter section boundaries so you can visually verify the position relative to known reference points.
DLS to GPS converter · Section township range lookup
Batch conversion for survey inventories
Upload a CSV with all project locations — section corners, pipeline crossings, facility coordinates, boundary monuments. Map your columns to the description components and the batch converter processes every row in seconds, returning GPS coordinates for each location.
Errors are flagged individually with the row number and the description that didn't resolve. Fix the specific failures and re-run without touching the rest of the dataset. A road improvement survey with 240 section corner descriptions goes through in a single pass; you get a complete coordinate file to load into your GPS data collector or import into your survey software.
Export to Shapefile, DXF, GeoJSON, and more
Download converted locations in the format each downstream system needs. Shapefile for ArcGIS and QGIS. DXF for AutoCAD Civil 3D. GeoJSON for web mapping applications. KML for Google Earth field verification. CSV for spreadsheets and data collectors.
Every export includes the original legal land description alongside the GPS coordinates, so the connection between the survey plan notation and the field position is preserved in the output file rather than living only in the party chief's notes.
API for survey software integration
RESTful API with Search, Batch, and Maps endpoints. Connect DLS-to-GPS conversion directly into custom survey software, data processing pipelines, or internal project management tools. Pass a legal description, get coordinates back — without a browser or a manual step in between.
The Maps endpoint serves vector tiles for township, section, quarter section, and LSD grid layers, so you can display the DLS survey grid as a reference layer in any map-based application built with Mapbox, MapLibre, Leaflet, or OpenLayers.
API documentation · API integration guide
Recommended Plan
Business plan with API access is the right fit for survey firms:
- Unlimited searches and batch conversions
- CSV upload with no row limit
- All export formats — Shapefile and DXF for GIS and CAD workflows
- Team management with role-based access for project teams
- API access with unlimited keys for software integration
- Survey grid map layers — township, section, quarter section, LSD boundaries — for visual verification of every conversion
Individual surveyors doing occasional lookups for a single site can start on the free plan. Firms running full project inventories, delivering GIS and CAD files, or connecting Township Canada to internal systems need Business.
Start Planning Your Next Survey
Free account for individual lookups. Business plan for batch processing, Shapefile and DXF exports, team access, and API.
Get started free · Contact sales
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