[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-\u002Fblog\u002Fbatch-convert-plss-legal-descriptions-for-og-data-teams-csv-upload-geojson-polygons-and-structured-export":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"cover":155,"date":156,"description":157,"draft":158,"extension":159,"meta":160,"navigation":164,"path":165,"seo":166,"stem":167,"tags":168,"__hash__":173},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fbatch-convert-plss-legal-descriptions-for-og-data-teams-csv-upload-geojson-polygons-and-structured-export.md","Batch Convert PLSS Legal Descriptions for O&G Data Teams: CSV Upload, GeoJSON Polygons, and Structured Export",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":145},"minimark",[9,13,18,27,31,34,42,46,49,84,87,91,94,98,105,113,117,142],[10,11,12],"p",{},"An oil and gas data team rarely starts with coordinates. It starts with a spreadsheet: a lease schedule, an AFE list, or a production database where every well and tract is recorded as a legal description like NWSE 12 152N 96W, 5th Principal Meridian. That column is precise and legally correct, and it is also unreadable to a GIS until someone turns it into coordinates and a boundary. Doing that one row at a time, by pasting each description into a single lookup, is a multi-day job that pushes transcription errors into filings that cannot absorb them. Batch PLSS conversion removes that step. You upload the whole file, and the converter returns latitude\u002Flongitude and parcel geometry for every row in one pass. This guide covers how the upload works, which export format fits which tool, and why a polygon matters more than a point for lease and permitting work.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"the-data-problem-descriptions-without-geometry","The data problem: descriptions without geometry",[10,19,20,21,26],{},"A production or land team can hold thousands of PLSS descriptions across a play, and almost none of them arrive as coordinates. The description tells a title examiner exactly which 40 or 160 acres is meant, but a map, a spacing analysis, or an APD attachment needs a latitude\u002Flongitude and, more often, a boundary. A single-lookup tool is fine for one well. It does not scale to a full ",[22,23,25],"a",{"href":24},"\u002Findustries\u002Foil-and-gas","oil and gas"," portfolio, and it certainly cannot run unattended when the dataset refreshes. This is the gap a bulk legal description converter closes: it treats the whole file as the unit of work instead of the individual row.",[14,28,30],{"id":29},"uploading-a-csv-or-excel-file","Uploading a CSV or Excel file",[10,32,33],{},"Township America's batch converter accepts a CSV or Excel file and resolves thousands of legal descriptions in a single pass. Each row carries the parts of the description the resolver needs: state, principal meridian, township, range, section, and the aliquot part (for example, the NWSE quarter-quarter). Every row is resolved from official BLM survey data across all 30 PLSS states and 37 principal meridians, down to the 1\u002F64 aliquot part, which is about 10 acres.",[10,35,36,37,41],{},"For each input row, the converter returns two things: a latitude\u002Flongitude centroid and a full GeoJSON polygon of the described parcel. Because the resolution is deterministic and drawn from survey data rather than approximated, a quarter section on a lease row maps to the correct 160 acres rather than a guess near the middle of the section. The step-by-step upload flow, including the accepted column layout, is documented in the ",[22,38,40],{"href":39},"\u002Fhow-to\u002Fbatch-convert-plss-descriptions","batch conversion how-to",".",[14,43,45],{"id":44},"choosing-an-export-format","Choosing an export format",[10,47,48],{},"Once the file is resolved, you export it into whatever your team already runs. Township America writes five structured formats, and the right one depends on the destination:",[50,51,52,60,66,72,78],"ul",{},[53,54,55,59],"li",{},[56,57,58],"strong",{},"CSV",": the plainest option, for spreadsheets, databases, and rating or production systems that just need coordinates in columns.",[53,61,62,65],{},[56,63,64],{},"GeoJSON",": for web maps (Leaflet, Mapbox) and for QGIS or ArcGIS when you want the boundary geometry, not only points.",[53,67,68,71],{},[56,69,70],{},"Shapefile",": the default interchange format for desktop GIS. If your team lives in ArcGIS or QGIS, this is usually the least-friction path.",[53,73,74,77],{},[56,75,76],{},"KML",": for Google Earth and quick visual review with non-GIS colleagues.",[53,79,80,83],{},[56,81,82],{},"DXF",": for CAD and survey drafting, when the parcel has to land in AutoCAD alongside plats or facility drawings.",[10,85,86],{},"The rule of thumb: if the destination is a web map or a modern GIS, export GeoJSON so you keep the polygon; if it is a legacy desktop GIS workflow, export Shapefile; if it is a spreadsheet or a billing system, CSV is enough.",[14,88,90],{"id":89},"why-the-polygon-matters-not-just-the-point","Why the polygon matters, not just the point",[10,92,93],{},"A centroid answers \"roughly where,\" and for a pin on a map that is fine. Lease and permitting work asks a harder question: does this wellbore, unit, or setback fall inside the described tract? A point cannot answer that, and a boundary can. Township America returns a full GeoJSON polygon for sections and quarter sections that reflects the actual BLM survey boundary of the parcel, not a bounding box and not a centroid. This means you can overlay a proposed surface location on the exact 160 acres of NWSE 12 152N 96W and confirm it sits where the description says, before it goes on an APD attachment. For anyone who has had a filing bounced over a location that plotted outside the tract, that check is the difference between a point and a boundary.",[14,95,97],{"id":96},"which-plan-covers-batch-conversion-and-structured-exports","Which plan covers batch conversion and structured exports",[10,99,100,101,41],{},"Batch conversion with structured exports is on the Business plan at $40 per user per month. That plan is where the CSV and Excel upload and all five export formats live, so a team converting a book of leases or a well list works there rather than lookup by lookup. You can compare tiers on the ",[22,102,104],{"href":103},"\u002Fpricing","pricing page",[10,106,107,108,112],{},"If conversion has to run inside a data pipeline rather than a browser, the upload is the wrong tool. Use the batch endpoint on the ",[22,109,111],{"href":110},"\u002Fapi","Township America API"," instead. It accepts up to 100 records per request and returns coordinates and GeoJSON polygon boundaries as structured JSON, metered per record on the Build or Scale API tiers. A pipeline that refreshes a parcel table on a schedule needs an endpoint it can call, not a page a person clicks. The decision is straightforward: convert a book once a quarter, and the upload fits; convert on a schedule, and wire the API.",[14,114,116],{"id":115},"example-workflows","Example workflows",[50,118,119,130,136],{},[53,120,121,124,125,129],{},[56,122,123],{},"APD location filing",": resolve the surface and bottomhole descriptions to coordinates and polygons, then confirm each falls inside the described tract before attaching them. The ",[22,126,128],{"href":127},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-landmen-use-plss-api-apd-workflows","landman APD workflow guide"," walks through this end to end.",[53,131,132,135],{},[56,133,134],{},"Lease portfolio geocoding",": turn a full lease schedule into a mapped layer in one upload, so acreage, expiries, and offsets can be reviewed spatially instead of row by row.",[53,137,138,141],{},[56,139,140],{},"Production-unit spacing verification",": convert the sections and quarter sections that define a unit, then use the polygons to check spacing and confirm the unit closes on the acreage it claims.",[10,143,144],{},"The pattern behind all three is the same. The legal description is the record of truth, and batch PLSS conversion turns a column of those records into coordinates and boundaries your GIS, CAD, and filing tools can actually read. Upload the file, pick the export your team runs, and keep the polygon when the work depends on where the line actually is.",{"title":146,"searchDepth":147,"depth":147,"links":148},"",2,[149,150,151,152,153,154],{"id":16,"depth":147,"text":17},{"id":29,"depth":147,"text":30},{"id":44,"depth":147,"text":45},{"id":89,"depth":147,"text":90},{"id":96,"depth":147,"text":97},{"id":115,"depth":147,"text":116},null,"2026-07-31T10:00:00Z","Batch PLSS conversion for oil and gas data teams: upload a CSV of legal descriptions, get latitude\u002Flongitude and GeoJSON polygons, and export to Shapefile or GeoJSON.",false,"md",{"author":161,"category":162,"image":163},"Township America","guides","\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fbatch-convert-plss-legal-descriptions-for-og-data-teams-csv-upload-geojson-polygons-and-structured-export\u002Fcover.webp",true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fbatch-convert-plss-legal-descriptions-for-og-data-teams-csv-upload-geojson-polygons-and-structured-export",{"title":5,"description":157},"blog\u002Fbatch-convert-plss-legal-descriptions-for-og-data-teams-csv-upload-geojson-polygons-and-structured-export",[169,25,170,171,172],"batch conversion","plss","geojson","exports","7N0Q_parH_eRuGw4UVxw4NBaGJtr4tNtHPnb0xLcy5c"]