[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-\u002Fblog\u002Fplss-polygon-export-shapefile-geojson-kml":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"cover":223,"date":224,"description":225,"draft":226,"extension":227,"meta":228,"navigation":231,"path":232,"seo":233,"stem":234,"tags":235,"__hash__":244},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fplss-polygon-export-shapefile-geojson-kml.md","PLSS Polygon Export: Shapefile, GeoJSON, and KML from Section-Township-Range Descriptions",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":212},"minimark",[9,13,18,21,24,33,37,44,55,61,64,68,71,76,97,102,118,121,125,128,157,161,172,176,179,187,190,194,209],[10,11,12],"p",{},"A GIS analyst at a renewable energy company received 47 PLSS legal descriptions from a lease broker: T7N R29E Sec 12 SW¼, T7N R29E Sec 13 NW¼, and on down a spreadsheet covering a 9,000-acre wind project footprint in Oregon's Willamette Meridian. The analyst needed polygon boundaries, not centroid points, to build the site plan, check turbine setbacks, and attach the shapes to a BLM Form SF-299 right-of-way application. Converting each description to a point and estimating polygons from a grid formula would have taken a full day, with no guarantee the boundaries matched what BLM actually surveyed. The direct path: export the polygon boundaries as Shapefile, GeoJSON, or KML straight from the PLSS descriptions.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"why-centroid-points-fall-short","Why centroid points fall short",[10,19,20],{},"A centroid coordinate answers one question: where is the center of this parcel? A polygon boundary answers a different question: what shape is this parcel, and where does its edge run?",[10,22,23],{},"For APD filings, dropping a map pin, and quick spot-checks, a centroid is enough. But when you need to check whether a pipeline corridor crosses a specific section line, verify that a turbine setback clears a quarter-section boundary, or calculate the actual acreage of a surveyed parcel, a single point leaves you doing geometry by hand.",[10,25,26,27,32],{},"The PLSS is not a uniform grid. Survey adjustments, water boundaries, and convergence corrections mean a section that should be 640 acres on paper might measure 618 or 654 acres in the CadNSDI record. ",[28,29,31],"a",{"href":30},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-approximate-isnt-good-enough-plss-conversion-accuracy","Estimating a polygon from grid math rather than BLM survey data"," can put a boundary 200 meters off from where it was actually surveyed. The only reliable source for PLSS polygon shapes is CadNSDI (the BLM's cadastral survey database), and the export formats below give you those shapes in the form your GIS software already reads.",[14,34,36],{"id":35},"three-formats-and-when-to-use-each","Three formats and when to use each",[10,38,39,43],{},[40,41,42],"strong",{},"Shapefile (.shp + .dbf + .prj + .shx):"," The standard for ArcGIS geodatabases and most land management systems. Shapefiles carry projection metadata in the .prj file and attribute data in the .dbf file, which means ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, and any ESRI tool reads them without conversion. Use Shapefile when the downstream system is ArcGIS, when you are building a feature class, or when a land department or BLM office has requested a shapefile of the project area.",[10,45,46,49,50,54],{},[40,47,48],{},"GeoJSON (.geojson):"," The web-native format for spatial data. Each PLSS boundary is a GeoJSON Feature with a ",[51,52,53],"code",{},"Polygon"," geometry and properties including the description string, state, county, principal meridian, and CadNSDI acreage. Use GeoJSON when the workflow is code-based (Python, JavaScript, a REST API), when you are importing into QGIS or a web mapping tool, or when the downstream consumer is a developer. GeoJSON is plain text and parseable by any modern GIS library without additional drivers.",[10,56,57,60],{},[40,58,59],{},"KML (.kml):"," The format Google Earth reads natively. KML polygons display as overlays in the Earth viewer with fill and outline styling. Use KML for field coordination, client presentations, and any workflow where someone who is not a GIS analyst needs to see the project footprint. KML also opens in Google My Maps and most mobile mapping apps.",[10,62,63],{},"All three formats draw from the same source: CadNSDI-derived polygon boundaries for sections and quarter-sections across all 30 PLSS states.",[14,65,67],{"id":66},"step-by-step-exporting-a-polygon-from-a-plss-description","Step-by-step: exporting a polygon from a PLSS description",[10,69,70],{},"Export is available on the Business plan and works for single descriptions and batch uploads.",[10,72,73],{},[40,74,75],{},"Single description:",[77,78,79,88,91,94],"ol",{},[80,81,82,83,87],"li",{},"Enter the PLSS legal description in the ",[28,84,86],{"href":85},"\u002Fplss-converter","converter",". Example: T7N R29E Sec 13 NW¼, Willamette Meridian.",[80,89,90],{},"After conversion, the result panel shows the polygon overlaid on the map.",[80,92,93],{},"Select the export format (Shapefile, GeoJSON, or KML) from the export menu.",[80,95,96],{},"Download. Shapefile downloads as a .zip containing all four required component files.",[10,98,99],{},[40,100,101],{},"Batch export:",[77,103,104,107,115],{},[80,105,106],{},"Prepare a CSV with one PLSS description per row. Include the principal meridian as a column if your descriptions do not embed it.",[80,108,109,110,114],{},"Upload to the ",[28,111,113],{"href":112},"\u002Fguides\u002Fbatch-conversion","batch converter",".",[80,116,117],{},"After processing, select the export format and download a single file containing polygon boundaries for every resolved description.",[10,119,120],{},"The batch tool processes all uploaded descriptions in a single run. Descriptions that cannot be resolved are flagged with an error column; valid descriptions export normally.",[14,122,124],{"id":123},"arcgis-pro-loading-a-plss-shapefile-into-a-feature-class","ArcGIS Pro: loading a PLSS Shapefile into a feature class",[10,126,127],{},"With the downloaded Shapefile zip extracted to a local folder:",[77,129,130,133,140,147,150],{},[80,131,132],{},"Open ArcGIS Pro and open or create a project.",[80,134,135,136,139],{},"In the Catalog pane, drag the .shp file into a geodatabase, or use ",[40,137,138],{},"Import > Feature Class (multiple)"," to load it.",[80,141,142,143,146],{},"ArcGIS reads the .prj projection file and imports the layer in WGS84 (EPSG:4326). If your project uses a state plane or UTM projection, use the ",[40,144,145],{},"Project"," tool to reproject after import.",[80,148,149],{},"Open the attribute table. Columns include the PLSS description, state, county, principal meridian, and CadNSDI acres.",[80,151,152,153,156],{},"To join BLM ownership data, add the BLM Surface Management Agency layer from ArcGIS Living Atlas or a local BLM download, then use ",[40,154,155],{},"Spatial Join"," to attach BLM attributes to each parcel polygon.",[14,158,160],{"id":159},"qgis-geojson-import-and-spatial-join","QGIS: GeoJSON import and spatial join",[10,162,163,164,167,168,171],{},"In QGIS, drag the .geojson file into the Layers panel. To reproject, right-click and select ",[40,165,166],{},"Export > Save Features As"," with the target CRS. To join lease records, run ",[40,169,170],{},"Join Attributes by Location"," (Vector > Data Management) with \"intersects\" as the predicate, then export as Shapefile or GeoPackage.",[14,173,175],{"id":174},"wind-and-solar-siting-form-sf-299-map-exhibits","Wind and solar siting: Form SF-299 map exhibits",[10,177,178],{},"BLM Form SF-299 (right-of-way application for federal land) requires the project footprint defined by section-level PLSS descriptions. For projects spanning multiple sections, BLM field offices expect a map exhibit showing polygon boundaries overlaid on surface management data so reviewers can verify the lease area against cadastral records.",[10,180,181,182,186],{},"A ",[28,183,185],{"href":184},"\u002Fblog\u002Fblm-solar-wind-leases-plss-coordinates-siting","utility-scale solar or wind project on federal land"," typically involves 20 to 50 sections. Producing the map exhibit from scratch, pulling section boundaries from BLM GIS layers, clipping to the lease area, and reprojecting, is a half-day task with room for error. Exporting the polygon boundaries from the project's PLSS description list and loading them into ArcGIS or QGIS compresses that to under an hour, with shapes traced from CadNSDI data rather than estimated from a grid.",[10,188,189],{},"T7N R29E Sec 12 SW¼ in the Willamette Meridian sits in Morrow County, Oregon, in the Columbia Plateau wind corridor. Because Section 12 falls on the eastern edge of its township row, convergence adjustments have accumulated and the actual SW¼ boundary does not describe a perfect 40-acre rectangle. The CadNSDI polygon reflects the surveyed shape; a grid estimate does not.",[14,191,193],{"id":192},"business-plan-what-is-included","Business plan: what is included",[10,195,196,197,201,202,208],{},"Shapefile, GeoJSON, KML, CSV, and DXF exports are all available on the ",[28,198,200],{"href":199},"\u002Fpricing","Business plan at $40 per user per month",". Business also includes unlimited batch conversion, unlimited PLSS searches, team management, and priority support. For programmatic polygon access in your own pipelines, the standalone Search and Batch API returns the same CadNSDI boundaries; see the ",[28,203,207],{"href":204,"rel":205},"https:\u002F\u002Ftownshipamerica.com\u002Fapi",[206],"nofollow","API docs"," for pricing separate from the web plans.",[10,210,211],{},"Individual lookups and the interactive map are available to try before upgrading. Polygon export is a Business feature because the downstream workflows (ArcGIS geodatabases, BLM applications, engineering siting tools) are where section-accurate boundaries do the most work.",{"title":213,"searchDepth":214,"depth":214,"links":215},"",2,[216,217,218,219,220,221,222],{"id":16,"depth":214,"text":17},{"id":35,"depth":214,"text":36},{"id":66,"depth":214,"text":67},{"id":123,"depth":214,"text":124},{"id":159,"depth":214,"text":160},{"id":174,"depth":214,"text":175},{"id":192,"depth":214,"text":193},"\u002Fimages\u002Fblog\u002Fplss-polygon-export-shapefile-geojson-kml\u002Fcover.png","2026-06-09","Export CadNSDI-accurate PLSS section polygon boundaries as Shapefile, GeoJSON, or KML from any Section-Township-Range description. Step-by-step guide for ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, and BLM right-of-way applications.",false,"md",{"author":229,"category":230},"Township America","gis",true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fplss-polygon-export-shapefile-geojson-kml",{"title":5,"description":225},"blog\u002Fplss-polygon-export-shapefile-geojson-kml",[236,237,238,239,240,241,242,243],"GIS","Shapefile","GeoJSON","KML","PLSS","ArcGIS","QGIS","Export","KkYG0bgfmLaPzayWoz5b_wZHzW8pMmCCAVYcj1z7f4M"]