Texas Survey System (TXSS) API Guide

Township America's Texas API supports the Original Texas Land Survey (OTLS) system across all 254 Texas counties. Texas does not use PLSS — it uses Abstract / Block / Survey, and this guide shows how to convert and query Texas legal descriptions programmatically.

Endpoints

All Texas endpoints follow the same auth and Pro+ gating pattern as the PLSS endpoints.

POST /api/convert (unified)

The unified conversion endpoint accepts both PLSS and TXSS descriptions transparently and returns a system field so client code can route on the response.

curl -X POST https://townshipamerica.com/api/convert \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"description": "A-123 Reeves County, TX"}'

Returns:

{
  "system": "TXSS",
  "county_fips": "48389",
  "county_name": "Reeves",
  "abstract_no": "123",
  "block_no": null,
  "survey_name": "T&P RR Co. Survey",
  "survey_name_norm": "Texas and Pacific Railway Company Survey",
  "centroid": { "lat": 31.4128, "lng": -103.8721 },
  "polygon": {
    "type": "Polygon",
    "coordinates": [
      /* … */
    ]
  },
  "acreage": 640.2
}

The same endpoint with a PLSS description returns system: "PLSS" and the existing PLSS response shape.

GET /api/tx/abstract (Pro+)

Direct abstract lookup. Pro+ required. Accepts county as either a 5-digit FIPS code (e.g. 48389) or a county name (e.g. Reeves, Reeves County, Reeves Co.).

curl "https://townshipamerica.com/api/tx/abstract?county=Reeves&abstract=123"

GET /api/tx/block (Pro+)

Direct Block & Section lookup for West Texas. Pro+ required. survey and section are optional disambiguators — if the block resolves to a single row without them, the response returns the match; otherwise the endpoint returns 422 with a list of candidate (abstract, survey, section) tuples.

curl "https://townshipamerica.com/api/tx/block?county=Reeves&block=5&survey=Texas%20and%20Pacific%20Railway%20Company%20Survey&section=14"

GET /api/tx/wells (Pro+)

RRC wells inside or within a buffer (≤5 miles) of a Texas abstract, ordered by distance to the abstract centroid.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TA_API_KEY" \
  "https://townshipamerica.com/api/tx/wells?county=Reeves&abstract=123&buffer=1"

GET /api/tx/leases (Pro+)

Active GLO state O&G leases intersecting a Texas abstract. Coastal abstracts also pull in adjacent Bay Tracts within ~10 miles (tagged source: "BayTract").

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TA_API_KEY" \
  "https://townshipamerica.com/api/tx/leases?county=Aransas&abstract=12"

GET /api/tx/bay-tract (Pro+)

Direct Bay Tract lookup by tract_id (Phase 0 §FR5).

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TA_API_KEY" \
  "https://townshipamerica.com/api/tx/bay-tract?tract_id=BT-100"

Supported Description Shapes

The parser tolerates abbreviation and case-insensitivity across all four RRC source regions:

The parser normalizes railroad-survey abbreviations to canonical names (T&P → Texas and Pacific Railway Company Survey, H&TC → Houston and Texas Central Railway Company Survey, GC&SF → Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company Survey, etc.). The survey_name_norm field in the response is the canonical form.

Polygon Export

Polygon export works identically for Texas abstracts and PLSS sections. Pro+ subscribers can export Shapefile, GeoJSON, or KMZ from the conversion result with no code changes.

Pricing & Gating

• Conversion via POST /api/convert and search via GET /api/search is free/Starter/Pro at parity with PLSS (centroid only); Pro+ unlocks the polygon.
• All five direct /api/tx/* endpoints (abstract, block, wells, leases, bay-tract) require Pro+.

SDK Examples

Both the Python and TypeScript SDKs have a Texas example notebook in their READMEs. Search for "Texas" in your installed SDK README.

Related Guides

• API Integration — General API integration patterns
• Account Management — Billing for API subscriptions

Need help with a Texas integration? Contact us.