How to Convert Section Township Range to GPS Coordinates

A PLSS legal description tells you exactly where a piece of land sits — but it gives you that location in a survey language, not latitude and longitude. To navigate to it, load it into GIS software, or share it with someone who needs a pin on a map, you need GPS coordinates.

This guide walks through the conversion process from start to finish, with three worked examples from different states and principal meridians.

What You Need Before You Start

You need the full legal description. A complete PLSS description includes:

• Quarter section (optional, but common) — NE, NW, SE, SW, or a quarter-quarter like NWSE
• Section number — 1 through 36
• Township — direction and number (e.g., 4N, 3S)
• Range — direction and number (e.g., 7W, 68W)
• Principal Meridian — the named reference meridian for that region

If your description is missing any of these, the conversion may return the wrong location or fail entirely. A deed, title report, or county tax record will usually have the full description.

You also need access to a PLSS converter that covers your state. Township America's converter covers all 30+ PLSS states.

Step-by-Step: Converting with Township America

Step 1: Open the Converter

Go to Township America's PLSS converter. No account is required for single conversions.

Step 2: Enter the Legal Description

Type or paste your legal description into the search field. The converter accepts several formats:

• NWSE 15 4N 7W Indian Meridian
• NW SE 15 4N 7W Indian Meridian
• NWSE 15 4N 7W Blaine County Oklahoma

If you are unsure which format to use, use the simplified format with spaces — the parser handles it reliably. You can also use county and state in place of the meridian name.

Step 3: Review the Result

The converter returns:

• Center coordinates in decimal degrees (latitude, longitude)
• Boundary outline showing the exact parcel on a map
• Area in acres
• Principal meridian confirmation so you can verify the parser read your description correctly

Check the map result against any physical context you know — nearby roads, a town, a county boundary. If something looks off, see the troubleshooting section below.

Step 4: Export or Use the Coordinates

From the result page you can:

• Copy the GPS coordinates directly
• Export as CSV, KML, GeoJSON, or Shapefile
• Get directions to the parcel center
• Save the location to a project for later reference

For multiple descriptions, see the batch conversion section below.

Worked Example 1: Oklahoma (Indian Meridian)

Description: NWSE 15 4N 7W Indian Meridian

Breaking this down:

Enter NWSE 15 4N 7W Indian Meridian into Township America's Oklahoma converter.

Result: approximately 35.87°N, 98.12°W, in Blaine County, Oklahoma — a 40-acre parcel in agricultural land west of Watonga.

The Indian Meridian runs through central Oklahoma. If you accidentally select the wrong meridian — say, the Cimarron Meridian — your result shifts to the Oklahoma panhandle. Always confirm the meridian shown in the result matches your deed.

Worked Example 2: Colorado (6th Principal Meridian)

Description: SENE 22 3S 68W 6th Meridian

Breaking this down:

Enter SENE 22 3S 68W 6th Meridian into Township America's Colorado converter.

Result: approximately 39.78°N, 105.04°W, in Jefferson County, Colorado — a 40-acre parcel in the foothills west of Denver.

The 6th Principal Meridian covers Colorado east of the Continental Divide. Western Colorado uses the New Mexico Principal Meridian. If you have a Colorado property and the location looks wrong, check whether the original survey used a different meridian.

Worked Example 3: Oregon (Willamette Meridian)

Description: NE 6 2S 1E Willamette Meridian

Breaking this down:

Enter NE 6 2S 1E Willamette Meridian into Township America's Oregon converter.

Result: approximately 45.41°N, 122.68°W, in Clackamas County, Oregon — a 160-acre quarter section in the Willamette Valley south of Portland.

The Willamette Meridian covers both Oregon and Washington state. Section 6 is in the northwest corner of a township, which is why high section numbers like 31–36 appear in the south and low numbers like 1–6 appear in the north — a common source of confusion when reading survey maps.

Batch Conversion for Multiple Descriptions

If you have more than a handful of descriptions, converting them one at a time is slow. Township America's batch converter accepts a CSV file and returns coordinates for every row.

Preparing Your CSV

Your CSV needs at minimum a column containing the legal description. A label column is optional but helps you identify results:

label,description
Parcel A,NWSE 15 4N 7W Indian Meridian
Parcel B,SENE 22 3S 68W 6th Meridian
Parcel C,NE 6 2S 1E Willamette Meridian

Keep descriptions consistent within a file. Mixing formats (some with quarters, some without) is fine — the parser handles variation — but inconsistent meridian abbreviations can cause failures. Use the full meridian name when in doubt.

Uploading and Processing

Go to the batch conversion guide for full instructions. The batch converter is available on Business plans.

Reviewing and Exporting Results

After processing, Township America flags any descriptions that failed to parse. Common reasons:

• Section number out of range (valid range is 1–36)
• Township or range number that exceeds the meridian's actual coverage
• Meridian name that didn't match a known meridian (typos are common here)

Correct the flagged rows and re-run. Export the full results as CSV, KML, GeoJSON, or Shapefile for use in GIS software.

Common Formatting Issues

Fraction notation: Some deeds use "NW/4", "NW1/4", or "NW¼". Township America accepts all of these, but the recommended simplified format uses just "NW" without any fraction symbol. If copying from a PDF, fraction characters sometimes paste incorrectly — use the simplified format to avoid issues.

Meridian abbreviations: "6th PM", "Sixth PM", "6th Principal Meridian", and "Sixth Principal Meridian" all work. "6PM" without a space may not parse correctly in some contexts.

Township and range direction: T4N R7W means 4 North and 7 West. If your description omits the direction letters (just "T4 R7"), try both N/S and E/W combinations — some older deeds drop the direction when it's obvious from local convention.

Double-quarter descriptions: NWSE reads as "the Northwest quarter of the Southeast quarter" — a 40-acre parcel. Some people mistakenly enter it as SENW thinking the order doesn't matter. It does. The rightmost quarter is always the parent parcel; the leftmost is the subdivision within it.

Related Guides

• How to read a legal land description
• How to find your property using a legal description
• How to batch convert PLSS descriptions to coordinates
• PLSS glossary