How do you use the NTS Lookup Service?

The National Topographic System Lookup Service is a web service which returns geometries
for known NTS map sheet identifiers or by latitude/longitude coordinates, at scales of 50,000,
250,000 and 1,000,000. This service has been developed and is maintained by the Centre for
Topographic Information Sherbrooke (CTIS).

The results are returned in XML with two regions encoded in GML 3.0.0, returning latitude-
longitude coordinates. One location is a polygon representing the neatline of the map sheet.
(The neatline is the border line on a map separating the body and detail of a map from
surrounding information and the frame. On a topographic map, these lines are usually meridians
and parallels.) The other location is the quadrangle of the map sheet. Alternatively, it can return
the National Topographic System map sheet number for a given location and scale.

To implement the National Topographic System Lookup Service in your application, you will need
to consider the following elements:

1. The output format is XML with two regions encoded in GML 3.0.0, returning latitude-
   longitude coordinates.
   
   
2. To view a sample interface for the National Topographic System Lookup Service, click
   NTS Lookup Service sample interface.
   
   
3. To learn more about the capabilities of the National Topographic System Lookup Service,
   click NTS Lookup Service capabilities.
   
   
4. The base URL for the National Topographic System Lookup Service, is
   http://geoservices.cgdi.ca/NTS/NTSLookup?.
   
   
5. For an example of a National Topographic Systems lookup service, click NTS Lookup
   Service example.
   
   
6. To download a table of parameter specifications for the National Topographic System
   Lookup Service, click on NTS Lookup parameters.
   
   
7. For more information about the National Topographic System Lookup Service, click NTS
   Lookup Service information, and see:
   http://geodiscover.cgdi.ca/gdp/search?action=entrySummary&entryType=webService&
   entryId=1566&entryLang=en

Did you know? As Canada's national topographic mapping agency, NRCan’s Centre for Topographic Information acquires, manages and disseminates topographic information for the Canadian landmass. Using information contained in the National Topographic Data Base, the Centre for Topographic Information in Ottawa produces topographic maps at scales of 1/50 000 and 1/250 000. In addition, the Centre is the custodian of the federal aerial photography archives and offers aerial photography reproduction and distribution services.