TerraTracer
Convert Land Certificates to Precision GIS Maps
Why TerraTracer?
Land certificates describe property boundaries in words. A mining claim from the Bureau of Land Management reads like a recipe: "Beginning at the NW corner, thence S 45° 30' E for 600 feet, thence S 44° 30' W for 1500 feet..." and so on, tracing the full perimeter in bearing-and-distance sequences.
The problem? There's no tool that converts those directions directly to KML. Existing services like earthpoint.us let you create KML polygons from coordinates, but they can't parse the sequential bearing + distance format found on actual land certificates.
If you're a miner filing a claim, a surveyor verifying boundaries, or a geologist mapping sites, you're stuck manually calculating each waypoint with a calculator and plotting them one by one. TerraTracer eliminates that entirely.
Use Cases
Mining Claims
Map lode and placer claims directly from BLM land certificates. Enter the bearing/distance sequence and get a Google Earth overlay in seconds.
Property Boundaries
Convert legal metes-and-bounds descriptions into polygon maps. Visualize any property defined by bearing + distance sequences.
Land Surveying
Professional-grade boundary tracing with WGS84 geodesic calculations. Sub-2-inch precision over distances up to miles.
Drone Flight Paths
Define flight routes from waypoint coordinates. Export KML files that drone autopilot systems can consume directly.
Geology & Rockhounding
Mark mineral find locations, deposit boundaries, and exploration zones. Export to GIS tools for field reference.
Civil Engineering
GIS integration workflows for infrastructure projects. Generate standardized boundary data for CAD and mapping platforms.
How It Works
Three steps from land certificate text to a precision map overlay. The entire process takes under a minute.
Input
Enter your tie point coordinates (the starting location) plus the bearing and distance segments from the land certificate. Supports both Decimal Degrees and Degrees-Minutes-Seconds input modes.
Calculate
TerraTracer uses WGS84 geodesic computation via the geographiclib library to trace the boundary with sub-2-inch accuracy. Each bearing/distance segment produces a precise waypoint on the Earth's surface.
Export
Download the result as KML for Google Earth or JSON for GIS tools. Open the KML file and see your property boundary rendered as a polygon overlay on satellite imagery.
Technology Stack
Coming to Your Browser
TerraTracer is being ported to a full web application. Draw boundaries on an interactive map, export KML/GeoJSON, and visualize property polygons in real time—all without installing Python.
Try the Web AppQuick Start
Clone the repository, install dependencies, and start mapping in under 30 seconds.
$ git clone https://github.com/YourGitHubUser/TerraTracer.git
$ cd TerraTracer
$ pip install -r requirements.txt
$ python main_program.py
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ TerraTracer v0.5.5 ║
║ Land Certificate → GIS Mapper ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
Select input mode:
[1] Decimal Degrees (DD)
[2] Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS)
_Ready to Map?
Turn land certificates into precision GIS maps. Open source, MIT licensed, Python 3.6+.