A BC NTS location like d-96-H/94-A-15 is read from the map sheet inward: sheet 94-A-15, block H, unit 96, quarter unit d — each level a smaller latitude-longitude rectangle. Because it is a pure graticule, the position can be computed exactly; the free lookup below does it instantly.
Worked example: d-96-H/94-A-15
Unlike a prairie DLS description, nothing here was ever staked on the ground. Each level just divides its parent rectangle of latitude and longitude:
Part
Level
Cell size
Narrows to
94
Primary quadrangle
8° lon × 4° lat
120°–128°W, 56°–60°N
A
Letter area (A–P, serpentine from SE)
2° × 1°
120°–122°W, 56°–57°N
15
1:50,000 sheet (1–16, serpentine)
30′ × 15′
120°30′–121°W, 56°45′–57°N
H
Block (A–L, 4 × 3, serpentine)
7.5′ × 5′
120°30′–120°37.5′W, 56°50′–56°55′N
96
Unit (1–100, rows restart at the east edge)
45″ × 30″
120°33′45″–120°34′30″W, 56°54′30″–56°55′N
d
Quarter unit (a = SE, b = SW, c = NW, d = NE)
22.5″ × 15″
Centre: 56.914583, −120.565625
Working down the table: quadrangle 94 covers northeast BC; letter area A is its southeast corner (the sixteen areas A–P snake west then east from the SE); sheet 15 sits in the top row of that area; block H is on the east edge of the sheet’s middle row; unit 96 is in the top row of the block, six columns in from the east; and quarter unit d is the northeast quarter of that unit. Its centre — 56.914583, −120.565625 — falls in the Peejay field northeast of Fort St. John, a heavily drilled corner of the province.
Two numbering quirks catch people out. Letter areas, sheets and blocks all number serpentine (boustrophedon) starting at the southeast corner, but units do not: unit rows are 10 wide and every row restarts at the east edge, so 1–10 run east to west, then 11 sits directly above 1. And quarter units go a = southeast, b = southwest, c = northwest, d = northeast — clockwise from the SE.
Try the lookup
Enter any BC NTS/BCGS location — for example d-96-H/94-A-15 or A-1-J/93-P-8.
or build it field by field
How the system works
The National Topographic System divides Canada into numbered primary quadrangles, each 8° of longitude by 4° of latitude. British Columbia’s energy sector subdivides those quadrangles down to quarter units to identify well and facility locations, as set out in the Petroleum and Natural Gas Grid Regulation (B.C. Reg. 536/2004). BCGS — the BC Geographic System — applies the same graticule idea to the province’s 1:20,000 map sheets.
BC uses NTS locations because most of the province was never covered by the Dominion Land Survey — mountainous terrain made a monument-based square-mile grid impractical. The one exception is the Peace River Block around Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, which was surveyed with the prairie DLS system and still uses prairie-style quarter-section descriptions west of the Sixth Meridian (118°W). See DLS vs NTS: what’s the difference? for how to tell the two apart at a glance.
Coverage and limitations
This site computes NTS/BCGS positions with exact graticule math per B.C. Reg. 536/2004. One caveat: the officially published NAD83 grid corners in northeast BC were fixed by regulation and can differ from the ideal graticule by up to about 100 m. For navigation, staking research or map work that is rarely material; for anything survey-critical, consult the BC Energy Regulator’s official grid or a licensed surveyor. Results are for navigation and reference only — not a legal survey. Peace River Block DLS lookups are covered by the DLS/LSD lookup.
Wellsite lookups without cell coverage
Land Description Lookup for iPhone converts NTS and BCGS locations entirely on-device, with offline base maps of BC, current-location lookup and navigation handoff — built for lease roads far past the last bar of signal.
NTS/BCGS positions are computed from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Grid Regulation (B.C. Reg. 536/2004) as ideal-graticule positions; Peace River Block DLS data comes from the BC Energy Regulator. Read the full methodology.
