Gov APIspatial.nsw.gov.au ↗
Access NSW spatial data portal items, groups, data packs, news, and publications via a structured API. Search, paginate, and retrieve full metadata for GIS datasets.
What is the Gov API?
This API covers 7 endpoints for querying the NSW Spatial Services Portal and website, returning structured metadata for spatial datasets, GIS data packs, portal groups, news articles, and publications. The search_portal_items endpoint accepts keyword queries and returns paginated results with fields including item id, type, owner, tags, snippet, created_at, and updated_at, letting you filter and browse the portal's public catalogue programmatically.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/d5914d14-4a06-4554-a6ea-86ab3b944fda/search_portal_items?limit=5&query=elevation&start=1' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace spatial-nsw-gov-au-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
"""Walkthrough: NSW Spatial Services SDK — discover spatial datasets, groups, and news."""
from parse_apis.nsw_spatial_services_api import NSWSpatial, PortalItem, ItemNotFound
client = NSWSpatial()
# Search for elevation-related spatial datasets (capped at 3 items total).
for item in client.portalitems.search(query="elevation", limit=3):
print(item.title, item.type, item.owner)
# Drill into the first water-related item for full details.
item = client.portalitems.search(query="water", limit=1).first()
if item:
detail = client.portalitems.get(id=item.id)
print(detail.title, detail.snippet, detail.updated_at)
# List portal groups available for collaboration.
for group in client.groups.list(limit=3):
print(group.title, group.access, group.snippet)
# Browse available data packs.
for pack in client.datapacks.list(limit=3):
print(pack.name, pack.owner, pack.updated_at)
# Typed error handling: attempt to fetch a non-existent item.
try:
client.portalitems.get(id="nonexistent_item_id_000")
except ItemNotFound as exc:
print(f"Item not found: {exc}")
# Latest news from the NSW Spatial Services website.
for article in client.newsarticles.list(limit=3):
print(article.title, article.date, article.url)
print("exercised: portalitems.search / portalitems.get / groups.list / datapacks.list / newsarticles.list")
Search for items in the NSW Spatial Collaboration Portal by keyword. Returns paginated results sorted by modification date descending. Each result includes id, title, type, owner, tags, snippet, and timestamps. Pagination uses a 1-based start index; nextStart indicates the next page or -1 when exhausted.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| limit | integer | Maximum number of results to return. |
| query | string | Search keywords to filter portal items. |
| start | integer | Start index for pagination (1-based). |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"num": "integer number of results returned in this page",
"start": "integer start index of current page",
"total": "integer total count of matching items",
"results": "array of portal item objects with id, title, type, owner, tags, snippet, created_at, updated_at, and other metadata",
"nextStart": "integer start index for the next page, or -1 if no more results"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"num": 5,
"start": 1,
"total": 167,
"results": [
{
"id": "be70b7adc83a4e73bfa24f25835c4484",
"tags": [
"Cadastral Survey planning",
"Cadastre",
"Coordinates"
],
"type": "Feature Service",
"owner": "ss-sds",
"title": "Survey Mark - NSW Positioning Theme - GDA2020 multiCRS",
"access": "public",
"snippet": "SurveyMarkGDA2020 - This service provides GDA2020 coordinates that support Multi Coordinate reference Systems.",
"numViews": 10525,
"created_at": "2021-10-25 22:42:52",
"updated_at": "2026-06-11 03:19:06"
}
],
"nextStart": 6
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the Gov API
Portal Item Search and Detail
The search_portal_items endpoint accepts a query string plus limit and start parameters for keyword-driven, paginated access to the NSW Spatial Collaboration Portal. Results include id, title, type (e.g. Map Service, Feature Service, Web Mapping Application), owner, tags, snippet, and timestamps. To retrieve the full record for any item, pass its id to get_portal_item_details, which adds description (HTML), extent, and license fields not present in search results. For browsing without a query, list_all_portal_items returns the complete public catalogue sorted by modification date, using the same pagination contract: num, start, total, and nextStart (-1 signals the final page).
Data Packs and Groups
The get_data_packs endpoint filters the portal specifically for GIS processing packs, returning a data_packs array alongside a total count. Pagination uses limit and start. The get_portal_groups endpoint lists all public portal groups alphabetically, with each group record carrying id, title, owner, snippet, tags, access, created_at, and updated_at.
News and Publications
The get_news endpoint requires no inputs and returns a news array where each object includes title, date, url, and summary drawn from the NSW Spatial Services website. The get_publications endpoint similarly requires no inputs and returns a publications array with title, url, and description for each listed publication. Neither endpoint supports filtering or pagination — they return the full current listing in a single response.
The Gov API is a managed, monitored endpoint for spatial.nsw.gov.au — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when spatial.nsw.gov.au changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official spatial.nsw.gov.au API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Index all public NSW spatial datasets by type and owner for a GIS asset catalogue
- Monitor the portal for recently modified items using
updated_atfromlist_all_portal_items - Retrieve full HTML descriptions and license info for specific datasets via
get_portal_item_details - Discover available GIS processing packs using
get_data_packsand filter bytotalcount - Build a directory of NSW spatial collaboration groups using
get_portal_groupsmetadata - Aggregate current NSW spatial news headlines and summaries for a geospatial news feed
- Surface relevant NSW spatial publications by title and URL in a research or government data portal
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does NSW Spatial Services provide an official developer API?+
What does `get_portal_item_details` return that `search_portal_items` does not?+
description (full HTML), extent (geographic bounding box), and license or access fields that are absent from the paginated search and list responses. Use it when you need the complete metadata record for a specific item identified by its id.Can I filter portal items by type, owner, or date range?+
search_portal_items endpoint currently accepts only a free-text query parameter alongside pagination controls. Filtering by item type, owner, or a specific created_at / updated_at date range is not directly supported. The API returns those fields in every result, so client-side filtering is possible. You can also fork the API on Parse and revise it to add server-side type or owner filters.