spatial.nsw.gov.au 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.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/d5914d14-4a06-4554-a6ea-86ab3b944fda/search_portal_items?limit=3&query=elevation&start=1' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search for items in the NSW Spatial Collaboration Portal by keyword. Returns paginated results sorted by modification date descending.
| 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",
"start": "integer start index of current page",
"total": "integer total count of matching items",
"results": "array of item objects with id, title, type, owner, tags, snippet, created_at, updated_at, and other metadata",
"nextStart": "integer start index for next page, or -1 if no more"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"num": 3,
"start": 1,
"total": 167,
"results": [
{
"id": "437c0697e6524d8ebf10ad0d915bc219",
"tags": [
"Aspect",
"Slope",
"contours"
],
"type": "Web Mapping Application",
"owner": "ss-sds",
"title": "NSW Elevation Data Service",
"snippet": "Online Delivery Service for FSDF Spatial Services elevation datasets in 100k map partitions.",
"created_at": "2020-11-17 03:30:09",
"updated_at": "2026-05-05 02:05:02"
}
],
"nextStart": 4
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the spatial.nsw.gov.au 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.
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.
- 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 | 250 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.