# Native Land Digital API

Learn how you can responsibly use data about Indigenous nations around the world.

Welcome to the documentation site for the Native Land Digital API (created by [Native-Land.ca](https://native-land.ca)).

Please use this dataset responsibly. This data is valuable and could be misused.

As stated on the front page of the [Native Land website](https://native-land.ca/), the Native Land map does not represent or intend to represent official or legal boundaries of any Indigenous nations. You are free to use the dataset for your own maps and applications using the Native Land Digital API, but we encourage you to add a similar disclaimer on your own resource.

### Requiring an API Key

Our API has long been completely open-access and free-to-use, and we are so glad that so many people are using it to create applications and learn more about Indigenous history.

However, it's also important that we steward the valuable information that's been given to us by so many knowledge-keepers with responsibility.

As a result, soon you'll need to sign up for an account at Native-Land.ca in order to continue using the API.

You don't need to pay anything - this is just so that we can better understand who is using our API, and keep a better handle on excessive requests or questionable applications.

You can [sign up here](https://native-land.ca/auth/signup), and you'll get an API key. [See here](/get-and-use-your-api-key) to learn how to use that key in your requests.

Thank you for being a part of our journey!


# Data Sovereignty Treaty

### Native Land Digital: Indigenous Data Sovereignty Treaty

**Introduction:** Native Land Digital is an Indigenous-led educational platform, as a non-profit organization NLD is entrusted with the stewardship of data from Indigenous communities worldwide. This data encompasses culturally sensitive information, and there are significant ethical and legal implications associated with its misuse or misappropriation.

Indigenous data refers to information or knowledge that originates from or pertains to Indigenous peoples and their environments, regardless of the data's current ownership or source. This includes both fixed and intangible data, digital or digitizable forms, as well as ancestral and traditional knowledge and intangible cultural heritage.

**Native Land Digital acknowledges that Indigenous data possesses its own ecosystem and life force, with inherent rights.**

As Native Land Digital evolves we are committed to upholding these principles and maintaining the authority and integrity of Indigenous data.

### 1. Permitted Uses

The NLD API may be used only for the following purposes:

* Educational and research purposes that align with the principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty.
* Non-commercial applications that respect Indigenous governance and do not generate revenue.

Indigenous-led initiatives that directly support the self-determination and data governance of Indigenous communities.

### 2. Prohibited Uses

Users must not:

* Charge money for access to or integration of NLD API data in any form, including as part of a subscription, membership, or bundled service.
* Modify or alter Indigenous land boundaries without direct consultation and approval from the Indigenous communities involved.
* Use the API for commercial purposes, including monetized platforms, data resale, or proprietary applications.
* Use the API in a way that undermines Indigenous governance or misrepresents Indigenous territories.
* Use the API to create derivative works that do not acknowledge Indigenous ownership and governance of data.
* Store or distribute API data without explicit permission from Native Land Digital.

### 3. Data Attribution & Acknowledgement

* All uses of the NLD API must attribute Native Land Digital as the original source of the data.
* Any publication, application, or research incorporating API data must acknowledge Indigenous communities as the rightful stewards of their data.

### 4. Enforcement & Termination

* NLD reserves the right to immediately revoke API access if a user violates these terms.
* Violations of these terms may result in legal action to protect Indigenous data sovereignty.
* Users found monetizing, altering, or misusing Indigenous data may be permanently barred from API access.

### Principles and Actions:

1. **Indigenous Data Sovereignty**: Indigenous Data Sovereignty asserts the inherent rights and interests of Indigenous peoples in relation to the collection, ownership, access, and application of their data.
   1. **Action 1**: Affirm the principle that Indigenous data must be governed by Indigenous peoples, with full recognition of their rights and interests.
2. **Affirming Indigenous Self-Determination through Data Sovereignty**: Indigenous Data Sovereignty is a crucial mechanism for enabling self-determination and innovation among Indigenous communities.
   1. **Action 2:** Ensure the protection of Indigenous rights concerning data access, participation in data integration activities, and partnership in the governance or ownership of data. The treaty is foundational to this process.
3. **Governance of Indigenous Data:** Indigenous Data Sovereignty recognizes that data relating to Indigenous peoples should be subject to Indigenous governance structures.
   1. **Action 3**: Implement the following principles:
   2. **Data for Governance**: Indigenous knowledge systems as a living ecosystem. Use data to transform the lives of Indigenous peoples through access and application.
   3. **Governance of Data**: Establish governance and control mechanisms to ensure data is used appropriately, and is relevant and responsive to Indigenous communities. This treaty will be implemented to acknowledge NLD responsibilities by creating a subscription application aimed at securing the use of the API.
4. **Legal Jurisdiction of Indigenous Data**: Indigenous Data Sovereignty states that data is subject to the laws of the nation from which it is collected, with priority given to Indigenous governments and Tribal nations.
   1. **Action 4**: Uphold the principle that Indigenous data should be governed by the laws and customs of the Indigenous nations from which it originates. NLD commits to continued work opening up the platform for Indigenous communities to have autonomy over their data.
5. **Indigenous-Generated Data:** Data generated by Indigenous peoples, including the mapping of tribal territories, should be recognized as Indigenous property.
   1. **Action 5**: Ensure that data mapping tribal territories, including shapes, forms, and information, remains under Indigenous control.
6. **OCAP® Principles:**\
   Native Land Digital commits to adhering to the OCAP® principles—Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession—in managing Indigenous data.
   1. **Ownership**: Indigenous communities collectively own their cultural knowledge and data. Ownership refers to the relationship between Indigenous peoples and their data, and it asserts that Indigenous groups have the right to own, protect, and control how this data is used.
   2. **Control**: Indigenous peoples have the right to control all aspects of their data, including creation, development, stewardship, analysis, dissemination, and infrastructure. This control extends to decision-making processes related to the use and sharing of data.
   3. **Access**: Indigenous communities must have access to their data, and they must also have the ability to make decisions about who else has access to their data. Access includes the ability to manage who can view, use, and distribute the data.
   4. **Possession:** While ownership of data refers to the relationship with the data, possession refers to the physical control over the data. Possession is an important aspect of data stewardship, ensuring that Indigenous communities maintain control over their information.


# Get and use your API key

Sign up and get an API key to use Native Land Digital's API responsibly.

As of late 2024, Native Land Digital started requiring all requests to use an API key. This is to help us steward this data more responsibly and learn more about who is using the data we provide. The data is still free, you just need to sign up to get a key.

[Sign up at https://native-land.ca/auth/signup](https://native-land.ca/auth/signup).

Once you sign up, press the API tab. There will be a checkbox you need to check and agree to in order to get an API key.

**This is important!** Part of using our dataset responsibly means understanding the data behind this isn't just anonymous or random. This dataset represents thousands of different nations, knowledge, and values. Please read our [Data Sovereignty Treaty](/data-sovereignty-treaty) carefully before you go ahead with the API.

Once you're agreed, the page will refresh and you will be able to see your API key.

<figure><img src="/files/LnwRj5ioymJsby1meHHH" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Copy your API key and include it in your requests as an additional parameter called `key`. For example,

```
https://native-land.ca/api/index.php?maps=languages&position=42.553080,-86.473389
```

Will now become:

```
https://native-land.ca/api/index.php?maps=languages&position=42.553080,-86.473389&key=your_api_key
```

For post requests, send the key as an additional field, called `key`.


# Request Types

Learn more about the types of API endpoints available.

We have 4 different request types available:

* [GeoJSON dumps](/full-geojsons) -- the full set of coordinates of all shapes in a category
* [GET by position, name, and/or category](/by-names-and-or-position)
* [POST to get by polygon overlaps](/by-intersecting-polygon)
* [Embed a map directly](/embed-a-map)

We also offer a number of tilesets and imports:

* [Mapbox Tilesets](/mapbox-tilesets)
* [ArcGIS Imports](/arcgis-online-living-atlas)

See more about each of these at their respective page on the left.


# Full GeoJSONs

Get the full set of coordinates from Native Land Digital.

These are `GET` requests.

To get full coordinate sets from the current live database, use the following endpoint:

```
https://native-land.ca/api/polygons/geojson/[category]?key=your_api_key
```

There are 3 categories available: `territories`, `languages`, and `treaties`.

Please include your API key. A request may look as follows:

```
https://native-land.ca/api/polygons/geojson/languages?key=your_api_key
```

Please avoid calling this endpoint continually. It's recommended that you use a tighter query in most cases, such as by using a specific slug or position.

This will return as a full [FeatureCollection](https://geojson.org/), with all the shapes contained inside an array called `features`.


# By Names and/or Position

Query a specific polygon or set of polygons by their slugs or a user's position.

You can get a tighter query than a full GeoJSON, faster and more tuned to your needs.

All of these requests are `GET` requests.

**You must always include a `maps` parameter in your request. You can send more than one at once to get results across multiple categories.**

For example:

```
https://native-land.ca/api/index.php?maps=languages,territories&position=42.553080,-86.473389&key=your_api_key
```

This request will get you all languages and territories that overlap with the \<lat>, \<lng> that you sent.

### By Position

To get by position, send a latitude and longitude as follows:

```
https://native-land.ca/api/index.php?maps=<category>&position=<lat>,<lng>&key=your_api_key
```

An example request might look like this:

```
https://native-land.ca/api/index.php?maps=languages&position=42.553080,-86.473389&key=your_api_key
```

### Specific Territories / Languages / Treaties

To get a specific nation, you need to know the identifying slug we use for that nation.

Look up the slug on Native-Land.ca, in the API section of your account after you log in. Just do a search for the nation you are interested in, and you will see all the available slugs you can use.

You can get more than one result at once, across multiple categories. Mix and match how you like!

An example query might look like this:

```
https://native-land.ca/api/index.php?maps=languages&name=nakota,lakota&key=your_api_key
```

You can also combine this with a position request, if you like.


# By Intersecting Polygon

Learn how to get results from intersecting polygons.

For this request, you must send a `POST` request. It is formatted as follows (as an example Javascript `fetch` request):

```
const requestBody = {
    key : "your_api_key",
    maps : "<category>",
    polygon_geojson : featureCollection
};

fetch("https://native-land.ca/api/index.php", {
    method : "POST",
    body : JSON.stringify(requestBody)
})
```

The `requestBody` that you send must have all three parameters to function. `maps` must be a comma-separated string of `territories`, `languages`, and/or `treaties`.

An example `polygon_geojson` would be:

```
{
  “type”: “FeatureCollection”,
  “features”: [
    {
      “type”: “Feature”,
      “properties”: {},
      “geometry”: {
        “type”: “Polygon”,
        “coordinates”: [
          [
            [
              -105.556640625,
              58.17070248348609
            ],
            [
              -107.09472656249999,
              57.11238500793404
            ],
            [
              -104.853515625,
              56.145549500679074
            ],
            [
              -98.6572265625,
              56.70450561416937
            ],
            [
              -97.55859375,
              57.89149735271034
            ],
            [
              -99.8876953125,
              58.49369382056807
            ],
            [
              -103.7548828125,
              58.768200159239576
            ],
            [
              -105.556640625,
              58.17070248348609
            ]
          ]
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

**Please avoid sending extremely details or complex polygons, as this slows down the response and puts an extra load on the server.**

We are using PostgreSQL with PostGIS to speed up your spatial queries.


# Embed a map

Instead of getting the coordinates, just get a map directly.

Native Land Digital also offers the ability for you to load a map directly onto your website through our Embed API.

To do this, you should understand the [Names and Positions API detailed here](/by-names-and-or-position). You will be sending a URL with this request to the embed API.

To create an iframe with a map displayed on it, just set the source of the iframe to the query you want to send. For instance:

```
<iframe src="https://native-land.ca/api/embed/embed.html?maps=languages&name=witsuwiten&key=your_api_key"></iframe>
```

Will create the following:

<figure><img src="/files/2qlnMwFzANxFQ4KGdq2H" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

This is a fairly simple map using Leaflet and Open Street Maps as a base layer, to keep everything open source.


# Mapbox Tilesets

Use the regularly updated tilesets in your own maps.

Mapbox and Native Land Digital provide a public tileset for territories that is updated daily (whenever new areas have been added).

You can access the Mapbox Tileset ID, a breakdown of the properties, and a quick `json` recipe on Mapbox's [data exchange repository on github](https://github.com/mapbox/data-exchange/blob/main/native-land.md).

<figure><img src="/files/NiiVRK3ScI03IPH1rzWw" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

You can use this Native Land Digital tileset in any Mapbox maps, whether you are building your own maps using Mapbox GL JS, or using Mapbox Studio.

To add the tileset to a Mapbox Studio style, go to *Add Layer -> Add source by ID*, and paste in the tileset ID from the above Github repository.


# ArcGIS Online Living Atlas

Use the ArcGIS Living Atlas to add Native Land to your maps.

Simply add the Native Land Digital territories feature layer via the Living Atlas:

<figure><img src="/files/SgRnSieZa7HnNa1lzAqW" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

From there, you can style it in any way you want.

See [this blog post](https://medium.com/@native-land/how-to-add-native-land-digital-data-to-your-own-maps-2ddd6fd1294d) for more information.


# About and Disclaimers

Make sure you are using this data respectfully.

You can always visit [Native-Land.ca](https://native-land.ca) to learn more about Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages, and we encourage you to [get in touch with us](https://native-land.ca/contact) to let us know how you're using the API.

### API Metadata

If you’re using this dataset for your project and you want to properly credit it, it’s not too hard. You can give credit to “Native Land Digital”, and link to our website. The dataset is publicly available and is not under any proprietary license; the work can be considered under a [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) license (free to use in any way you like). We would, however, kindly ask that you consider the morality of how you use this dataset, be aware that it is constantly changing, and that it is not meant or reasonably to use for academic or legal purposes.

### Disclaimer

As stated on the front page of the [Native Land website](https://native-land.ca/), the Native Land map does not represent or intend to represent official or legal boundaries of any Indigenous nations. You are free to use the dataset for your own maps and applications using the Native Land Digital API, but we encourage you to add a similar disclaimer on your own resource.

### Details

* **Update Frequency:** Daily or weekly
* **Date First Published** : February 1 2015
* **License**: CC0
* **Contact**: Native Land Digital