Key

Turns on

Where to get it

CalTopo WMS token

Terrain pictures, slope shading, the canopy panel, landing-zone imagery, urban blocks

CalTopo → your name → Your Account → API Access: the six characters between /api/ and /wms (paid plan or team)

CalTopo credential ID + key

Private and team maps

CalTopo → Your Account → Credentials (a read-only team credential is enough)

Mapbox token

Mapbox satellite pictures of landing zones

account.mapbox.com

Google Maps key

Google satellite pictures of landing zones

Google Cloud console, Maps Static API (its terms limit how images may be used)

Tool

What it answers

list_assignments

What assignments are on this map, and where

get_assignment

One assignment in full — geometry, description, centre

list_map_features

Everything on the map, filterable by class

parse_coordinate

Read a coordinate a person wrote or said

convert_coordinate

The same point in DD, DDM, DMS, UTM, and MGRS/USNG

distance_bearing

Geodesic ground distance and initial bearing

point_in_geometry

Is this clue inside the assignment, and how far from the edge

geometry_bounds

Bounding box and centre of any GeoJSON geometry

boundary_clearance

How much of a boundary's inside surrounds this, and whether the way in stays inside it

buffer_geometry

A line widened into the ribbon CalTopo's Buffer draws, so much each side; single_ring cuts a loop's hole open so CalTopo keeps it

prefetch_map

Download a map's ground now, before losing connectivity

cache_status

What the tile cache holds, by tier

evict_cache

Trim the cache to a ceiling, oldest maps first

save_export

Copy a file a tool wrote (an export GeoJSON, a chip) to ~/Documents/sar_geo/<chat folder> and show it in Finder or Explorer

key_status

Which optional keys are set (never their values), what each unlocks and where to get it

check_for_update

The version running against the newest on PyPI, and how to update

prepare_terrain

Stage one assignment's ground; returns the handle everything below names

terrain_metrics

Everything measured for a staged assignment — the debrief bundle

identify_features

Just the feature kinds you name — steep bands, drainages, clearings, cliff bands, cliff_pitch (ranked by the drop you would rig on), routes, ingress

list_feature_kinds

Which feature kinds identify_features can look for, with their assumptions

slope_stats

Slope statistics inside one named shape — "quantify that sidewall"

slope_shading

CalTopo's slope bands beside this package's own, and the patches where the DEM reads shallower

shaded_relief

Terrain to look at, and benches OpenStreetMap has not got - clean and OSM-overlaid, plus measured lineaments

unmarked_paths

Roads and trails OpenStreetMap has not got, from Forest Service, BLM and USGS inventories, DEM benches and NAIP imagery at once - each ranked by how many independent sources saw it, closed Forest Service roads included, junction gaps bridged along flat ground, and written to a GeoJSON file CalTopo imports as coloured lines

elevation_profile

Elevation along a drainage centreline — how steep is the channel

coverage_for

Coverage and gaps for a staged assignment, from named GPS tracks

prepare_area

Stage the ground around a place last seen (point + radius, in m, km, ft, yd or mi) or a polygon; returns an aoi- handle that never goes stale, and the area's outline to draw

assignment_norms

What real assignments look like, from a corpus of past searches, with provenance; per-resource target sizes

site_facts

Can a team occupy and work this ground - drop, span, the bench above, the landing below, and cover on all three

describe_boundary

What an assignment's or drawn shape's edges follow, how it was drawn, what it holds, against corpus norms

hasty_candidates

Day-1 hasty candidates around a staged area: trails and roads as lines by default, mapped waterways as corridors when include names them (no drainages or ridges), measured and ordered by distance

parking_candidates

Where a search can park near a staged area: public lots and public hardstand, nearest first, each with a point guaranteed to sit inside it and, since OSM rarely names a car park, the nearest named trail or road within 150 m

lz_candidates

Where a helicopter can put down near a staged area: open, flat patches graded preferred, minimal or marginal per the CalTopo safety course, with a touchdown point, the nearest power line or "unknown", the road it touches or sits beside, the lot it is in, and an imagery chip to look at

egress_routes

The way out on the ground from a location: the quickest exit a 2WD vehicle can reach and the quickest a 4x4 can, on foot or by litter, each with its route, minutes, distance, climb and descent, and the road, lot and gates it ends on

travel_time_rings

Rings of equal walking time round a place last seen - the travel-time counterpart of a radius circle - stretched along trails, pinched by cliffs and unbridged rivers, slowed by creek crossings and brush

nearest_medical_facilities

The closest medical center, trauma center and pediatric trauma center to a point, ranked by road time, as a table: trauma level, helipad Y/N, road distance and time, air time where there is a helipad, phone and address - plus markers to draw. Stateless

populated_areas

Urban and suburban search blocks: the built-up lots along each street, both sides and the street between them, outlined as one block per street from CalTopo's parcel and structures layers; apartment complexes, schools and shopping centres as blocks of their own

urban_assignments

Those blocks merged into assignments of about one size (the corpus median for the resource, or a target you give), never across an arterial

caltopo_export

Any candidate set as a GeoJSON file CalTopo imports as DRAFT assignments, with the search area and house markers - a file, never a write to CalTopo

get_candidate

One candidate in full, geometry included, by id

plan_medevac

A patient at a point, in one call: the landing zones nearest them, the 2WD and 4x4 exits by litter and on foot, and the nearest hospitals and trauma centers - compact sections, each with its own status and the exact call for the full answer, plus one GeoJSON file CalTopo imports. Facts, no verdict

plan_initial_response

The first operational period from a place last seen, in one call: the hasty lines a team can run (trails and roads by default; waterways through overrides), the nearest parking, walking-time rings, the landing zones nearest the place and the nearest hospitals - compact sections, each with its own status and the exact call for the full answer, plus the hasty lines as DRAFT CalTopo assignments and a second GeoJSON file of everything else. Facts, no verdict

plan_urban_search

An urban or suburban search round a place last seen, in one call: the populated blocks grouped into assignments of about one size, the nearest parking and the nearest hospitals - compact sections, each with its own status and the exact call for the full answer, plus the assignments as DRAFT CalTopo assignments and a second GeoJSON file of parking and hospitals. Needs the CalTopo WMS token for the blocks. Facts, no verdict

debrief_assignment

A team back from a CalTopo assignment, in one call: what the ground was (slope, landform, drainages, vegetation, sweep width, ways in), how much of it the team's GPS tracks covered and where the gaps are - each gap's size, the terrain it leaves unsearched and a point inside it - and the terrain features worth asking about - compact sections, each with its own status and the exact call for the full answer, and the boundary check said once. Facts, no verdict