Cadastral map API: parcels from the BRK via PDOK

The cadastral map (kadastrale kaart) is part of the Basisregistratie Kadaster (BRK), the Dutch key register for property. A basisregistratie is a legally designated national register that is the authoritative source for one kind of data. The BRK has two parts: the cadastral register of immovable property and rights in rem (ownership, mortgages, easements and similar rights), and the cadastral map. Only the map is offered as open data through PDOK. The map shows the position of cadastral parcels with parcel number, and the boundaries of the state, the provinces and the municipalities.

According to PDOK the map shows parcel numbers, determined, provisional and administrative cadastral boundaries, buildings with house numbers and the names of roads and watercourses. From version 5 each boundary also has a quality label (B, C, D or E), which indicates the margin by which the drawn boundary may deviate from the boundary on the ground.

In the OGC API the layers (collections) are called perceel (parcel), kadastralegrens (cadastral boundary), bebouwing (buildings), openbareruimtenaam (public space name) and nummeraanduidingreeks (address number series). For buildings and addresses other sources are more suitable; see the pages on the BAG and the BGT.

Open are the position and numbering of parcels, the boundaries, the buildings and the names on the map. Not open through the cadastral map is the data on who owns a parcel or which right rests on it. That is in the cadastral register and is supplied separately by the Kadaster.

The Kadaster itself describes what is authentic in the register:

Authentieke gegevens in de kadastrale registratie zijn: kadastrale aanduidingen van onroerende zaken en appartementsrechten (met uitzondering van erfdienstbaarheden), kadastrale grootte van een perceel, persoonsgegevens van eigenaren, beperkt gerechtigden en beslagleggers.

Source: Kadaster, page Basisregistratie Kadaster (BRK), read on 11 October 2026 (Dutch original; in English: authentic data in the cadastral register are the cadastral designations of immovable property and apartment rights, with the exception of easements, the cadastral size of a parcel, and the personal data of owners, holders of limited rights and attaching creditors). For the map, the Kadaster lists as authentic: the depiction of the cadastral designations, the cadastral boundaries and the boundaries of the state, provinces and municipalities. So personal data belongs to the register and not to the map.

The collection perceel does contain a few register attributes: cadastral municipality, section, parcel number, the cadastral size and whether that size has been determined or not. There is no owner, mortgage or purchase price. Anyone who wants to consult that data uses the paid and restricted products of the Kadaster, for which identification and conditions apply. Which data a municipality may link itself is covered on the page about geodata and the GDPR (in Dutch).

You query the collection perceel with filters on the attributes. The cadastral designation (kadastrale aanduiding) has three parts: cadastral municipality, section and parcel number. Only the combination is unique.

curl -s -G "https://api.pdok.nl/kadaster/brk-kadastrale-kaart/ogc/v1/collections/perceel/items" \
  -d f=json -d limit=1 \
  --data-urlencode "kadastrale_gemeente_waarde=Amersfoort" \
  -d sectie=D -d perceelnummer=8275 \
  --data-urlencode "crs=http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/28992"

The answer on 11 October 2026 was one feature with, among others, kadastrale_gemeente_waarde: "Amersfoort", sectie: "D", perceelnummer: 8275, kadastrale_grootte_waarde: 2735 (cadastral size in square metres) and soort_grootte_waarde: "Vastgesteld" ("determined"). With the parameter crs the coordinates came back in metres; the first point of the ring was [154242.654, 462795.985]. The call was repeated on 12 October 2026 and returned the same size and first point.

The same call in Python, using only the standard library:

import json, urllib.parse, urllib.request

BASE = "https://api.pdok.nl/kadaster/brk-kadastrale-kaart/ogc/v1/collections/perceel/items"
q = {
    "f": "json", "limit": 1,
    "kadastrale_gemeente_waarde": "Amersfoort",
    "sectie": "D", "perceelnummer": 8275,
    "crs": "http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/28992",
}
with urllib.request.urlopen(BASE + "?" + urllib.parse.urlencode(q)) as r:
    fc = json.load(r)

p = fc["features"][0]["properties"]
print(p["kadastrale_gemeente_waarde"], p["sectie"], p["perceelnummer"],
      p["kadastrale_grootte_waarde"], p["soort_grootte_waarde"])
# Amersfoort D 8275 2735 Vastgesteld

The queryables of the collection, available through /collections/perceel/queryables, include sectie, perceelnummer, kadastrale_gemeente_waarde, identificatie_lokaal_id and status_historie_waarde. A CQL2 filter also works: filter=sectie='D' AND perceelnummer=8275 with filter-lang=cql2-text. How OGC API Features relates to WFS is explained on WFS and OGC API Features (in Dutch).

With the parameter bbox you get the parcels that touch a rectangle. For RD values also pass bbox-crs, otherwise the service expects longitude and latitude.

curl -s -G "https://api.pdok.nl/kadaster/brk-kadastrale-kaart/ogc/v1/collections/perceel/items" \
  -d f=json -d limit=100 \
  --data-urlencode "bbox=154100,462650,154300,462800" \
  --data-urlencode "bbox-crs=http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/28992"

On 12 October 2026 this window held 51 parcels, so one page was enough. With limit=20 the response included a next link containing a cursor; follow that link until it is absent. The response was in CRS84 (longitude, latitude) by default, even though the bbox was given in RD; so request RD explicitly with crs if you want to calculate in metres. You can check a conversion of individual points with the RD to WGS84 tool.

The service sends Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * and Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600, no-transform. Direct use in a browser therefore works, and the cache header permits reuse of responses within an hour. For a map viewer with many users, tiles are better than feature requests; read the arrangements at PDOK fair use and caching (in Dutch).

For display without attributes you use the WMS. On 11 October 2026 the service has, among others, the layers Kadastralekaart, Perceel, Bebouwing, OpenbareRuimteNaam and Nummeraanduidingreeks, with styles standaard (type of boundary) and kwaliteit (quality label) and a print variant.

curl -s -o perceel.png \
  "https://service.pdok.nl/kadaster/brk-kadastrale-kaart/wms/v5_0?service=WMS&version=1.3.0&request=GetMap&layers=Perceel&styles=&crs=EPSG:28992&bbox=154100,462650,154300,462800&width=800&height=600&format=image/png"

This returned status 200 and a PNG of 800 by 600 pixels. Mind the axis order: in WMS 1.3.0 with EPSG:28992, x comes before y, as above. For a complete map application, see the GIS viewer for municipalities.

The landing page of the OGC API refers to the licence CC BY 4.0. It permits commercial use but requires attribution. So name the Kadaster as the source and state the date you fetched the data.

The open licence applies to the map as PDOK offers it, not to the cadastral register. Derived files from third parties, such as parcel files from a province, may have other conditions.

The Kadaster and PDOK themselves also say something about the use of the geometry:

U kunt van de Kadastrale kaart geen maten afleiden.

Source: PDOK, Kadastrale kaart, read on 11 October 2026 (in English: you cannot derive measurements from the cadastral map). The API description says the same: the map gives only an indication of the position of the boundaries. For setting out a structure or a fence, a cadastral survey is needed, not a measurement on screen.

• The parcel number is not unique. The combination of section D and parcel number 8275 returned, among others, the cadastral municipalities Bussum, Haarlem, Sloten Noord-Holland, Kralingen and Maassluis in the test. Always also filter on kadastrale_gemeente_waarde or on identificatie_lokaal_id.
• A cadastral municipality is not a municipality. The cadastral municipality is an administrative division that does not coincide with the administrative municipality. A municipal merger does not change the cadastral municipality.
• Coordinate order and system. By default the API returns CRS84, with longitude first. Request RD explicitly with crs and also pass bbox-crs with an RD bbox.
• The size is not always determined. The field soort_grootte_waarde indicates whether the cadastral size has been determined. Never present an undetermined size as the official area.
• Paging. Follow the next link with its cursor instead of building an offset yourself; the link is absent on the last page.
• Mutations. A mutation API exists only for the feature types KadastraleGrens, Perceel and Kwaliteit; full downloads exist for all types, says PDOK.

• Finding out the owner or rights. The map does not contain that data. For residents and owners of an address, a municipality must use its own lawful source, under the GDPR.
• Precise dimensions. For a building drawing or a boundary dispute the map is insufficient; the quality label indicates how uncertain the boundary is.
• Running all of the Netherlands locally. Use the download and load it into a database, for example with GDAL (in Dutch) into a PostGIS database, instead of millions of feature requests.
• Buildings and addresses. The BAG and BGT are the source for those; see BAG and BGT.

You do not pass an error in the map on in your own copy. Report it to the source holder; how that works is explained at reporting errors to key registers (in Dutch). The general approach to maps and viewers is under GIS and digital map solutions, and the national service this runs on, PDOK, is described together with all datasets at Dutch open data.