U.S. Geological Survey Monitoring Locations API

openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: USGS Earthquake Notifications, Feeds, and Web Services Catalog Monitoring Locations API
  description: The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program provides real-time earthquake data through the FDSN (International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks) Event Web Service. This API allows searching the USGS ANSS (Advanced National Seismic System) ComCat earthquake catalog for event data using geographic, temporal, magnitude, and other filters. Responses are available in GeoJSON, CSV, KML, QuakeML, and text formats.
  version: '1.0'
  contact:
    name: USGS Earthquake Hazards Program
    url: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/
    email: shake-admin@usgs.gov
  license:
    name: Public Domain (U.S. Government Work)
    url: https://www.usgs.gov/information-policies-and-instructions/copyrights-and-credits
  x-generated-from: documentation
servers:
- url: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1
  description: USGS FDSN Event Web Service
tags:
- name: Monitoring Locations
  description: USGS stream gages, groundwater wells, and other water monitoring stations.
paths:
  /collections/monitoring-locations/items:
    get:
      operationId: getMonitoringLocations
      summary: USGS Water Data Get Monitoring Locations
      description: Retrieve USGS water monitoring locations (stream gages, groundwater wells, springs, etc.) as GeoJSON features. Supports spatial filtering by bounding box, attribute filtering by state/county/HUC, and pagination.
      tags:
      - Monitoring Locations
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/bbox'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/limit'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/offset'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/format'
      - name: stateCd
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Two-letter U.S. state or territory FIPS code (e.g., CA, TX, NY).
        schema:
          type: string
          example: CA
      - name: huc
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Hydrologic Unit Code (2-12 digits) to filter by watershed.
        schema:
          type: string
          example: '18010103'
      - name: siteType
        in: query
        required: false
        description: USGS site type code (ST for streams, GW for groundwater, LK for lakes, AT for atmosphere, WE for wetlands, etc.).
        schema:
          type: string
          example: ST
      - name: agencyCd
        in: query
        required: false
        description: Agency code (default USGS).
        schema:
          type: string
          example: USGS
      responses:
        '200':
          description: GeoJSON FeatureCollection of monitoring locations.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitoringLocationCollection'
              examples:
                GetMonitoringLocations200Example:
                  summary: Default getMonitoringLocations 200 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    type: FeatureCollection
                    features:
                    - type: Feature
                      geometry:
                        type: Point
                        coordinates:
                        - -122.419
                        - 37.775
                      properties:
                        monitoringLocationIdentifier: USGS-11169025
                        monitoringLocationName: GUADALUPE R AB HWY 237 NR ALVISO CA
                        monitoringLocationTypeName: Stream
                        hucEightDigitCode: '18050001'
                        stateFIPSCode: '06'
                        countryCode: US
                        drainageAreaMeasure: 850.0
                        drainageAreaMeasureUnitCode: sq mi
                        siteWebAddress: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory?agency_code=USGS&site_no=11169025
        '400':
          description: Invalid request parameters.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
        '403':
          description: API key missing or unauthorized.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
        '429':
          description: Rate limit exceeded.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
  /collections/monitoring-locations/items/{featureId}:
    get:
      operationId: getMonitoringLocation
      summary: USGS Water Data Get Monitoring Location by ID
      description: Retrieve a single USGS water monitoring location by its feature identifier (site number with agency prefix, e.g., USGS-11169025).
      tags:
      - Monitoring Locations
      parameters:
      - name: featureId
        in: path
        required: true
        description: Monitoring location identifier in format AGENCY-SITENUMBER (e.g., USGS-11169025).
        schema:
          type: string
          example: USGS-11169025
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/format'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Single monitoring location GeoJSON Feature.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitoringLocationFeature'
              examples:
                GetMonitoringLocation200Example:
                  summary: Default getMonitoringLocation 200 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    type: Feature
                    geometry:
                      type: Point
                      coordinates:
                      - -122.419
                      - 37.775
                    properties:
                      monitoringLocationIdentifier: USGS-11169025
                      monitoringLocationName: GUADALUPE R AB HWY 237 NR ALVISO CA
                      monitoringLocationTypeName: Stream
        '403':
          description: API key missing or unauthorized.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
        '404':
          description: Monitoring location not found.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorResponse'
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
components:
  schemas:
    MonitoringLocationCollection:
      title: MonitoringLocationCollection
      type: object
      description: GeoJSON FeatureCollection of USGS monitoring locations.
      properties:
        type:
          type: string
          description: GeoJSON type.
          example: FeatureCollection
        features:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitoringLocationFeature'
        numberMatched:
          type: integer
          description: Total number of matching locations.
          example: 8423
        numberReturned:
          type: integer
          description: Number of locations returned.
          example: 100
    ErrorResponse:
      title: ErrorResponse
      type: object
      description: Standard OGC API error response.
      properties:
        code:
          type: string
          description: Error code.
          example: InvalidParameter
        description:
          type: string
          description: Human-readable error description.
          example: Invalid value for parameter bbox.
    MonitoringLocationFeature:
      title: MonitoringLocationFeature
      type: object
      description: GeoJSON Feature for a single USGS water monitoring location.
      properties:
        type:
          type: string
          description: GeoJSON type.
          example: Feature
        geometry:
          type: object
          description: GeoJSON Point geometry with longitude and latitude.
          properties:
            type:
              type: string
              example: Point
            coordinates:
              type: array
              items:
                type: number
              example:
              - -122.419
              - 37.775
        properties:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/MonitoringLocationProperties'
    MonitoringLocationProperties:
      title: MonitoringLocationProperties
      type: object
      description: Attributes describing a USGS water monitoring location.
      properties:
        monitoringLocationIdentifier:
          type: string
          description: Unique identifier in format AGENCY-SITENUMBER.
          example: USGS-11169025
        monitoringLocationName:
          type: string
          description: Name of the monitoring location.
          example: GUADALUPE R AB HWY 237 NR ALVISO CA
        monitoringLocationTypeName:
          type: string
          description: Type of monitoring location (Stream, Well, Lake, etc.).
          example: Stream
        hucEightDigitCode:
          type: string
          description: 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code for the location's watershed.
          example: '18050001'
        stateFIPSCode:
          type: string
          description: Two-digit state FIPS code.
          example: '06'
        countryCode:
          type: string
          description: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code.
          example: US
        drainageAreaMeasure:
          type: number
          description: Drainage area measurement value.
          example: 850.0
        drainageAreaMeasureUnitCode:
          type: string
          description: Unit code for drainage area.
          example: sq mi
        siteWebAddress:
          type: string
          description: URL for the USGS NWIS site page.
          example: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory?agency_code=USGS&site_no=11169025
  parameters:
    format:
      name: f
      in: query
      required: false
      description: Output format (json, html, jsonld, csv).
      schema:
        type: string
        enum:
        - json
        - html
        - jsonld
        - csv
        default: json
        example: json
    bbox:
      name: bbox
      in: query
      required: false
      description: Bounding box spatial filter as [min_lon,min_lat,max_lon,max_lat]. Optionally include min_elev and max_elev for 6-coordinate form.
      schema:
        type: string
        example: -125,25,-65,50
    offset:
      name: offset
      in: query
      required: false
      description: Starting offset for pagination.
      schema:
        type: integer
        minimum: 0
        default: 0
        example: 0
    limit:
      name: limit
      in: query
      required: false
      description: Number of results to return (default 100, max 10000).
      schema:
        type: integer
        minimum: 1
        maximum: 10000
        default: 100
        example: 100