Nova Scotia Driver’s Licence & ID Card PDF417 API
Decode AAMVA PDF417 barcodes on Nova Scotia driver’s licences and photo ID cards into JSON with ISO dates, postal codes, and document_kind.
Capturing Nova Scotia Card Data Without Guesswork
Businesses in Nova Scotia handle Halifax hospitality, port and shipbuilding hiring, and tourism rentals. Canadian AAMVA records use year-first dates, six-character postal codes, and the CAN country code, so a parser tuned only to US samples can store wrong values without any visible error.
Normalized Output for Nova Scotia Cards
Nova Scotia licences and photo ID cards are issued by Nova Scotia Registry of Motor Vehicles. When the back of a card carries an AAMVA-compliant PDF417 barcode, the StructOCR PDF417 API decodes it, normalizes dates to YYYY-MM-DD, reports the province in region, and returns document_kind. Barcode layouts differ by card generation; cards without an AAMVA barcode return a clear 422 error, and their printed front can be read with the Driver License OCR API.
Where This Workflow Fits
- Customer onboarding: Pre-fill name, date of birth, and address for Nova Scotia customers and confirm before saving.
- Age-restricted sales: Read date of birth from licences and photo ID cards at liquor and cannabis counters.
- Licence-only checks: Use document_kind to require a driver’s licence for vehicle rental while accepting ID cards elsewhere.
Decode a Nova Scotia Card Back
Upload a JPG, PNG, or WebP image of the full card back and check country_code, region, and document_kind in the response.
Prerequisite: A server-side StructOCR API key and a clear image of the complete card back
curl -X POST https://api.structocr.com/v1/driver-license-pdf417 \
-H "x-api-key: $STRUCTOCR_API_KEY" \
-F "file=@nova-scotia-card-back.jpg"Technical Specs
- •Endpoint: POST https://api.structocr.com/v1/driver-license-pdf417 (same endpoint for US and Canadian cards)
- •Document scope: Nova Scotia cards whose back carries an AAMVA-compliant PDF417 record
- •Inputs: JPG, PNG, or WebP; Base64 JSON or multipart upload; maximum 4.5 MB
- •Cost: 2 credits for a successful decode; processing failures are refunded
- •Region output: country_code CAN and region NS when encoded in the record
- •Important: Parsing barcode data does not by itself authenticate the credential or the person presenting it
Key Features
- •Date normalization: Year-first and month-first AAMVA dates both return as YYYY-MM-DD.
- •License or ID card: document_kind tells a driver’s licence from a photo ID card.
- •Deterministic source: Fields come from the decoded barcode, never from a generative model.
- •Retake-safe errors: Unreadable or non-AAMVA barcodes return explicit 422 responses for a retake or manual review path.
Illustrative Nova Scotia Response
This response uses wholly fictional data. Available optional elements depend on what the issuer encodes.
{
"success": true,
"data": {
"type": "drivers_license",
"document_kind": "id_card",
"source": "pdf417",
"country_code": "CAN",
"region": "NS",
"document_number": "SAMPLE1234",
"surname": "SAMPLE",
"given_names": "ALEX MORGAN",
"first_name": "ALEX",
"middle_name": "MORGAN",
"sex": "X",
"date_of_birth": "1990-01-15",
"date_of_issue": "2025-01-15",
"date_of_expiry": "2030-01-15",
"address": "100 EXAMPLE AVE",
"city": "SAMPLE CITY",
"postal_code": "A1A 1A1",
"vehicle_class": null,
"restrictions": null,
"endorsements": null,
"document_discriminator": "SAMPLE-DISCRIMINATOR",
"issuer_identification_number": null,
"aamva_version": 10,
"jurisdiction_version": 0
}
}Frequently Asked Questions
Do all Nova Scotia cards have a PDF417 barcode?
Not necessarily. Barcode use varies by card type and generation. The API supports cards with an AAMVA-compliant PDF417 record and returns a 422 error for others, so your flow can fall back to front-side OCR or manual review.
How are Canadian dates and postal codes returned?
Dates are normalized to YYYY-MM-DD and postal codes are returned as encoded, for example in the A1A 1A1 format.
Does a successful decode verify the cardholder?
No. It proves a usable barcode payload was decoded and parsed. Identity, authenticity, and eligibility decisions require separate controls.
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