Spatial information products

Spatial information products provide the shape and location of geographic features. Geographic boundaries and road networks are available for mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) applications.

What's new?

  • The Dissemination Geography Unique Identifier (DGUID) is present on all 2021 Boundary Files: cartographic and digital.
  • Each boundary file contains only the information relative to its specific geographic level. A Dissemination Geographies Relationship File allows linking all geographies to their higher levels.
  • Due to methodology changes in the delineation of the census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations geographies (CMA/CA), CMAs/CAs and census tracts (CTs) boundary files are only available on February 9, 2022.
  • As of 2020, all the boundaries maintained by Statistics Canada have been adjusted to the more current, accurate and consistent CanVec hydrographic features (Topographic Data of Canada – Natural Resources Canada Opens in a new window), which comply with international geomatics standards seamlessly across Canada.
  • The 2021 Boundary Files and Road Network File are now available in File Geodatabase (.gdb), Esri® REST and Web Mapping Service (WMS) formats.
  • The 2021 Boundary Files and Road Network File are no longer available in MapInfo (.tab) format.

Boundary files - thumbnail

Boundary files

There are two types of boundary files: cartographic and digital. Cartographic boundary files portray the geographic areas using only the major land mass of Canada and its coastal islands. Digital boundary files portray the full extent of the geographic areas, including the coastal water area.

Road network files - thumbnail

Road network files

Road network files are digital representations of Canada's national road network, containing information such as street names, types, directions and address ranges. User applications of these files may include mapping, geocoding, geographic searching, area delineation and database maintenance as a source for street names and locations.

Dissemination geographies relationships table - thumbnail

Dissemination Geographies Relationship File

The Dissemination Geographies Relationship File allows for the linking of different geographic levels using the Dissemination Geography Unique Identifiers (DGUIDs).

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