Monday, April 25, 2016

Geographic reference files

Question
Does anyone know if the following geographic reference products exist?
  • Geographic attribute file - 2001
  • Block face data file - 2001 and onwards

Answer

We believe that the block face data file was discontinued for 2001 onwards due to concerns about maintaining confidentiality.

There is more information on the block-face definition, and changes made to it in 2001, in the Illustrated Glossary:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92-195-x/2011001/other-autre/bf-ci/def-eng.htm

I couldn’t find the file in our 2001 Geography folder either, I asked someone and I was told that GeoSuite 2001 offers the same data as the 2001 Geographic Attribute File.

It can be downloaded from the Geography page of our website:

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/geo/ref/geosuite-eng.cfm