Block face files for 2001 census - Victoria CMA

Question

Could you please confirm if the requested files are available through the DLI, and if not, redirect me to whomever I need to contact to acquire these files.

An honours student needs the block face boundary files for Victoria CMA 59935, described below:
http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Reference/dict/geo003.htm

We think they're not available through DLI, but could you check please, and if they're not DLI files, find out how much it would cost to purchase this CMA from StatsCan?

Answers and Responses

1. Block-level spatial data is not available through the DLI. It would be a custom request for which the user would pay.

2. It is my understanding that the Road network files for the 2001 census do in fact contain block level boundaries and metadata, and are in fact available thru DLI. The Victoria file is grnf99325r02[a|m]_e.exe, depending on whether you want the Arcinfo or Mapinfo format.

3. There is also the The Road Network File (RNF), 2005. The road to follow is
http://geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss/2006Dissemination/Data/FRR_RNF_e.cfm

4. Regarding the 2005 RNF, see
http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/92-500-GIE/2005001/how.htm.

Specifically:
"This product contains one layer of geographic information: road arcs with name, type, direction, class, and address ranges." and
"A polygon layer with Block identifiers is not provided with the 2005 RNF."

If I am interpreting this correctly, while the 2001 RNF may have included a Block Boundary File, this does not seem to be the case with the 2005 RNF.

5. The 2001 RNF does contain a separate polygon layer that are the blocks. There is no block-face level information in the RNF and there are no such thing as block-face boundaries.

The definition of block-face, block and dissemination are from the RNF Guide are below. BFUIDs and attributes are confidential and normally only used in Geography Division and for custom area creation by Geographic Services Consultants in the Regions.

I would strongly recommend the student consider utilizing blocks as the smallest geographic level for her work. And, if she plans to try to aggregate data, she needs to be aware that blocks will cause her distress as the only data available for blocks are the population and dwelling counts. The DA level of geography may be a better choice.

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Block
A block is an area bounded on all sides by roads and/or boundaries of standard geographic areas. Blocks cover all the territory of Canada. The block is the smallest geographic area for which population and dwelling counts are disseminated.

Block-face
A block-face is one side of a street between two consecutive features intersecting that street. The features can be other streets, boundaries of standard geographic areas, or limits of map tiles. Block-faces are used for generating block-face representative points, which in turn are used for geocoding and census data extraction when the street and address information is available.

Dissemination Area
The dissemination area is a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more blocks. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which all census data are disseminated. dissemination areas cover all the territory of Canada.

6. The block-face file was not a product in 2001 due to confidentiality rules. It was a product in 1996 but the rules have since changed. Therefore, DLI cannot have access to the block-face file.

We do not have a formal written rule about why block-face file is no longer available. The decision was made by the Disclosure Avoidance Committee at that time.