Wednesday, February 8, 2017

2016 Census geographic products

In preparation for the release of the 2016 Census results and coinciding with Geographic Information Systems Day, the first suite of geographic products released from the 2016 Census is available.
The products include maps and boundary files for the newly created aggregate dissemination areas, Boundary Files, Road Network File, Correspondence Files and the Interim List of Changes to Municipal Boundaries, Status, and Names.

All are accessible from the Census webpage and on the DLI FTP site: /MAD_DLI_IDD_DAM/root/geo/2016/

Boundary Files are based on standard geographic areas in effect on January 1, 2016, and provide geographic limits used for census dissemination and a framework for mapping and spatial analysis. Digital files depict the full extent of the geographic areas, including the coastal water area. Cartographic files depict the geographic areas using only the major land mass of Canada and its islands.

Digital and cartographic boundary files, in Lambert projection, are available for provinces and territories, aggregate dissemination areas, census divisions, economic regions, federal electoral districts (2013 Representation Order), census consolidated subdivisions, census subdivisions, census metropolitan areas/census agglomerations, census tracts, dissemination areas and dissemination blocks.

The Road Network File is a digital representation of Canada's national road network. Applications may include mapping, geocoding, geographic searching and area delineation. The file contains information such as street names, types, directions and address ranges. In addition, on each side of every street arc there are unique identifiers and names for the following levels of geography: province/territory, census metropolitan area/census agglomeration and census subdivision. Roads are ranked according to five levels of detail, suitable for mapping at various scales.

Correspondence Files (three in total) provide tabular data showing the correspondence between two vintages of geographic areas. Each correspondence file contains a unique identifier for the 2016 Census geographic area and the corresponding unique identifier for the 2011 Census geographic area. In addition, a relationship flag indicates the degree of correspondence between the geographic areas, facilitating a comparison between 2016 and 2011 census years.

The Interim List of Changes to Municipal Boundaries, Status and Names summarizes changes to municipal boundaries, status and names that occurred between January 2, 2011, and January 1, 2016. Municipal changes are based on information received through provincial and territorial gazettes, letters patent and orders-in-council.

Products
Boundary Files are available in three formats: ArcGIS® Shapefile (.shp), Geography Markup Language (.gml) and MapInfo® (.tab). The 2016 Census Boundary Files (Catalogue number92-160-X, Catalogue number92-163-X, Catalogue number92-168-X, Catalogue number92-169-X, Catalogue number92-171-X), and Boundary Files, Reference Guide (Catalogue number92-160-G) are now available.

The Road Network File is available in three formats: ArcGIS® Shapefile (.shp), Geography Markup Language (.gml) and MapInfo® (.tab). The 2016 Census Road Network File (Catalogue number92-500-X), and Road Network File, Reference Guide (Catalogue number92-500-G) are now available.

The Aggregate Dissemination Area Reference Maps (Catalogue number92-640-X) are now available in HTML format. The Reference Maps and Thematic Maps, Reference Guide (Catalogue number92-143-G) is now available in HTML and PDF format.|

Correspondence Files are available in two formats: Comma Separated Variable (.csv) and text (.txt). The 2016 Census Correspondence Files (Catalogue number92-156-X), and Correspondence Files, Reference Guide (Catalogue number92-156-G) are now available.

The geography universe of the Census Dictionary (Catalogue number98-301-X) is now available in HTML format.|

The Interim List of Changes to Municipal Boundaries, Status and Names, 2011-2016 (Catalogue number92F0009X) is now available in HTML format.