Use of PCCF

Question

I have a RDC researcher who would like to use a PCCF file to link data spatially, if allowable, from the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY) with census data in order to obtain a variable for neighbourhood income. If allowable, would the request be at the RDC level of the researcher or the Analyst (who would be authorized to handle the file)?

Answer

Is the question about permission and availability or is it about feasibility? For feasibility, the entire proposal will have to be reviewed by subject matter following the usual process, to answer this question correctly.I would advise contacting the RDC Analyst for more information.

Updated Products - PCCF+ Version 5J

Hello,

The following product is now available on the DLI FTP and website.

Postal Code Conversion File Plus (PCCF+) - version 5J

"The Postal Code Conversion File Plus (PCCF+) is a complementary product to the Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF). It is an automated system that uses postal codes to assign census geography. PCCF+ is based on the latest Postal Code Conversion File and the Postal Code Population Weight File produced by the Geography Division of Statistics Canada. PCCF+ uses weights to allocate postal codes linked to multiple dissemination areas according to the distribution of population using a given postal code." (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=82F0086X&lang=eng) 

WEB: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/health-sante-eng.htm
FTP:  /dli/DLI-Collection_Other-Products/Health - PCCF+/pccf5j-fccp5j-can

Data by Dissemination Area in Beyond 2020 Files

Question

The researcher was using the 2006 Census Complete Cumulative Profile at the DA level and the PCCF to map socio-economic indicators by postcode - something he´s done before for the 2001 census. He had no problem for most of the country, but for the Saskatchewan he came across an abnormally large number of DAs (740/2300) that don´t appear in the B2020 file. I had a look at a couple of them and there is data for the CSD (the 7 digit number, i.e., 4701001) but not for the DA (8 digits). It doesn´t seem random enough to be a case of data suppression, what am I/he missing?

I can provide a full list of missing DAs if helpful.

Answer

The following 2006 Census dissemination area (DA) level suppression lists describe the DAs for which data have been suppressed and could be used to confirm if data for DAs in the Beyond 20/20 file have been suppressed.

Dissemination area suppression list including census subdivisions in which they are located - 100% data
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/ref/notes/sup_DA2A-AD2A-eng.cfm

Dissemination area suppression list including census subdivisions in which they are located - 20% sample data
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/ref/notes/sup_DA2B-AD2B-eng.cfm

If you have any questions about specific DAs, please don't hesitate let me know and I will be happy to ask our census contacts to advise.

I hope that this is helpful.

Geography Questions - # of Sub-Geographies per CD/CSD

Question

Is there a way to know for any given CD or CSD how many DAs, EAs, CTs, FSAs, Postal codes they contain? I was looking at the StatCan website and I could not find that information.

I am trying to see how many of these sub-geographies there are for 32 CDs/CSDs in Canada.

Answer

This can be determined by analyzing the PCCF. Select SLI=1, RET_DATE=19000001 and the 32 CDs/CSDs you want. Then aggregate over the different levels of geography you want.

Economic Regions

Question
We would like to request descriptions please for the Economic Regions in the Postal Code Conversion File, if available. For your information, please find below* background geography documentation on Economic Regions.

If there are no descriptions per se for the (18) Economic Regions, are there are characteristics that distinguish the 18 Economic Regions from each other at the provincial level and at the national level, e.g., do the 13,592 Economic Regions designated as “10” in Nfld/Labrador resemble each other and the other 198,216 in the rest of Canada, and if so, how?

*background documentation from STC:

The PCCF reference guide (p.20) indicates:
Economic Regions: This identifies an economic region within a province/territory. This field must be combined with the province/territory code to uniquely identify an economic region.

From the Census Dictionary: An economic region (ER) is a grouping of complete census divisions (CDs) (with one exception in Ontario) created as a standard geographic unit for analysis of regional economic activity.

Within the province of Quebec, economic regions (régions administratives) are designated by law. In all other provinces and territories, economic regions are created by agreement between Statistics Canada and the province/territory concerned. Prince Edward Island and the three territories each consist of one economic region. In Ontario, there is one exception where the economic region boundary does not respect census division boundaries: the census division of Halton is split between the ER of Hamilton - Niagara Peninsula and the ER of Toronto.

Answer
Our geography contacts have provided us with the following information in response to your questions about the Economic Region codes in the Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF):

Question:
We would like to request descriptions please for the Economic Regions in the Postal Code Conversion File, if available.

Answer:
"Economic region code

An economic region (ER) is a grouping of complete census divisions (CDs) (with one exception in Ontario) created as a standard geographic unit for analysis of regional economic activity.
Source: December 2009 Postal codes Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF), Reference Guide p. 28)

Each economic region is assigned a two-digit code. In order to uniquely identify each economic region in Canada, the two-digit province/territory code must precede the ER code.
Source: 2006 Census Dictionary http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/ref/dict/geo022a-eng.cfm

An Economic Region is a standard unit created in response to the requirement for a geographical unit suitable for the presentation and analysis of regional economic activity. Such a unit is small enough to permit regional analysis, yet large enough to include enough respondents that, after data are screened for confidentiality, a broad range of statistics can still be released.

The regions are based upon work by Camu, Weeks and Sametz in the 1950s. At the outset, boundaries of regions were drawn in such a way that similarities of socio-economic features within regions were maximized while those among regions were minimized. Later, the regions were modified to consist of counties which define the zone of influence of a major urban centre or metropolitan area. Finally, the regions were adjusted to accommodate changes in CD boundaries and to satisfy provincial needs.
Source: Standard geographical classification, 2006 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/sgc-cgt/2006/2006-intro-fin-eng.htm"

Question:
If there are no descriptions per se for the (18) Economic Regions, are there are characteristics that distinguish the 18 Economic Regions from each other at the provincial level and at the national level, e.g., do the 13,592 Economic Regions designated as "10" in Nfld/Labrador resemble each other and the other 198,216 in the rest of Canada, and if so, how?

Answer:
"No, there are no characteristics that distinguish one ERcode from another ERcode.

An ER is a geographical unit, smaller than a province, except in the case of Prince Edward Island and the Territories. The ER is made up by grouping whole census divisions, except for one case in Ontario, where the city of Burlington, a component of Halton (CD 35 24), is excluded from the ER of Toronto and is included in the Hamilton–Niagara Peninsula ER, which encompasses the entire CMA of Hamilton.
There were 76 ERs in 2006.
Source: Standard geographical classification, 2006 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/sgc-cgt/2006/2006-intro-fin-eng.htm"

Question:
Do provinces and territories all assign these numbers independently of each other?

Answer:
"ERs may be economic, administrative or development regions. Within the province of Quebec, economic regions are designated by law ("les régions administratives"). In all other provinces, economic regions are created by agreement between Statistics Canada and the provinces concerned.
Source: Standard geographical classification, 2006 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/sgc-cgt/2006/2006-intro-fin-eng.htm"

Question:
Is there any kind of common reason why the provinces and territories use "10" and in decreasing numbers "20", "30", etc.? Does 3510 (Ontario) have any relation to 2410 (Québec) or "3590" and "2490"?

Answer:
"No, there is no methodological reason why the provinces and territories use the numbers that they do, there is no relation between 3510 (Ontario) and 2410 (Québec) or 3590 and 2490. They are simply sequential numbers, no relationship between numbers and provinces."

Generate Map (or Stats) on Students' Transit Access Using Postal Codes

Question

A Student Association is trying to determine how many students do not have convenient access to transit, which it defines as being more than a 15-minute walk from a transit station or bus stop. It is in negotiations with the local transit company about a proposed student transit pass. I have a couple of questions:

Would the Student Association be eligible to use DLI resources for this purpose (assuming they will be of help)? I suspect not since it is a separate organization from the university. This issue is of interest to the university’s planning office as well, however, and it has provided the Student Association with a list of the number of students living in each 6-digit postal code.

Could any of you with GIS experience suggest how to best approach this, with or without DLI resources? Unfortunately, our Library does not subscribe to DMTI Spatial’s Platinum Postal Suite (or any DMTI products), nor do we have PCensus. We do have ArcGIS installed on some workstations.

I’m afraid that I have very little experience – aside from some excellent DLI training sessions and the National Summer Institute last year – on using mapping software. I have spent a bit of time thinking about various approaches I might recommend to the Student Association with the limited resources we have available, and could probably spend all day bumbling around trying them out. I actually wouldn’t mind this, in order to get some experience using the tools, but the Student Association needs the info fairly urgently.

The transit company provides PDF route maps on its website and has also made route data available in Google Transit Feed Specification (GTSF) format. The Student Association has generated a PDF map showing its rough boundaries of ‘convenient access.’

Any help will be appreciated.

Answer

Here is how I would basically approach this request.

The first step would be to geocode the student list using their postal codes. Using the PCCF (if use allowed) you would assign each student latitude and longitude coordinates based on the postal code they live at. You would then add these students as x/y points to the map.

The second step would be to obtain a point shapefile of all the bus stops and SkyTrain stations. I had a quick look at the Google Transit Feed Specification and I think this could probably be created from one of the files if you don't have access to the actual shapefile from TransLink.

The third step would be to create buffers around each bus stop and SkyTrain station using some distance that would approximate a 15-minute walk (500-1000 meters).

The fourth step would be to select by location all the students that fall outside those buffers. This would give you the number of students without convenient access to transit.

Additional information

We consulted the DLI Executive and they confirmed that the Student Association and/or the university's planning office would be allowed to use DLI products (such as the PCCF) for this specific project. As students and staff, they are authorised users and this project can be considered academic planning and is therefore allowed according to the DLI licence. The students would of course need to be made aware of the licence and its restrictions (e.g. the DLI products can't be used by the transit company).

I hope that this is helpful. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Urban Areas/ Rural Areas - PCCF

Question

I have a question regarding the Urban Areas Rural Areas (UARA) code field in the Postal Code Conversion File. A researcher would like to find out the best way to determine whether a postal code is rural or urban. He wanted to use the UARA field, but is unclear about what a "0" value means. In the guide it states that "This field will be '0000' for postal codes linked to dissemination areas only (Rep_Point = 3)." Would these be rural, urban or either? When looking at the PCCF file there are a lot of postal codes with 0's in the UARA.

Would it be better to use the fact that rural postal codes have a "0" in the 2nd digit of the FSA? Would it be more accurate to use the DMT (Delivery Mode Type) field and assume that it is rural when DMT=H or DMT=W?

I realize that Canada Post and Statistics Canada may have different definitions of rural. The researcher would prefer to use Statistics Canada's definition as they will be linking their research records to census dissemination area data.

Any help with this would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.


Answer

Here is Geography Division's response to your questions:

"According to the PCCF reference guide, the "0" value indicates a rural area for the UARAType. Rural postal codes are identifiable by the presence of a zero (0) in the second position of the FSA code. Urban postal codes are composed of FSAs with numerals 1 to 9 in the second position of the code.

UARA (http://geodepot.statcan.gc.ca/2006/180506051805140305/06180505162102/92-153-072305/2009001/tech-eng.htm)
Urban area codes are unique four-digit codes that are assigned sequentially upon the UA creation. These codes remain constant between censuses. If an urban area is retired due to amalgamation or failure to meet the population or density thresholds, then its code is retired.

Rural area codes are unique four-digit codes which are a concatenation of '99' plus the two-digit province/territory code. For example, records in rural areas in Manitoba are assigned '9946'. This field will be '0000' for postal codes linked to dissemination areas only (Rep_Point = 3).

UARAtype (http://geodepot.statcan.gc.ca/2006/180506051805140305/06180505162102/92-153-072305/2009001/tech-eng.htm)
For urban areas, the type code indicates the relationship of the urban area to the CMA/CA structure.

0 Rural area
1 Urban core
2 Urban fringe
4 Urban areas outside CMA/CAs
6 Secondary urban core

This field will be '9' for postal codes linked to dissemination areas only (Rep_Point = 3). There is no UARAtype available for postal codes linked at the dissemination area level. UARAtype is only available for postal codes linked at the more detailed dissemination block or block-face level.

Statistics Canada definition of Rural Area (http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/reference/dictionary/geo042.cfm)

Rural areas include all territory lying outside urban areas. Taken together, urban and rural areas cover all of Canada.

Rural population includes all population living in the rural fringes of census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations (CAs) , as well as population living in rural areas outside CMAs and CAs.

More information on Rural area (RA) is available at: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/reference/dictionary/geo042a.cfm"

I hope this answers your question sufficiently.  If you need further clarification, please let me know.

Socio-economic data for small geographic levels

Question

A bit of a broad question, but I’m more looking for advice on how to proceed rather than references to specific datasets (though the latter are always welcome!).
I have a faculty member engaged in research looking at expectant mothers’ distance to hospitals in Canada. He is working with CIHI to obtain hospital administration data by postal code. He would also like to develop a ‘vulnerability’ factor using socio-economic variables (income, crime, education). Because it has to match the CIHI data, geography is the most important variable. I have a vague understanding that census data is not available at the DA level unless it’s aggregated. Is this true? Are there other sources I should be looking at for DA level social-economic variables?
Thanks for your help. On the plus side, more questions I can’t answer means more complex data use is happening here!


Answer
The Census BST data, including average income and various education measures, are available through the DLI at the DA level. This data can then be matched to Postal Code data through the Postal Code conversion files. Crime data is more challenging. There is a Sociology Professor here at McGill who is developing an crime index measurement for all the census tracts in Canada. He has made use of the PCensus Crime Risk Data (CAP Index), which as I remember is also at the CT level. It might be that the mapping that Professor Burgos has been doing could be of interest to your researcher.

SPSS Syntax file for the March 2008 PCCF

Question

Can someone tell me if a SPSS syntax file has been created for the March 2008 PCCF? Or will it be created soon?

Answer

I can confirm that the DLI does not have any SPSS syntax files for the PCCF,
nor do we anticipate creating any. However, as Laine suggests below, the
SPSS file you need is available on her site at the links provided below. In
fact, her site offers SPSS syntax files for older versions of the PCCF as
well:
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/codebooks/cstdli/pccf.htm#pccforig

Unique postal codes not all unique in the PCCF for Sept 2008

Question

We are having difficulties with the latest PCCF file for Sept 2008.

Several hundred postal codes, e.g., for postal codes A1A5K7, A1A5K8 ... , have more than one record which are labeled SLI=1 (1 = the best or only record for the postal code)

There appears to be a coding problem for the variable Single Link Indicator.

I deleted all postal codes with the SLI=0 as the researchers need to deal with unique postal codes.

If this is validated as a coding problem, could a new PCCF file be issued for Sept 2008 please?

Answer


1) I talked to one of Statistics Canada's PCCF experts, and he says that the September 2008 file appears to be correct. He provided me with the following, detailed explanation:

"In principle, users need to understand that there can be more than one record for a given postal code where SLI=1, if the postal code has been retired and then "rebirthed", or if for any reason the Delivery Mode Type (DMT) has changed. There should however be only be one record with SLI=1 for a given combination of postal code and DMT. If a postal code has a DMT of Z (retired) and any other DMT, you would want to keep only the non-retired records, which should eliminate most of the duplicate SLI records for a given postal code. But if there is only a retired record for the postal code, keep it.

For the two postal codes you mentioned, the above explanation sufficed to show that there really wasn't a problem, once the true nature of the SLI field is better understood. The same thing also occurred on previous versions versions of the PCCF.

However, it may or may not be appropriate to force only 1 record per postal code (using the SLI), as many postal codes serve a very wide area spanning multiple blocks, DAs and CSDs."

2)Further to the instructions from the PCCF folks at Statistics Canada on how to deal with non-unique postal codes, here are the SPSS steps I used to get rid of retired (DMT=Z) duplicate postal codes in SPSS without getting rid of unique retired postal codes…(nod now if are you still awake)…

1. Create a new variable (ID variable) :

- Using the menu: select TRANSFORM>COMPUTE then enter id in the Target Variable text box and $casenum in the Numeric Expression text box. Click OK.(If nothing happens, select TRANSFORM>RUN PENDING TRANSFORM)

2. Pull out the duplicate Postal codes to the top of the file:

- Using the menu: DATA>IDENTIFY DUPLICATE CASES then enter the Postal code variable in “DEFINE MATCHING CASES BY” and enter DMT in SORT WITHIN MATCHING GROUP BY and then select “MOVE MATCHING CASES TO THE TOP OF THE FILE” .

3. Now we’re ready to get rid of the non-unique postal codes. Please note my duplicate postal codes end at ID=11,849:

- Using the menu: DATA>SELECT CASES and Select If radial and then click on IF button and enter the syntax to identify the cases you want to keep, this is the syntax I used.

id >= 11850 or (id < 11850 and DMT ~="Z").

Then click on CONTINUE, then select OUTPUT: DELETE UNSELECTED CASES (Check first by filtering unselected cases and viewing that you are only going to delete duplicate retired postal codes).

This seems to work, but if anyone has a better way to do this, please let me know.

Older versions of the Postal Code Conversion File

Question

I’m writing to see about getting older versions of the PCCF (Postal Code Conversion File). The DLI FTP site has files from 2007 to March of 2008, but nothing older. I have locally stored files from earlier years, but lack 2004 through 2006. A researcher here needs a version of the PCCF from this period. Are these older files still available? Is there a reason why we don’t have these older files on the DLI FTP site?

Answer

Older versions of the PCCF are available on our FTP site. The PCCFs for 2002 to 2006 are available in the 2001 folder:

/ftp/dli/geography/2001

More PCCF files can be found in the 1986, 1991, and 1996 folders at: /ftp/dli/geography

Datum used for LONG and LAT in PCCF

Question

In the PCCF+ 4h program - I know the longtitude and latitude format is xx.xxxxxx and -xxx.xxxxxx, respectively, but what Datum was used for the LONG and LAT? Options would be NAD83 or NAD27?

Answer

From the reference guide for the PCCF & PCCF+ (Statistics Canada Catalogue 4 no. 92F0153GIE):

2001 Census geography features

* Within major urban areas, postal code address ranges are linked to the National Geographic Base (NGB) and wherever possible, a block-face link is identified.

* The 2001 postal code conversion process has produced some cases of reduced data quality. A part of the process generated cases where a postal code was assigned to all blocks located along a road. This occurred when a postal code could be geocoded to a road but not to a specific address range. The system then assigned the postal code to all 2001 blocks linked to the road identifier. In some cases, especially if the road was very long, this process was not appropriate and has resulted in poorer data quality. 4,522 postal codes in the PCCF were corrected where postal codes were related to ‘Main’ postal delivery installations. The records related to these postal codes were re-geocoded so that they are linked to the correct 2001 Census geography. Another group of records (associated with 40 postal codes) with incorrect census subdivision linkages in the province of Québec were also re-geocoded and corrected in the PCCF.

* A geographic unit, the block, has been added to the standard hierarchy.

* A statistical area classification code (SAC) has been added to the census subdivision.

* All the spatial information is now based on the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83).

March 2006 Postal Code Conversion File

Questions

I downloaded the March 2006 PCCF from the DLI directory, and have some questions.

In the directory structure, there is a "corrected-postal-codes" subdirectory, with two files:
1) pc_corr_cp.xls - which is a list of 550 postal codes --- Is this the list of postal code corrections mentioned in the second bullet on page 5 of the codebook? Are we supposed to do something with this file, and if so, what? Is there a list of the corrections made that could advise our users, or do we simply tell them "these postal codes got fixed somehow - we don't know what was wrong, or what was corrected"?

2) problemsdpl_problemesld.txt - which has 45 lines of data, each line having a "PCODE", "DPL", and "Incorrect_DPL"
--- Is this the file of "unnecessary Designated Place - postal code linkages" mentioned in section 4.4 of the codebook?

When I look at the records in the data file, it appears that if we make the changes recorded in problemsdpl_problemesld.txt, we will have identical duplicate records for the postal codes - so I assume we are supposed to delete the records with the incorrect DPL?

I ran the duplicate checking procedures I created against the non-retired SLI=1 postal codes (theoretically the "best match" file), and came up with 48 records that were duplicated. My list of 48 postal codes includes all 45 of the ones listed in the file problemsdpl_problemesld.txt, plus postal codes V9B0A4 (DPLs 0010 and 9959), V9B6X4 (DPLs 0010 and 9959), and V9B6X5 (DPLs 0010 and 9959).

What about these 3 postal codes that seem to be duplicated - which is the "wrong" DPL (and, if I'm right in assuming, a candidate for deletion)?

In the short term, a "readme" file in the corrected-postal-codes directory would be quite useful, I think, to instruct us in the use of these two files.

3) Why isn't it possible to get this file corrected by Statistics Canada, either at the source division or at DLI, so that each DLI institituiton doesn't (or shouldn't) have to make the same corrections?

Answers

1) This file is explained on page 5 as you mentioned, it is a list of postal codes that were linked to incorrect geographic units but have now been corrected. You do nothing with this file, these corrections are in the Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF) .

2) Yes, there were some duplicate DPL linkages created during the automated geocoding process and we have discovered a few more which include the postal codes you have mentioned below.

3) - EAC) The issue with the DLPs results from the automated geocoding process. The Postal Code Project Team is working on redesigning the geocoding system in order to reduce errors and increase data quality of the Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF). The January 30, 2007 PCCF release will contain the same DPL duplicates because we are not switching over to the new geocoding system until after this last release (based on 2001 geographic units). Once we release the first PCCF based on 2006 geographic units the DPL duplicates should no longer exist because we will be using the new geocoding system.

Postal Code Conversion Files for all years

Question

Is there a complete set of the PCCFs available on the ftp site or elsewhere? Specifically a researcher needs the PCCF 2000 - on to link to medical data identified by postal codes and time.

Answer

The file you want is pccf_nov00 on the dli ftp site.

dli/geography/1996/pccf_nov00

2001 Census - Population and Dwelling Counts by Postal Code

Question

Does a file (from Statistics Canada or elsewhere) exist with current (or near-current) postal codes exist containing 2001 population and dwelling counts?

Version 8.3 of the DMTI CanMap Postal Geography contains 1996 population and dwelling counts.

Answer

This is the answer we received from geo division

I think the client must have received a version of the PCCF with population and dwelling counts as produced by DMTI. Our Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF) does not contain population and dwelling counts. I think that DMTI joined the PCCF with information from GeoRef 1996 to create a file with population and dwelling counts. The next release of the PCCF is scheduled for January 31, 2006.

If your client has a copy of GeoSuite 2001 then a join can be performed between that file and the latest PCCF to get a PCCF file with 2001 population and dwelling counts.

****Also on a side note*****

The January 2006 Postal code conversion file (PCCF) - 92F0153UCE and the Postal codes by federal riding file (PCFRF) (2003 Representation Order) - 92F0193UCB will be released on Tuesday, January 31, 2006. Both the PCCF and PCFRF reflect postal code data from the Canada Post Corporation up to and including October 2005.

The PCCF will again contain the Federal Electoral Districts for both the 1996 and 2003 Representation Orders.