Canada

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Provinces of Canada: Alberta · British Columbia · Manitoba · New Brunswick · Newfoundland and Labrador · Nova Scotia · Ontario · Prince Edward Island · Québec · Saskatchewan · Territories: Nunavut · Northwest Territories · Yukon
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Canada, North America
Wikidata

latitude: 71.59, longitude: -96.64
Browse map of Canada 71°35′24.00″ N, 96°38′24.00″ W
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Canada
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Use this template for your locality
Canada is a country in North America at latitude 71°35′24.00″ North, longitude 96°38′24.00″ West.
Flag of Canada Canada Mapping Project,
the home of Canada on the OpenStreetMap wiki.
Hello! Welcome to the project for mapping efforts in Canada!
You can find here national events, ongoing projects, map status and mapping guidelines, as well as links to other pages directly related to the mapping of Canada.
You may also find a list of contacts and mappers involved with the OpenStreetMap community in Canada.

Canada (pronouced /ˈkænədə/) is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area. Canada's common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the longest in the world.

This page is a starting point with information relating to Canadian mapping activity.

Provincial project pages: Ontario, Québec, British Columbia, Alberta, more…

City project pages: Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, more…

Contact

There is a mailing list set up for Canadian mappers. Most discussion about country-wide matters takes place there. Both official languages are welcome. Join the list here.

There is also a chat room for Canadian mappers on OFTC's IRC network: irc://irc.oftc.net/#osm-ca. For more international discussions related to general mapping (in English only); you probably also want to join the main OSM channel at irc://irc.oftc.net/#osm.

There is a Slack project: https://osm-ca.slack.com/. Invite link: https://join.slack.com/t/osm-ca/shared_invite/zt-2l8vxfotx-jARD56QBm0GgYi3lcf63ug

There is also a OpenStreetMap Canada Facebook page Please make sure everyone who indicates that they are a 'fan' to become an admin to the page, this way, all content of the page can be edited by everyone. (Just like OSM & the wiki)

There is also a website that includes a task manager for mapping in Canada

Collecting data

GPS tracks perhaps the best way to collect data. When you go out on trips, take along your GPS device and upload your traces to OSM. Be sure that your GPS device is set not to lock traces to the copyrighted data stored in the device; the purpose of collecting traces is to create new, unencumbered data. Photo mapping is an efficient way to create detailed maps.

Mapping parties are a great way to kick off mapping efforts in a sparsely-mapped area. By contacting other local area mappers, you can arrange to meet in a place that is convenient for everyone. When you meet with other mappers you can then learn first-hand the other techniques that are available, as with OSM, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

For those without a GPS, fieldpapers.org allows you to draw directly on a printed OSM map, scan it, and trace from it using an OSM editor.

Administrative Boundaries

For boundaries of municipalities and neighbourhoods, see Canada admin level.
Name Place Boundary Notes
Alberta https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/391186 Edmonton
British Columbia https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/390867 Victoria
Manitoba https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/390841 Winnipeg
New Brunswick https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/68942
Newfoundland and Labrador https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/391196
Northwest Territories https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/391220
Nova Scotia https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/390558
Nunavut https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/390840
Ontario https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/68841
Prince Edward Island https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/391115
Québec https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/61549
Saskatchewan https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/391178 Regina
Yukon Territory https://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/391455

Importing government data

Since 2008, the federal government has released a wealth of geodata for use in OSM. The OSM community is at work completing the existing OSM content with the government data.

Initial efforts were based on simple feature data from GeoBase, which includes administrative boundaries, place names, roads, and bodies of water. This import was mostly done wholesale in areas with little previous OSM data. Before street names were added into the GeoBase data, street names from Statistics Canada were imported; this resulted in many incorrect street names because of the differing geometry between the two datasets.

Currently, the data source of choice for importing is CanVec from Natural Resources Canada, containing most of the GeoBase data, plus extras such as important buildings. NRCan is generating an OSM XML version of the CanVec 6.0 dataset, and the most populous areas are now available. These files can be imported using offline editors such as JOSM. Please only import areas and features you are familiar with. If you have any questions about how to import the data, ask on the list or channel.


Here are some other government sources that may contain additional data.

Toporama, a WMS service serving rasterized CanVec data, can be used as a background layer in OSM editors. To use it in JOSM's WMS plugin, use these links: [1] (more detailed), or [2] (less detailed). The GeoBase NHN WMS at [3] provides more detail for water features, such as water flow direction and water junctions.

NRCan PDF sheets

JOSM_OSM_CanMatrix_TopoRama_mix.jpg

show much of the same data as CanVec, though the geometry may be as much a 1.2 km off from reality in some areas. This can be worked around using a map rectifier such as JOSM's PicLayer or Map Warper.

Statistics Canada data is used to import street names where they are missing from the other data sets. It is advised to not copy the geometry; however, you can use the street names database as a reference.

Atlas of Canada, available using WMS, contains some features not in GeoBase, CanVec, or StatCan, but only at a scale of 1:7500000.

Ibycus Topo is a Garmin map compiled directly from source CanVec data (shp files) as well as GeoBase data (shp files). This is a free (dont sell) non-routable map which also includes great contours from CanVec. (contours are not included in OSM, so GroundTruth Planet Contour is used instead). This can be used as a supplement when using OSM Maps as an overlay. NOTE: The .typ file (tags) which was used for conversion is slightly different than the tags used in the OSM version. However, as this import process will take some time, end-users are welcome to use both maps for navigating, and users can 'pretend' that the CanVec data is already in OSM, while finding new features to add to OSM.

ILMB BC Digital Road Atlas (2007, Partially Attributed) - https://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/geometadata/metadataDetail.do?recordUID=45674&recordSet=ISO19115

Open Data - many municipalities have Open Data datasets suitable for importing now, this is a list of them


See also:

Example.jpg

Canada-wide subprojects

If you have a goal that you are working towards or one that you would like to see get done (and are maybe willing to get the ball rolling) then add it to the list here, create a section where it can be coordinated and tracked, and a way of measuring progress.

Canada Post offices

See WikiProject Canada Post.

Projects

Building Outlines with Statistics Canada (deprecated)

Stats Canada has released building outlines under the federal government license. This is the associated import plan.

Canada Building Import

Building Canada 2020 Initiative and mapping project

Building Canada 2020 Initiative (BC2020i) was a community-led initiative with the vision to map all buildings in Canada on OpenStreetMap by the year 2020. The initiative has become Canada/Building_Canada_2020.

Simple information on buildings (geolocation, building footprint, full address and type of use) is of major societal value. This information, however, is often lacking in some areas or not completely accessible on a single open data platform. Creating a nation-wide, freely accessible and non-proprietary source of information on buildings will contribute to the development of the data infrastructures of the future, upon which a multitude of public and private projects could thrive.

Crowdsourcing buildings with Statistics Canada (deprecated)

This project appears to have become abandoned in late 2017 and/or has morphed into something approximated by Canada/Building_Canada_2020, above. Note Stats Canada is funded 1st April to March 31st. There is work being done in the background by Stats Canada and more open data buildings are expected to be released shortly. 2018/10/21

Former project documentation

Custom Garmin maps

  • Create a combined transparent routable OSM/topo map for all of Canada using Groundtruth SRTM data and, the most current OpenStreetMap data. So that it can be installed to Garmin MapSource & Garmin IMG tiles for use to install onto your GPS device.
    • The contour-only maps are currently (Feb 5th 2010) being generated, the files are being made available in the mediafire.com folder SRTM_GroundTruth_Canada These are all 10m contours, and about 100 megs each .zip file, and covering approximatly 2x2.5 NTS tiles (5 tiles at a OSM zoom level of 8. For example On OSM the box & the surrounding area.

Downloads

The Garmin MapSource (Windows) Installer file for each province is available here http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=3b30da6df5072902ab1eab3e9fa335caa2ed10992d240aa5

created from the OSM download of the outline of each province from http://downloads.cloudmade.com/north_america/canada .shp files are also available as well as pre-made .img tiles that you can install directly onto the device\

Trans Canada Trail

Newest Trans Canada Trail symbol
Newest Trans Canada Trail symbol see Key:wiki:symbol#Canada

Status: Please note the copyright restriction. ALL route infrastructure must be actually navigated with GPS and/or imported from one of the data sources that have the same compatible license as OpenStreetMap. See Canada Import Status. Specific Trans Canada Trail segments are mapped as province-wide relations tagged as a national cycleway network — network=ncn — coalesced as a super-relation, only if the route infrastructure elements are end-to-end usable by a bicycle (see Cycle routes). Otherwise, the Trail segments should be mapped as "regular" trails with tags of highway=path, highway=footway, highway=track or highway=bridleway.

Common Trans Canada Trail symbols can be tagged using Key:wiki:symbol#Canada. Note that symbols may vary from one segment of the route to the next.

Outdoor Maps

4UMaps Topographic outdoor map for hiking and mountain biking

Canadian best practices

See Map Features for worldwide tagging guidelines, and Canadian tagging guidelines for those specific to Canada.

Canada has a wide range of data that can be imported. So if you are local and on the ground the best place to start is checking the interfaces between the imported data and the data that was in place before. Typically you'll find that imported CanVec data has been truncated at the interface with original OSM data so make sure that the roads that should be joined are. You may find roads traced in from satellite images are not quite in the right place. GPS traces can help here.

When you browse the slippy map on openstreetmap.org, note the + sign to the right. Zoom in first then click on it, and tick the data box. Note the Points of Interest (POI) that show on the left. Click on one these and you'll see the tag values for the POI including things like website that are in the database. This means tags such as phone=*, website=* etc are worth entering even though they don't immediately show on the map but are accessible if you want to order a take away. Note the warning that comes up about the number of POIs and the amount of data that must be transferred. Ideally we do not want to store redundant data so for an address we want addr:housenumber=*, addr:street=*, and addr:postcode=*. Cities typically are marked in OSM as a place and a boundary relation and anything in the city's boundary is assumed to be in the city. So when we search, we take the city information from the objects describing the city itself. Provinces and country are the same. Address interpolation is a useful way of keeping the number of POIs down but still allowing a search by house number.

OSM has different methods of rendering. Some of these rendering systems can make use of French as well as English names. For bilingual areas such as Ottawa the convention is to enter the English name under name, and the French name under name:fr. Example name "Wilkie Drive" name:fr "promenade Wilkie". Renderers such as Maperitive can be set to display the French names as default.

Note also that most rendering systems will not show all the POIs on the map. The ones that are omitted can be shown by the use of "rules" but this is currently a little more complicated than casual users might like.

OSM is an electronic database that is converted or rendered into a visible map by programs. Programs are dumb but very fast. They work best with consistent tags so follow the Canadian tagging guidelines and the Map Features. For example cycle lanes should be labeled cycleway=lane to show up on + "Cycle Map". There are now some applications that work with the POIs, such as MapOSMatic, but in order to find the right ones the tags must be consistent. There are bots that are run on the data cleaning it up so it is not necessary to clean up existing tags, leave it to the bots.

Please add value by adding footpaths, specialist stores, playgrounds and parks. These are often missing from other maps.

What's with the forests in Canada?

Canadian Forest Blocks

The squared off sections of forest in Canada are the result of the ongoing CanVec data import. CanVec tiles were broken up into squares called the NTS grid to better manage the data import. If you see a forest that's squared off with a empty section beside it, it's most likely that that grid has not been imported yet.

Open Data

Open Data catalogs can be found here Note not all Open Data aligns with the OpenStreetMap licence. Currently the federal government,City of Ottawa have been approved. Vancouver my understanding is the data has been given to OpenStreetMap but no other open data licence aligns with OSM thus cannot be used for imports etc. 2018/10/18.

Alberta

City Name License Link to portal Notes
Town of Banff Custom [4]
City of Calgary OGL - City of Calgary [5]
City of Edmonton OGL - City of Edmonton [6] updated in 2022, now follows Canadian OGL
County of Grande Prairie OGL-County of Grande Prairie [7] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
Medicine Hat n/a n/a Medicine Hat has removed its open data server, and appears to be re-selling AltaLIS free data: https://www.medicinehat.ca/government/departments/information-and-computer-services/gis-mapping/digital-pricing
City of Red Deer Custom [8]
Strathcona County OGL-Strathcona County [9] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
City of Grande Prairie OGL-City of Grande Prairie [10] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
Calgary Region Custom [11]

Nova Scotia

City Name License Link to portal Notes
Halifax Regional Municipality OGL-CA [12] We have explicit permission to use data: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Halifax/Import

British Columbia

City Name License Link to portal Notes
City of Chilliwack Custom Data License [13]
City of Kelowna Public Domain [14]
Township of Langley OGL-Township of Langley [15] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
City of Nanaimo OGL-Nanaimo [16] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
Regional District of Nanaimo OGL 1.0 Regional District of Nanaimo [17] compatible (LWG minutes 2024-03-04)
Regional District of Central Okanagan ? [18]
Regional District of North Okanagan ? [19]
City of Prince George OGL-City of Prince George [20] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
District of Saanich OGL-District of Saanich [21] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
City of Surrey OGL-City of Surrey [22] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
City of Vancouver OGL-Vancpuver [23] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
District of North Vancouver OGL-North Vancouver (Legal link in top right corner) [24] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different
City of Victoria OGL-City of Victoria [25] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different

Manitoba

City Name License Link to portal Notes
City of Brandon Custom [26] Would have to ask if attribution on the https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors page would fulfil the attribution requirement
City of Winnipeg OGL-Winnipeg [27] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name being different

New Brunswick

City Name License Link to portal Notes
City of Fredericton Different license for different data, there are CC-BY and an unspecified Attribution license(address points) [28]
City of Saint John OGL-City of Saint John [29] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name and licence text being different

Ontario

City Name License Link to portal Notes Date Checked
Government of Ontario Custom [30] Compatible, must assign attribution 2024-03-04
City of Brampton Custom [31] So far incompatible (liability issues, may pass costs on to you if they get sued: Same issue with Ottawa's old license)
City of Burlington Custom [32] So far incompatible (liability issues, may pass costs on to you if they get sued: Same issue with Ottawa's old license) 2022-02-03
City of Hamilton Custom [33] So far incompatible (liability issues, may pass costs on to you if they get sued: Same issue with Ottawa's old license) 2022-02-03
City of London Custom [34] So far incompatible (liability issues, may pass costs on to you if they get sued: Same issue with Ottawa's old license)
City of Mississauga Custom [35] So far incompatible (liability issues, may pass costs on to you if they get sued: Same issue with Ottawa's old license)
City of Niagara Falls Custom [36] So far incompatible (liability issues, may pass costs on to you if they get sued: Same issue with Ottawa's old license)
Town of Oakville OGL 2.0 Custom [37] So far incompatible (liability issues, may pass costs on to you if they get sued: Same issue with Ottawa's old license) 2022-02-03
City of Ottawa OGL-CA [38] Currently under review/importing: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Canada:Ontario:Ottawa/Import/Plan
Region of Peel [39] Current status is on hold due to license(need to make sure they own all the rights): https://github.com/osmottawa/data-research/tree/master/Peel-Region
City of Greater Sudbury OGL-CA v1.0 City of Greater Sudbury [40] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name and licence text being different
City of Toronto OGL-CA v1.0 - Toronto [41] Compatible after LWG approval
City of Waterloo OGL-UK [42]
City of Welland OGL-CA City of Welland [43] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name and licence text being different
City of Windsor OGL-CA v1.0 - The Corporation of the City of Windsor [44] Not accepted for import into OSM due to name and licence text being different
City of Guelph OGL-CA [45]
Niagara Region Mixed based upon dataset, 99% OGL-CA v2.0 based with city names attached [46] Most datasets not accepted for import into OSM due to including city/town name in licence text
Region of Waterloo OGL-UK [47] also contains data for Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo
City of Kitchener [48] [49] Seems to be based on OGL-UK as with other parts of Region of Waterloo
Township of North Frontenac used to be OGL-CA v1.0 [50] 2019-01-22 link to licence on open data page (which works) doesn't work
Haldimand County Custom (on landing page) [51] Must assign attribution. Would have to ask if attribution on the https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors page would fulfil the attribution requirement
Grey County Custom [52] Must assign attribution. Would have to ask if attribution on the https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors page would fulfil the attribution requirement
York Region Custom [53] Very open license, no attribution, no legal carry over, etc

Québec

City Name License Link to portal Notes
City of Gatineau CC-BY 4.0 [54] Import ongoing (for address nodes) and with explicit permission: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Gatineau/Import
City of Montréal CC-BY 4.0 [55] Import ongoing with explicit permission: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Montr%C3%A9al/Imports/Ville_de_Montr%C3%A9al
City of Québec CC-BY 4.0 [56] Would need explicit permission from the city.
City of Sherbrooke CC-BY 4.0 [57] Would need explicit permission from the city

Saskatchewan

City Name License Link to portal Notes
City of Regina Custom [58] Requires attribution. Would have to ask if attribution on the https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors page would fulfil the attribution requirement
City of Saskatoon Custom [59] Very open license, no attribution, no legal carry over, etc

Yukon

City Name License Link to portal Notes
City of Whitehorse Custom [60] Requires written permission for commercial uses and seeing as ODbL doesn't have a clause against it, we would need explicit permission
North America – Countries and territories
edit
Countries: The Bahamas · Antigua and Barbuda · Barbados · Belize · Canada · Costa Rica · Cuba · Dominica · Dominican Republic · El Salvador · Grenada · Guatemala · Haiti · Honduras · Jamaica · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · United States
Territories: Anguilla (UK) · Bermuda (UK) · The British Virgin Islands (UK) · The Cayman Islands (UK) · Greenland (DK) · Guadeloupe (FR) · Martinique (FR) · Montserrat (UK) · Navassa Island (US) · Puerto Rico (US) · Saba (NL) · Saint Barthelemy (FR) · Saint Martin (FR) · Saint Martin (NL) · Saint Pierre and Miquelon (FR) · Saint Eustatius (NL) · The Turks and Caicos Islands (UK) · The United States Virgin Islands (US)