Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

About GeoBase

About Data

Is the GeoBase Portal an NRCan initiative?

GeoBase is a federal, provincial and territorial government initiative that is overseen by the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG). NRCan is a major player as it ensures the portal operation, maintenance and support. NRCan is currently the major data provider until more partnership agreements are in place.

The GeoBase initiative has been undertaken to ensure the provision of, and access to, a common, up-to-date and maintained base of quality geospatial data for all of Canada.

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What is the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG)?

The Canadian Council on Geomatics is a federal-provincial-territorial consultative body working in the field of geospatial information management. The CCOG is the leading authority for GeoBase. All ten provinces and the three territories are members of CCOG, as well as more than a dozen federal departments and agencies.

The CCOG provides an important consultative forum for discussion on common issues and concerns such as:

  • exchange of information on respective current and future programs
  • proposed legislation relevant to geomatics
  • the presentation and discussion of progress reports, organizational changes, new ideas, technology and procedures developed during the preceding year or to be developed in future

The CCOG also develops, promotes and promulgates national geomatics standards and formulate recommendations and resolutions as are from time to time deemed appropriate.

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What is GeoConnections?

On June 15, 2005, the Government of Canada announced funding of $60 million for a five-year renewal of the GeoConnections program. Whereas the first phase of GeoConnections focused on developing the policies, standards, technologies and partnerships required to build a Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI), the second phase is intended to ensure that Canadians will be further able to actively adopt, use and benefit from the CGDI. From 2005 to 2010, the renewed GeoConnections program will work with its existing partners to ensure that CGDI technologies remain current, but will also pursue partnerships with new end-user communities of practice. Specifically, GeoConnections will seek to better understand the needs of users in four key areas (sustainable development and the environment, Aboriginal issues, public health, and public safety) with the goal of collaborating to further develop the CGDI into an operational asset for end users in these areas to employ in planning and decision making.

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How is the GeoBase initiative funded?

The funding comes primarily from the federal and provincial-territorial government departments and agencies with a responsibility to provide base geospatial information within their jurisdictions.

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Who supplies the data for the GeoBase site?

The responsibility for data collection and maintenance falls under many federal, provincial and territorial programs and agencies. All of the provinces and territories, as well as many federal agencies have contributed to this version of the GeoBase portal.

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Who will use GeoBase data?

The goal of GeoBase is to provide the reference and context for a broad variety of thematic data for government, business, and personal applications. Critical concerns such as sustainable resource development (forestry, mines, energy, water, etc.); public safety, protection, and sanitation (emergency response, OCIPEP, disaster management, Department of National Defence, Tracking SARS, etc.); and environmental protection (greenhouse gas effects, global warming, natural risks, Winnipeg Flooding, etc.) all make use of geospatial data as a first choice tool in planning, execution, and intervention assessments. Effective geomatics applications rely on high-quality base geospatial information.

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How does this site benefit the economy?

By providing data at no cost to users, this site will be providing a federal, provincial and territorial approach to advancing and stimulating the geomatics and other technology industry sectors:

  • facilitating the exchange of technical knowledge between industry and governments
  • improving decision-making by all Canadians, including industry, academia and governments, by providing a valuable and reliable source of geospatial information
  • minimizing duplication of work and maximizing respective investments at government levels

GeoBase is built on partnerships and innovative technology. By working together, multiple levels of government are increasing their efficiency in collecting, maintaining and disseminating geospatial data.

Not only is Canada part of a small group of countries in the world to offer access to no fee and unrestricted use of quality geospatial data to its citizens, but it is the first country in the world to also offer a product that will be sustainable and maintained over time and in collaboration with closest to the source stakeholders.

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Why is the government involved in the dissemination of geospatial data?

In all countries, production of basic topographic information is the sole responsibility of the government. In economic terms, topographic mapping and geospatial data is considered a public good.

By making GeoBase data available, the government will stimulate the economy and facilitate the exchange of technical knowledge between industry and governments. The academia knowledge will increase and benefit from having access this data.

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How can I edit my user profile?

You can update your user Profile and make changes at any time. To acces your profile, simply login and select Update your profile

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What can I do if I can't find the data I need on the GeoBase Web site?

If your GeoBase searches are unsuccessful, we encourage you to visit the GeoConnections Discovery Portal. You will find there a broad range of digital data and geomatic products and services. A search engine based on keywords, time periods, and location uses an established protocol to find access portals and data sets throughout Canada and the world.

For example, you can search just for free data, vector data, or data in a specific format.

Each provincial and territorial government distributes data which has more detailed.

If you are a distributor of geospatial data, you are invited to show the metadata of your products on the GeoConnections discovery Portal freely.

Other interesting links:

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How can I find the corresponding NTS number for the region I want to display?

There are several Web sites to help you:

  1. You can download the product 'Index Maps of the National Topographic System of Canada' in PDF or GIF format available on the GeoGratis Web site: http://geogratis.gc.ca/geogratis/en/option/select.do?id=777039C7-69ED-B1A1-A4AE-62113E4F1481
  2. You can use the Toporama - Topographic Maps product on: The Atlas of Canada
  3. You can download the product 'Vector Indexes of the National Topographic System of Canada' in SHAPE format available on the GeoGratis Web site: http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/geogratis/en/option/select.do?id=FF31D53A-32E6-61CF-B61A-8387737A45DA. This product is very useful for file management.
  4. You can use the search tool from the Geographical Names of Canada in the Querying Canadian Geographical names section.

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How can I open a vector data file if I don't have a GIS software?

There are some links to free viewers. However, GeoBase does not endorse nor provide any kind of support for any of these viewers.

You will find a list of free viewers at the following address: http://www.freegis.org.

GIS softwares open source list identified by OSGeo Foundation: http://www.osgeo.org/home.

Exhaustive list of GIS softwares: http://www.geoplan.com/Mapping_Solutions/GIS_Mapping_Software.

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Is it possible to access the GeoBase directory using a FTP client (for example Filezilla, BulletProof FTP, etc.)?

This method is more robust and is worth using when you download a large amount of files.

You need the FTP address where is the product to connect to a FTP client. For example, CDED: ftp://ftp2.cits.rncan.gc.ca/pub/geobase/official/cded/.

Use FTP in "active" mode with the product's FTP address.

The username is : "anonymous".

The password is : your e-mail address.

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How to open a CDED data set (DEM file) North of the 68th parallel with Arc Map and MapInfo softwares?

As you may be aware, Arc Map and MapInfo GIS softwares are unable to read a CDED file above the 68th parallel since the pixels are not square. We suggest two methods:

  1. Here is a guide which explains how to open a CDED file (Canadian Digital Elevation Data) North of the 68th parallel with Arc Map and MapInfo GIS softwares once it has been converted to the UTM projection.
  2. Contrary to the solution used previously, this second method can be used in non-interactive mode.

    The open source utility gdal_translate makes it possible to convert raster files from one format to another by applying certain transformations. We can use it to convert a CDED file with 1201x1201 non square pixels into 2402x1201 square pixels. Obviously, the resulting file does not meet CDED specifications exactly since it is different than 1201x1201 pixels. It is however in the USGSDEM format.
    For a CDED tile resampling between the 68th and 80th parallel:
    gdal_translate -of USGSDEM -outsize 2402 1201 CDED_input CDED_resampled
    For a CDED tile resampling above the 80th parallel:
    gdal_translate -of USGSDEM -outsize 4804 1201 CDED_input CDED_resampled

    The resampled file can now be used in Arc Map and MapInfo GIS softwares.

    For more information: http://www.gdal.org/gdal_translate.html.

    GeoBase does not endorse nor provide any kind of support for any of these softwares.

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Can I have CDED files (DEM file) at the 1:50,000 or 1:250,000 scale in a single file for Canada?

It is not possible to have all CDED files at the 1:50,000 or 1:250,000 scale in a single file. However, the GeoGratis Web site offers the Canada 3D product freely which consists in a resampled file produced from CDED files at the 1:250,000 scale.

File resolution:

Product Resolution Grid Spacing Web Site
Canada 3D Can3D300 1 elevation/10 km GeoGratis
Canada 3D Can3D30 1 elevation/1 km GeoGratis
CDED 1:250,000 1 elevation/100 m GeoBase
CDED 1:50,000 1 elevation/20 m GeoBase

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When I open two adjacent CDED files in my GIS software, how come the edge doesn’t match very well sometimes?

This doesn't necessarily mean that the files are in error. There are several explanations for this situation to occur.

  1. Files were not produced at the same time.
  2. Files do not originate from the same data source/ producer or production process. You will find this information in the metadata file which is available in two formats (the extensions are .xml and .html).
  3. It is also necessary to take into account the altimetric accuracy of the files.

For example:

083L12
Originator: Alberta Sustainable Resource Development - Alberta Government - Edmonton
Horizontal Positional Accuracy Value: 10
Vertical Positional Accuracy Value: 5

093I09
Originator: British Columbia Government
Horizontal Positional Accuracy Value: 10
Vertical Positional Accuracy Value: 10

There might be a variation (in altimetry) by more than fifteen meters at the edge of the two files and sometimes even more. Neither file is in error.

If this situation causes you problems in your applications, we would like to be informed about it in order to better understand our users’ needs.

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Why is it that the Service Base address (URL) in the email received from the WMS service subscription doesn't work?

Because it is not a Web address.

The Web Mapping Service (WMS) makes it possible to query a server in order to obtain the display of a representation of the offered topographic data.

In your GIS or Web application, it is necessary to seek a function or a command allowing the addition of a WMS server and where you will normally have to copy the basic address of our service (URL).

You will find the information about this subject at the following address: http://www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/wms/index.html.

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How to resolve reading problem of multiple files with the 3DEM software?

Here is a guide which explains how to open several CDED files (Canadian Digital Elevation Data file) with the 3DEM software when you get the message ‘Not enough memory’.

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How to generate a list of available satellite imageries by province in an Excel file?

Here is a guide which explains how to generate a list of available satellite imagery by province in a excel format.

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How to add Algonquin and Inuktitut aboriginal fonts in Arc Map GIS software?

Here is a guide which explains how to add Algonquin and Inuktitut aboriginal fonts in Arc Map GIS software.

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How can I find the corresponding NTS number for the region I want to download?

There are several tools that may help you:

  1. You can download data from the Index Maps of the National Topographic System of Canada product in PDF or TIFF format.
  2. You can use the Toporama viewer on the Atlas of Canada website. Use the 'I' Get Info from Map in order to get map details such as NTS Number, Latitude/Longitude and UTM zone.
  3. For data collections having a large amount of datasets, several locations tools are availables. You can find a region of interest by:
    • Place (city, village, administrative area) or Feature name (lake, river, mountain)
      Note : Place and Feature Names must be current official names, as approved by the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (CPCGN).
    • Topographic Map Sheet Number (NTS)
    • Latitude and Longitude
  4. You can use data from the Vector Indexes of the National Topographic System of Canada product in Shape format. This product is also very useful for file management.
  5. You can use the Querying Canadian Geographical names tool
Why my KML file does not display properly in Google Earth?

There are several factors that may cause this problem. You will find relevant information at the following address: http://support.google.com/earth/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=176180.

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