Map and Data Library, University of Toronto

Junction Dodge Plant that was...

2012-01-09T12:06:00.025-05:00

A storage facility at Osler and Pelham in Toronto went up in flames on January 9th, 2012 and continued to burn for two days. http://ctestp.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120109/120109_toronto_fire/20120109/?hub=CP24Home This was not the first time in recent history that the building's structure had been challenged. In 2006, the building was hit by a grain train http://www.tcrc295.com/Osler_derailment.htm when it derailed from the neighbouring railway tracks. Here are some photos from John (aka Krunkwerke) of the aftermath of that derailment: http://www.flickr.com/photos/krunkwerke/sets/72157625704504118/with/5305938452/

While the building is currently one of many storage facilities in the neighbourhood, the building and the site are historically significant to the Junction area. Here is a photo from 1948 of the building, from the Toronto Archives :

https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/ser372/ss0058/s0372_ss0058_it1760.jpg

Here is the archival photo draped over the current google streetview of the building

To view this image online, click on http://www.whatwasthere.com/b/33522

According to the Old time Trains web site, the "Dodge Manufacturing Company of Toronto Limited; manufacturers of the Dodge Wood Split Pulley and other factory equipment including grain elevator machinery moved to Pelham Avenue in 1888 from Toronto. It expanded in 1901 spending $40,000 building additional factories and office buildings and going from 200 workers to 500." from: http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/Toronto/junction/history.htm

This is what the site looked like in 1889. The map is a Goad fire insurance plan of West Toronto Junction.

click on image for closer view

From a 1914 Fire insurance plan, here is the site again.

click on image for closer view

This is the site again in 1964 from an Insurance Underwriters plan map. The Dodge manufacturing plant site had now made way for a few different manufacturers including a camping trailer manufacturer, a wool factory, and the Aristocrat Manufacturing Co. Ltd. where commercial wash basins were produced.

click on image for closer view

This is what the area looked like the first morning. On the left is a shot from St. Rita's School Parking Lot on Edwin Avenue. On the right is a photo of the area from the laneway just East of Osler

Interestingly, Google maps displays quite an error for the site. They have labelled the site and the buildings immediately to the East of the building as being St. Josaphat's school. St. Josaphat's is further to the east. See this link.

Here are a few photos of the building on January 14th, 2012. Old bricks and other parts of the historical structure are now becoming visible through the bad stucco and 1970's/80's looking windows and cinder block "curtains".

Police and fire trucks remain on the scened even 5 days later.

Here is where you start to see the old bricks that have been covered by stucko and cement blocks

Marcel Fortin
University of Toronto Map and Data Library

Codes & Maps

2011-12-02T15:03:00.010-05:00

Recently I've been sifting through all of the wonderful maps that are donated to the library. It's a interesting process, as they range from pieces like this 1898
Plan and profile of the line of route of the Montreal Ottawa and Georgian Bay Navigation to more mundane 1980's US road maps.

The majority of the road maps are Rand McNally and don't display a date or edition, which makes cataloguing quite frustrating. Comparing the streets to known dated maps would be too time consuming due to the sheer volume that need to be processed. Tucked in the bottom right corner of one map, I noticed a 10 digit number, discontented from any of the map content.

Turns out this serial code contains the publication date. Road Maps.org has a simple breakdown of the code system used on both Rand McNally and Gousha maps. The serial number for the above map is 79604909-15, so 1979.

Within the mounds of donations, there were other undated maps. One of which was a Hagstrom NYC bus map that stood out because of it's design and colours. WorldCat.org suggested this was either from 1959 or 1969.

Hagstrom was considerably more cryptic about the dates of their maps then Rand McNally or Gousha. According to Gregory J. Christiano, this secrecy relates to copyright and marketing tactics, and was dropped in 1978.
The 3 to 4 digit codes used letters to tell the month and year of publication [mm]-[yy] based on the code below:
Our Hagstorm's map of New York (Manhattan) Bus Lines is coded A-RR, therefore published in February 1966. Below, in the larger section of the map, you can see the code at the bottom right corner. So, even the maps that seem mundane at face value have fascinating stories hidden in their lines and colours.

Heart shaped (Stabius-Werner) projection

2011-11-11T15:42:00.005-05:00

This enchanting page is from the petite Pocket Atlas of the world by John Bartholomew. The uncommon Stabius-Werner projection creates a fascinating and whimsical first page to the atlas.

Resource of the Week: Seamless Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 3 Arc Second (90m)

2011-10-12T09:56:00.000-04:00

This week's Map and Data Library geospatial data resource of the week is
NASA/NGA's Seamless Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 3 Arc Second
(90m) Digital Elevation Model. The data have been available to us for a
few years on an external hard drive but this is the first time we have
had enough server disk space to load the data for access on the web.
All files are downloadable and can be identified through an interactive
map index we built on GIS Cloud. The data record is here:

http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/datainventory.pl?idnum=807&display=full

Please note that these data are also available here:
http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/ but that this site is extremely slow and
difficult to use. Our site allows for quite an easy location of
datasets and download.

For more information on this resource, please see this PDF document:
http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/dataut/world/SRTM3arc/SRTMreadme.pdf

Resource of the Week - Toronto Clutter Data

2011-10-06T13:52:00.003-04:00

Once in a while i find datasets in our data catalogue that I have not
used or thought about for an extended period of time. I was thinking
that it might be a good idea to do resource of the week posting on the
blog and through an email message when I or anyone else in the MDL finds
such a resource.
This week's resource of the week is Toronto Clutter Data purchased
through RMSI.com last year.

In this TIF / GRID / Shapefile resource, land is divided into 16 land
cover classes:
Clutter Classification :
0 Unclassified1 Inland Water
2 Open
3 Low Tree Density
4 High Tree Density
5 Rural areas/low residential
6 Suburban
7 Suburban With Tree
8 Urban Low Density
9 Urban Medium Dense
10 Urban High Dense
11 Skyscrapers/ High-rise
12 Industrial Area/ Commercial areas
13 Airstrip
14 River
15 Coast

Consider mentioning this resource to a number of our Landscape architecture
library patrons. The data can be found here:
http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/datainventory.pl?idnum=1067&display=full&title=Toronto+Clutter+Data

Marcel

The Map as a Historically Specific Object

2011-08-05T12:23:00.001-04:00

Maps are historically specific in all their aspects. An excellent example of this is a roadmap of West Germany that I came across this morning whilst cataloguing. The Michelin Allemagne Ouest map, printed in 1944, depicts highways and roads. Like other Michelin maps, it was intended for commercial use. Interestingly, the map not only depicts highways that existed at the time, but also roads that were under construction.

This 67-year-old Michelin map, whose paper is not only darkened from the passage of time, but also from a few coffee or tea stains, is fascinating in its own right. However, the biggest surprise happened when I turned it over.

On the other side of the Michelin map I found a German topographic map of the Scottish islands Yell and Unst from 1941. It was printed for use by the German army (on it you can read the words “Nur fur den Dienstgebrauch,” which can be translated as “only for official use”). Most distinctly visible, however, is a red cross that spans over the entire map.

We can only speculate as to why two completely different maps are printed on one single sheet of paper; why one of them is in French, the other in German, and why one of them has a big red cross over it. What most likely occurred, however, is that the German map from 1941 was seized by the French and reused to print the commercial Michelin map a few years later. Paper during the War was a scarce commodity. And getting a hold of paper that could be used for map printing was even more difficult. It is for these reasons that every now and again we come across one of these unique historical gems of cartography.

Janina Mueller

Topography & Bikes - 1984 Boston Bike Map

2011-06-20T11:38:00.006-04:00

This was originally posted on June 17th 2011, but later removed due an organization realizing they did not hold the proper right to grant MapLib Blog permission to use the full 1984 Boston Bike Map.
The complete map is available in our paper map collection: (G3764 .B6 E63 25 1984

)

_________________________________

One of the perks of being staff at the Map and Data Library is that sorting though the paper map collection is part of the job. It's difficult to not get distracted by some of the fascinating and beautiful maps tucked into the stacks of flat files.

Having a passion for bikes, I've leafed through all the related maps and this 1984 Boston bike map is one of my favorites. (A strong contender is the 1896 Portland Bicycle Road Map) The first edition was published in 1978 and was a collaborative production between local bike coalitions, riding groups, environmental organizations, urban design groups and cyclists.
Since 1994, Rubel Bikemaps has been releasing updated and improved editions of the map with the most recent being the 2007 9th edition. The maps are primarily for sale in bike related business around Boston, but also via their site and additionally on MassBike.

The design is splendid and the contour lines make it unique in our small collection of bike maps. Including 10foot intervals lines adds a deeper layer of information to the map - and it looks just dashing.

TTC Planning and population curves

2011-06-10T15:46:00.007-04:00

Recently we scanned sections of the 1915 Report to the Civic Transportation Committee on radial railway entrances and rapid transit for the City of Toronto.
Since Toronto is (always?) mumbling about public transportation issues and expansion woes, the text provides a interesting glimpse back to the mentalities and politics that shaped the foundations of the city's current transit infrastructure. Spaced in between the pages of the report are a series of maps and line charts plotting population curves.

The chart plots the population density from the city core from 1879 to 1914 with estimations for 1927 , 1936, and 1950 - when they estimated the population would reach 1,500,000. (The 1950 Toronto population was closer to 1,068,000.)

Just as with the previously mentioned Portland bike map, the city map in this graphic shows concentric rings. Here, they originate from the intersection of Yonge & Queen St. The text focuses much of its statistics on this core transportation area.
David Topping tackled this concept of the informal city center when mapping apartment rentals describing their location as "the heart of the city". In this very informal project, Yonge & Queen St still maintain a high rank as the city's heart - as do a high number of locations connected to the TTC Subway.

1896 Cyclist Road Map - Portland

2011-05-25T13:51:00.003-04:00

There are a fair number of cyclists working at the Map and Data library, so cycling themed maps are a common interest. In our collection is a beautiful 1896 "Cyclists' Road Map of Portland District", republished in 1973 by the Oregon Historical Society.

Used with permission from the Oregon Historical Society

The Portland Tribune also wrote about this map and states it was "made for the Multnomah Wheelmen, an upper-class set of bicycling enthusiasts". Though the map is priced at ¢50, it advertises bikes for sale at $100 - well out of price range for the majority of citizens.

The map is filled with fascinating features. "Information for wheelmen" explains that road quality is determined by riding speeds, with good road allowing travel at 10-12mph. Though "allowance will have to be made, of course, for mud and dust". Advertisements on the map hawk Dr. Baker's and the still operational White House Bed & Breakfast, which offers special rates to bicycle parties. And to ensure riders are not left thirsty, taverns are marked on the map along with road conditions.

One of the most eye catching elements of this bike map is the concentric mile wide rings showing distance. Without knowing Portland and its history, we at the Map Library were unsure why this location was chosen. Scott Daniels, a Reference Librarian at the Oregon Historical Society offers his knowledge and points out this was Washington & 3rd, the ticket office for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. Inside the neat line on the lower left side is an ad for the O.R & N, bearing that same address.

A similar bike road map of Toronto can be found in Derek Hayes's Historical Atlas of Toronto. Visible on the Toronto Public Library's Virtual Exhibits. The "Cyclists' Road Map for the County of York" was also published in 1896 but is considerably more formal, with no riding instructions or advertisements like the Portland map.

The Map with no Name and Donations in an Academic Map Library

2011-05-20T16:59:00.009-04:00

Figure 1. Toronto Harbour Map of "1881"

One of the really great benefits of being a Map and Geograhic Information S ystems librarian in a large academic library is the interaction with people who understand the importance of maps and who use maps in their research. Many faculty, researchers, and students continue to use our paper map collection for their research. (Yes, that's right, the paper maps are still in use!) Even before the advent of Geographic Information Systems and Google Earth, many even made maps themselves or had cartographers make maps for their research.

Many faculty are retiring these days and with their retirement comes the clearing out of office space. With the spring cleaning comes the inevitable question of what to do with accumulated material. A number of faculty are in this position right now and are donating their material to the Robarts Library. The phenomenon is not new, it just seems new every spring when the semester slows down for everyone and office clearing time starts. Although, having been without a map cataloguer for nearly six months, the piles of accumulated non-catalogued maps in the map room make it feel as though there are more donations of maps than ever from faculty this spring.

Spring is also a time when map librarians start looking for special projects and I thought a great way of getting some ideas would be to have a look at our stock pile of donations from the last few years. Nothing gets a map librarian's juices flowing like going through a pile of uncatalogued maps!

Some of these stockpiled maps, we've never dealt with for a variety of reasons. Some are duplicates and don't really require any specific attention (rainy day?); some are in foreign script and too difficult to deal with (wait for funding to hire a specialist?); some are in terrible physical condition and require more than description and incorporation in the collection (pray you can salvage them and worry that you are too clumsy to them yourself?). But some maps you keep putting aside simply because you're baffled with what to do with them.

One donated map in particular has been vexing me for years and not until I stumbled upon another map by accident did I realize what I was dealing with (sort of anyway) and how unique and important the map is. While I still don't really know what to do with it, I can however write about it!

Figure 2. Scale, date, provenance, and notes

You see, the map has no title, it is hand-drawn, unique, and was never published (Figure 1). At least I don't believe it was ever published. From the start, you wonder about a few things with this map. The paper is a wax-like covered drafting parchment. It is not an ancient parchment, nor is it a modern parchment. It's an old-type and old-feeling to the touch parchment. The date written on the map also seems odd. It doesn't say the date of the map is 1881, instead it states: "Soundings 1881" (Figure 2). Soundings are the measured depths of water, (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Soundings of the depths of Lake Ontario

The map is clearly old, but not 1881 old. Further information includes the fact that the map originates from the Department of Geology, University of Toronto (Figure 2), and numbered 1341. I have no clue what the number means. This may have been a classification or indexing system within the geology department. The map also states, in different hand writing from the date and the scale, which are also different from each other, that the map is "reduced from P. W maps..." (Figure 2). The end of the statement is illegible.

A few weeks ago while rooting through some microfiche of reproduced maps from Library and Archives Canada, I stumbled upon a map I thought looked familiar (Figure 4). I scanned it and realized the map was basically the same as my previously ignored paper map of the Toronto Harbour that has been baffling me for years. The original is an 1881 manuscript map made by Joseph-Charles Taché who lived between 1820 and 1894.This map, held at Library and Archives Canada, is 23 1/4 inches high by 29 inches wide. The U of T map is 23 inches high by 30.5 inches side. A pretty good match in terms of size.


Figure 4. 1881 National Map Collection map 22850

At first glance, the map looks like an exact reproduction, but it is obvious when looking at it more closely that it is not exactly the same. The neatlines are different. The LAC copy has more of an ornate neatline, while the neatline on the new map is simply a rectangle. There are also contours (lines showing depths) drawn on the map here at the Map and Data Library. Although these seem to have been added later and in colour. The inner harbour contour lines are in blue and the lines beyond the islands are in red. The north arrow is in a different location, the original has it nearer to the western side of the islands rather than the eastern side near the mouth of the Don River. The placement of the scale bar is at opposite ends of the map. The scale notation is different in that there is not only a scale bar on the U of T map, but also a statement of scale, which the Taché map does not have. The original has a title, Plan of Toronto Harbour Lake Ontario Survey July and August 1881, while our map does not.

The bathymetry points vary somewhat in both the readings and placement between the two maps. On the western side of the map near Queen's Wharf, for example (Figure 5), there are fewer columns of readings on the U of T Map.

Figue 5 Bathymetric readings on both maps


Figure 5.5 scan at 600dpi

Unfortunately it's not possible to tell if the bathymetric readings are the same on both maps because of the image resolution of the fiche. The scan of the microfiche is as detailed as we can get it at 300dpi multiplied in size 300 times. Having tried it at 600dpi, there is no difference in readability (Figure 5.5). A better, colour image could be ordered from LAC but this would cost money, as most institutions still charge for reproductions of images such as these, which we make available for free through the Map and Data Library server.

Figure 6 Section of both maps overlayed on top of each other

What is very similar between the two maps, however, are the scale (which LAC have listed at 600ft = 1 inch as well); the city shoreline which are exactly the same, including the buildings; the outline of the small part of Ashbridges Bay shown on both maps; the placement of the label for Lake Ontario, etc. Most importantly though, what makes it clear the map was traced over to create this second map is the formation of the Toronto Islands. Anyone who has examined a few maps of the Toronto Islands over time has seen them transformed time and time again by both natural and human forces. Simply have a look at Sanford Fleming's famous: To Illustrate a Paper on the Formation of Toronto harbour which depicts the islands over time and you will see what I mean. With the help of Jordan Hale, one of our student assistants, we overlayed the two maps in Google Earth, GIS software, and Photoshop and we were able to match the two maps almost identically. A few areas matched more than others, but for the most part, the maps matched identically. From all these observations, it is clear that the Taché map was the basis for the Dept. of Geology map (Figure 6).

Figure 7. Verso of Geology Department map

The bizarreness of this map does not end with its similarities to the Taché map. While showing the map to a colleague recently, I flipped the map over; something I had oddly never done before. Or at least, something I'd never done before while paying attention to what the back looked like. What I discovered was quite an innovative cartographic flare (Figure 7). To create the shading on the map (front), the cartographer had coloured the islands and the shoreline from the back, giving the map itself a nice subtle tone where the land masses are located. I am not completely clear why they did this, other than to make the map look attractive. The colouring on the back looks like it was done using a pencil, but the effect on the front is quite attractive, especially with the darker outlines of the islands and the shoreline.

My predecessor, Joan Winearls, who was Map Librarian at the U of T from the early 60's until the end of the 90's, does not remember this map or where it came from either. The full story of this map will most likely never be known. She was baffled by it as well when I recently showed it to her.

The next step -- cataloguing the map! It should make for an interesting experience. The full record for this map as well as download information can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/3paa8w2 Further information on the original from 1881 can be found here at Library and Archives Canada http://tinyurl.com/1881maplakeontario.

Marcel Fortin
GIS and Map Librarian
Map and Data Library
University of Toronto

OGS Earth | Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry

2011-05-16T13:18:00.001-04:00

Fantastic that these data can now be viewed in Google Earth.
OGS Earth | Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry

Spatial History Project at Stanford University

2011-04-25T21:40:00.001-04:00

Fantastic example of a large-scale Historical GIS project at Stanford University. Interesting that HGIS is now becoming better known as Spatial History.
Spatial History Project

Library and Archives Canada Fire Insurance Plans/Atlases online

2011-04-25T15:00:00.008-04:00

Access to and restrictions on the use of Fire Insurance Plans and Atlases limits our ability to conduct much historical research. These restrictions have been a constant concern and impediment for both librarians and researchers for years. A healthy knowledge of the issue is important when undertaking a Spatial History (read HGIS) project in Canada (the issue is very different in the United States). Fear of copyright infringement has led many libraries and archives to restrict and in some cases eliminate the duplication of all fire insurance plans by researchers. There is a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding on the issue, which accentuates the difficulties of accessing many fire insurance plans and atlases in collections across Canada.

CGI Environmental Services currently claims copyright on all fire insurance maps published by Charles E. Goad and all successor companies such as the Underwriters’ Survey Bureau and the Canadian Underwriters Association, regardless of date of publication. Under Canadian Copyright law, any map that is fifty years old and a day is considered to be outside of copyright protection. That is, only if no cartographer is named for the map in question. Charles E. Goad and successor companies are not considered the cartographers of fire insurance plans, but instead corporate authors. CGI and previous successor companies do not interpret the law in the same manner, and thus a stalemate existed for many years over what could and could not be done with these invaluable sources of historical information. In 1993, the Ontario Archives, Library and Archives Canada and CGI reached a compromise agreement according to which the two government institutions would enforce restrictions on reproducing maps less than ninety years old. As a result of this agreement, which was widely discussed and documented in the library and archives community at the time, many other institutions, including university libraries, implemented the same restrictions. Every so often the issue resurfaces in the community and new discussions revert back to this agreement and its particular compromise. Many institutions have openly questioned the agreement. In 2010, a municipal government in Québec, following an investigation by their lawyers, concluded that they were within the bounds of the law in allowing the duplication of any fire insurance plans older than fifty years.

Researchers interested in high resolution fire insurance plan and atlas images can now consult hundreds of reproductions on Library and Archives Canada web pages:
Description found in Archives - Search - Library and Archives Canada

see also http://maplib.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-of-current-projects-at-map-and-data.html

Ottawa Fire Insurance plans - Carleton Court House & Carleton County Jail

2011-04-06T16:35:00.006-04:00

One of the current projects at the Map and Data library is the digitization of Canadian Fire Insurance Plans & Atlases.

Fire Insurance plans and atlases are large-scale (high resolution) urban maps which grew out of the need of fire insurance underwriters to understand the physical characteristics of a structure to be insured. These maps show with detail colour drawings and symbols, the character of the outside and inside construction of buildings, passages, probable fire cut-offs, fire walls, openings in walls, height and occupancy or use of individual buildings or groups of buildings. Street widths, street addresses, property lines, water pipes or mains, fire hydrants and fire alarm boxes are also located on the maps.

As we scan through this massive collection of microfiche, we're rediscovering some fascinating and beautiful gems.

In the 1902 Ottawa plans, we noticed the Carleton Court House, constructed in 1870-71, and the Carleton County Jail, completed in 1864. The jail and court house were connected via an underground tunnel - unfortunately not included in the fire plans.

It's a fairly ominous collection of buildings, a judicial system of trial - imprisonment - execution. (Note the gallows yards, facing Court House Ave.) After being closed in 1972, the jail building was converted into the 110 room Ottawa Jail Hostel. Then in 1988 the court house became home to the Ottawa Arts Court Foundation. The rest of the area has changed as well, with the building on Court House Ln having been demolished in lieu of green space.

For further reading, investigate the Carleton County Goal Heritage Centre and for a perspective on the prison mentalities of the era, look at "Prison discipline, and the advantages of the separate system of imprisonment" Field, J. (1848)

Steven Can Plan – How to convert GTFS to shapefiles and KML

2011-03-31T09:21:00.001-04:00

Want to convert TTC data to shapefile! Here is the answer.
Steven Can Plan – How to convert GTFS to shapefiles and KML

Making StatsCan Data Free: Assessing the Cost | eaves.ca

2011-01-06T09:17:00.006-05:00

David Eaves is the great Canadian champion for open data. Here is an excellent blog post of his from yesterday on the breakdown of revenue generated by Stats Canada through sales of their data. Quite an interesting read. It includes a bit of a mention of data literacy.

Making StatsCan Data Free: Assessing the Cost | eaves.ca

Mapping America — Census Bureau 2005-9 American Community Survey - NYTimes.com

2010-12-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Mapping America — Census Bureau 2005-9 American Community Survey - NYTimes.com

Nottingham University offers masterclasses in dealing with open data - for free of course | Technology | guardian.co.uk

2010-10-13T09:52:00.000-04:00

Nottingham University offers masterclasses in dealing with open data - for free of course | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Toronto Lidar Data

2010-09-24T09:56:00.001-04:00

Following several months of negotiations with Google and Airborne 1
(http://www.lidardata.com, the Map and Data Library now has a Toronto
Lidar dataset for use at the University of Toronto for academic use
only. Please note that any use of this data for publication must be
approved in writing by Google. For further information contact map and
data library staff at gis.maps@utoronto.ca

http://tinyurl.com/2acpmnw

Marcel Fortin

ACMLA Letter to Tony Clement concerning the 2011 decision to cancel the mandatory Long-Form Questionnaire

2010-07-12T15:55:00.001-04:00

(with permission from Andrew Nicholson, president ACMLA)

The Honorable Tony Clement, MP Minister of Industry House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Dear Minister Clement

As President of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA) (http://www.acmla.org/), I am writing to you to express the surprise and disappointment of our membership in the Government’s decision to cancel the mandatory Long-Form Questionnaire for the 2011 Census. The information gathered from the Long-Form census has contributed greatly to the education and research activities of Canadians over many decades. Its replacement by a voluntary National Household Survey raises many concerns from our membership.

We are an active Association with over 70 members from across Canada who play a pivotal role as geographical information providers and educators. We find the information provided by the Long-Form census is vital for providing a greater understanding of Canada and its diverse regions to our users. For example, determining accurate levels of income or immigration patterns is possible with data collected from the Long-Form Census questionnaire. Moreover, as geographical information professionals, we map and visualize the data, and provide mapping/visualization capabilities to our researchers so they are able to analyze the data for research purposes. The results and impact of such research are then carried forward into other public and private endeavours for the benefit of all Canadians.

Part of the value of the Long-Form Census was its mandatory requirement that 20% of the population complete it. While this may have seemed an onerous task for a few participants, most gladly participated knowing that everyone else selected in the 20% sample is equally obligated to fill out the Long-Form as part of their civic duty. Moreover, the value and long term benefit for the whole population, including educators and policy makers, has been immense. Replacing the mandatory Long-Form with a voluntary National Household Survey form just raises more issues especially concerning the validity and value of the data collected. For example, will many people take the time to voluntarily fill in a 50+ question form? If there is a low participation rate, how can anyone really rely on the data as being an accurate snapshot of the Canadian population? Though it has also been argued that the Long-Form is intrusive and raises issues of confidentially, this is completely untrue as Statistics Canada has been meticulous in anonymizing census data to protect the confidentially of all participants. This has worked very well in the past for both Census participants and the users of Census data.

As geographic information professionals and providers/curators of geospatial information, we are also concerned by the lack of information pertaining to the future dissemination of Census and National Household Survey data at smaller geographic levels such as Census Tracts and Dissemination Areas. On Statistics Canada’s website, it states that the National Household Survey “will conduct and release the results of this survey applying the same methods and standards used for all of its surveys”. Most of Statistics Canada’s other survey data is only available at a provincial or Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at best. This will not be acceptable for users who rely on such data at a neighbourhood level to conduct research or make important decisions and recommendations. Mapping employment numbers at a provincial or CMA level will be especially limiting for educational and research purposes.

The mandatory Long-Form questionnaire has been a cornerstone of census data collection for decades and its value should not be discounted. The rich datasets that have been produced have been vital components in almost every area and activity of Canadian society. The decision to abolish it and replace it with a voluntary survey has simply not been well thought out and will only hinder decision-makers at all levels of government, not to mention the research and innovation pursuits of our students and academics.
We respectfully recommend that you reconsider this decision and implement the mandatory Census Long-Form Questionnaire in time for the 2011 Census.

Sincerely,
Andrew Nicholson, President, ACMLA
GIS/Data Librarian
Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre
University of Toronto Mississauga
3359 Mississauga Road North
Mississauga, Ontario
CANADA
L5L 1C6
Phone:(905)828-3886
andrew.nicholson@utoronto.ca

Canadian Fire Insurance Plans and Atlases online at Library and Archives Canada

2010-07-12T13:32:00.000-04:00

Here is a direct link to the archives of online maps, see link. For instructions on finding more Fire Insurance Maps at the University of Toronto and Library and Archives Canada, see this link.

Library of Congress Takes Leadership - ArcNews Summer 2010 Issue

2010-07-09T12:49:00.000-04:00

I was very pleased to see that the summer 2010 edition of ArcNews is running a story on the Library of Congress' role in sponsoring the archiving of geospatial data.

I especially like the fact that it discusses the partnerships between governments and universities in getting this most important task taken care of.

Let's hope the ball gets rolling in Canada soon.  Of course it would be good to have a Digital Information Strategy established to oversee the concept.  The US started their National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program in 2000.

see Library of Congress Takes Leadership - ArcNews Summer 2010 Issue

Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain through Time

2010-04-30T14:47:00.000-04:00

Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain through Time

Canada's National Mapping Strategy

2010-04-20T14:56:00.001-04:00

http://www.ccog-cocg.ca/strategy-strategie_e.doc

Ottawa Citizen Open Data article

2010-03-08T14:28:00.003-05:00

Interesting how the general notion of open data seems to be couched in
the idea that data are only used to build cool "apps". Why is the
possibility that data could also be used to solve real world and
academic problems never cool enough? How do we get that message across?
Ottawa Citizen article from March 2, 2010:
"Sub-committee examines benefits of open data policy
By Neco Cockburn, The Ottawa Citizen March 2, 2010
The City of Ottawa might eventually post data online that would allow
computer programmers to develop nifty apps that show anything from the locations of daycares to where people can get good food at a safe restaurant."
For the full article, see:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/committee+examines+benefits+open+data+policy/2630305/story.html

Ontario Historical Air Photos

2010-02-24T09:47:00.001-05:00

Re: Changes to Black and White Aerial Photo Services

Forest Resources Inventory (FRI) black and white aerial photo collection
has been transferred to the Archives of Ontario. Please note that this
change applies only to black and white products. Sales of colour
infrared aerial products will continue to be available from the Natural
Resources Information Centre (NRIC).

While the Ministry has determined that distribution of the black and
white photos is no longer part of its core business, the collection is
an important historical asset. By transferring it to the Archives, we
are ensuring that it remains available to the public as an archival
record.

Effective June 15, 2009, the Archives will provide access to the photos
and will accept orders for prints on a self-service basis, either in
person at the new Archives of Ontario Building at 134 Ian Macdonald
Boulevard, Toronto (York University campus) or electronically via e-mail
at reference@ontario.ca. For further information about the Archives of
Ontario's services, please consult their web site or contact them by
phone 1-800-668-9933 (Ontario only) or (416) 327-1600.

http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/about/contact.aspx

reference@ontario.ca

Currently MNR is acquiring digital imagery to help us make natural
resources decisions. If you have questions on access to digital
imagery, please contact the Land Information Ontario Support Line at
(705) 755-1878.

If you have other questions about the black and white air photos, please
contact Anne Halverson, Manager, Information Access Section at (705)
755-1693 or the NRIC at 1-800-667-1940.

Using UTM Coordinates In Google Earth

2010-02-04T14:03:00.001-05:00

Using UTM Coordinates In Google Earth

Importing Spreadsheet Data Into Google Earth

2010-02-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

Importing Spreadsheet Data Into Google Earth

Seadragon.com – Image lrp

2010-01-28T09:10:00.000-05:00

Embed images in your web pages using seadragon

Seadragon.com – Image lrp

Scribble Maps - Draw on google maps with scribblings and more!

2010-01-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Scribble Maps - Draw on google maps with scribblings and more!

New maps and geodata from NRCan

2010-01-08T16:41:00.003-05:00

from message from CARTA-l on January 8, 2009

*Natural Resources Canada invites you to browse our latest selection of
maps and geospatial data releases:*
New* Canadian Topographic Maps**** *
New and updated** Canadian Topographic Maps now available via*
**_GeoGratis_***
<http://GeoGratis.gc.ca/geogratis/en/product/search.do?id=37505>**
include 104 maps at 1:50 000 scale covering areas in the Atlantic
Provinces, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and Canada's North. The
maps released in the North include 38 brand new maps covering
large areas of Baffin Island previously unmapped at 1:50 000
scale. These new maps are the first of 1600 new topographic maps
of Canada's northern regions to be produced by NRCan over the next
two and a half years.
See the* ****_complete list of newly released topographic maps_***

<ftp://ftp2.cits.nrcan.gc.ca/pub/cantopo/doc/20091222_CMO_maps_BCC_cartes.pdf>**
on GeoGratis.
Paper copies of all Canadian Topographic Maps are also available
through _Regional Distributors_
<http://maps.nrcan.gc.ca/distrib_centres_e.php> of the Canada Map
Office, and through _Certified Map Printers_
<http://maps.nrcan.gc.ca/printers_e.php> who ensure local, high
quality, on-demand plotting of topographic maps.
New* CanVec* 1:50 000 Data
This fifth release of* ****_CanVec_***
<http://www.geogratis.ca/geogratis/en/product/search.do?id=28954>**
includes the addition of 154 new datasets, update of National Road
Network data for nine provinces and territories, and the update of
geographical names for the entity "Named feature". An improved
symbology file is now available in the _GeoGratis FAQ_
<http://www.geogratis.ca/geogratis/en/faq.html> section. For more
information, please refer to the* ****_CanVec Release notes_***

<http://ftp2.cits.rncan.gc.ca/pub/canvec/doc/CanVec_release_notes_en.pdf>**.

New* Toporama* Data
This third release of the* ****_Toporama_***
<http://www.geogratis.ca/geogratis/en/product/search.do?id=36765>**
product corresponds to the fifth release of CanVec, and includes
the addition of 154 new datasets, the update of the National Road
Network data for nine provinces and territories, and the update of
geographical names for the entity "Named feature". For more
information, please refer to the* ****_Toporama Release notes_***

<http://ftp2.cits.rncan.gc.ca/pub/toporama/doc/Toporama_release_notes_v3_0.pdf>**.
New from the* National Air Photo Library*
New 2009 aerial photographs covering Ottawa were recently added to
the National Air Photo Library's collection of over six million
photographs covering all of Canada. These new air photos can be
viewed through* ****_NAPL On-Line_***

<http://napl.cits.nrcan.gc.ca/wes/ClientDisplay/startEnglishClient.jsp?wes_portal_language_id=en_US&showLogin=null&width=1024&height=768>**,
along with over 434 000 other digital aerial photographs covering
various regions of Canada.
New from the* Atlas of Canada*
*****_Atlas of Canada 2010 Winter Olympics Mapping Project_***
<http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/twentyten>** – The
Atlas of Canada has published a special series of interactive maps
in advance of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympic Winter
Games. The* Winter Olympic Medallists Map* depicts the birthplace
of past Canadian Winter Olympic and Paralympic medallists. As
Canada's new Winter Olympic medal winners emerge during the
Vancouver games, this interactive map will be updated to show
their birthplaces.
A promotional poster map has also been produced depicting the
location of* ****_2010 Olympic sites_***

<http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/poster/olympic_sites_map_2010>**.
The poster map covers a large region of southern British Columbia,
and uses detailed inset maps to show all Olympic venues.
New from***** GeoBase*
New* ****_National Hydro Network_***
<http://www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/news/2009/rhn.html>** (NHN) data
– Data for 38 drainage areas were recently published, bringing the
total number of NHN datasets available on the GeoBase portal to
1130. This release includes drainage areas in the Hudson Bay
Lowlands and in the far north. Our latest* ****_newsletter_***

<http://www.geobase.ca/doc/newsletters/GeoBase_newsletter_fall_2009_en.pdf>**
is online!
Further announcements on new mapping and geospatial product releases by
Natural Resources Canada will follow. For more information, please visit
the GeoGratis "___*What's New*_
<http://GeoGratis.gc.ca/geogratis/en/whatsnew.html>" page or contact us
at: _geoginfo@NRCan.gc.ca_ <mailto:geoginfo@NRCan.gc.ca>.

Simply Map Presentation, Robarts Library November 19th

2009-11-09T14:15:00.007-05:00

SimplyMap Canada is now available for free trials and has been updated with Environics Analytics data to include the 2009 Estimates and 2014 Projections. They have also added over 1.3 million Canadian businesses from D&BÂ® which include legal name, business name, NAIC codes, SIC codes, address, telephone number, web address, and general description. The business data is updated on a quarterly basis. Simply Map will demo this product at the Robarts Library (room TBA) on Thursday November 19th, 10AM-12PM. Registration is encouraged using the following Doodle (click on the Doodle title below).

For further information or questions, please contact marcel.fortin@utoronto.ca

Crucial Elements Missing in Toronto's Open Data Initiative - Part II

2009-11-08T16:32:00.002-05:00

I have received a number of emails in response to my previous post concerning Toronto's Open Data initiative. A few have told me they agreed with my comments about the lack of interest by academics and GIS professionals to participate in the event and in the dialogue with the city. However, a few have pointed out that I sounded disappointed at the data the City of Toronto has made available for free, and that I also sounded condescending towards developers and hackers.

Firstly, let me state that I was not criticizing the City of Toronto with my comments. I think it's a wonderful thing that they are making data available for free and I know it was a not an easy task to accomplish following the CUPE strike this past summer. Secondly, I think it is crucial that developers and hackers have data to build tools, games, applications etc. These data are necessary to allow the creative juices to flow in the programming community. With their creativity and ingenuity, their access to these data can only make Toronto a better place. And since they are the ones who have asked for data, they should have access to what they want and need.

But, being from the academic sector, I could not help but feel disappointed in being one of the few asking for data necessary to do my work in serving the GIS and Data communities. Having worked with City of Toronto data for over ten years now, I know of a number of datasets that exist that are crucial to the academic work at the University of Toronto and elsewhere that are not in the current offering. I realize more datasets are forthcoming, but this is where my fear and pleas are based. I do not want to be the only one asking for the datasets I think are important to liberate because why would the City of Toronto take my word for it that the data are necessary? I want the communities I work with (ie. academics and GIS professionals) to help me by making their demands known.

A second fear that I have is that the freeing up of data will take on a rather washed delivery structure and format if we do not ask for the data in the formats we know they exist in. That is, that datasets will be distributed only in part or in formats unusable for most GIS work. See another post on this subject here. Not a day goes by that I do not get asked about land use data for Toronto. Data, by the way, that I receive four times per year from the City of Mississauga and in GIS format! When these for Toronto are released in the future, I have been told twice now by city officials, they will continue to be disseminated via the Official Plan in PDF format. As for zoning, they will only be disseminated through the web application toronto.ca/zoning. PDF and web maps are two methods of delivery that simply are unusable for analysis purposes.

And so again, I ask academics, GIS professionals, and librarians to please make your data needs known by the City of Toronto. Visit datato.org and list or vote for the data you want to work with.

Commentaire au sujet de la pseudo démocratisation des données

2009-11-05T09:41:00.003-05:00

J'ai commencé à lire ton article fort intéressant sur ton blogue à propos des données de la Ville de Toronto et une de mes craintes c'est qu'on prétendre à la démocratisation des données géospatiales en nous permettant seulement une visualisation des données par l'entremise des services WEB comme les WMS et non pas la possibilité d'utiliser les données natives! Je crois qu'on assiste à une pseudo démocratisation. Il faudrait réaligner le pas qui vient d'être fait.

Est-ce que je me trompe?

Stéfano

Stéfano Biondo

Conseiller à la documentation

Information géospatiale et cartographie

Centre Géo/Stat

Université Laval

Pavillon Jean-Charles-Bonenfant

2345 allée des Bibliothèques

Local 4122

Québec (Québec) G1V 0A6

Voir aussi: cet article

What about the Non-Spatial Data? - A response to the City of Toronto Open Data Initiative

2009-11-04T19:01:00.002-05:00

This is an email message received from my colleague, with her permission I am posting on this blog.

Subject: you ask what's missing from this site

I have browsed through the data catalogue at

http://www.toronto.ca/open/index.htm

with some interest. Here follow three comments re what's missing:

1. Any indication of the availability of prior editions of the datasets

(certainly none listed for the files I looked at). Eg the child services

file -- October 2009 is the date ascribed. What was the situation in

January 2009? What about October 2008? How has the recession affected the

availability of child services? How does seasonal part-time employment

affect the demand for and availability of child services?

The place of worship file is dated 2006. Are there no prior editions of

this file? What about later versions of the file? Places of worship are

built, repurposed or destroyed (eg by fire) over time. But changes over

time cannot be studied without data over time.

Ie, what happens when a a later version of a file becomes available? Is

the prior version replaced, or does is still remain available? If not, why

not? If it is not available on-line, to whom does one turn for copies of

prior editions?

2. Any statement of a preservation policy. What procedures are in place to

manage the preservation of these data sets over time? What department is

responsible for the long-term preservation of these data? How frequently

are the data sets provided to whoever is responsible, after what period of

time? Software dependent formats are one of the first things to 'kill' a

dataset, once older formats can no longer be read by current software.

Access should not be mistaken for preservation.

3. Almost all data sets currently listed are spatially referenced data

sets, such as ESRI shapefiles, etc.What about other data, such as

anonymized microdata collected in the course of surveys conducted by the

City? For example, the Toronto employment survey, surveys conducted by the

TTC, by GO Transit, by the TDSB, attempts to survey the homeless etc. --

should these not also be included? The microdata from the Toronto

employment survey could, for example, be subjected to additional

statistical analyses than the simple descriptive statistics made available

in the reports available on the web site.

I am sure there are many other surveys that are conducted eg by City

Planning Division's Policy & Research section of which I am not even

aware, but which could be used for secondary statistical analysis so as to

improve our understanding of how the community functions, and the

informing of policy decisions. They may or may not be interesting from the

point of view of spatial analysis (GIS) but are certainly interesting for

other types of analysis which do not involve spatial relationships.

Nonetheless, they should still be made available.

There are software solutions available that can, for example, present data

in a fashion that on the one hand supports the generation of descriptive

as well as inferential statistics from microdata, while on the other hand

ensuring that eg no table cell contains less than 5 (or some other

selected number) cases, so as to ensure privacy and confidentiality of

respondents.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Laine G.M. Ruus E-mail: laine.ruus@utoronto.ca

Data Library Service dlsg@chass.utoronto.ca

for a related post, see http://maplib.blogspot.com/2009/11/opendatato-crucial-elements-missing.html

Crucial Elements Missing in Toronto's Open Data Initiative

2009-11-04T07:30:00.011-05:00

The City of Toronto has followed the lead of Vancouver, and some cities in the U.S. and released a portion of their data for free to the public. The announcement was made at Toronto's Innovations Showcase by Mayor David Miller. While many would argue the offerings are slim; and it is true that for someone who uses GIS data on a daily basis, this is somewhat of a wanting list for my purposes. But, at the very least it is a very good start toward the process of liberating data, and crucial to much GIS work at the University of Toronto and elsewhere. At the very least, the city must be commended for their huge effort. For a list of datasets now available restriction free, see http://toronto.ca/open/

The problem as I see it is not the initial list of datasets offered or the City of Toronto will to liberate data, instead it is the lack of involvement by the GIS and academic community in the process. Hackers and developers were and are plenty making their voices heard, but they are not looking for the same things we are in the academic and GIS communities. They are looking to build applications and cool things to map. What we need in the GIS and academic community is of course quite different. We want to know how do dataset work against and with one another, and we want to know how the geography these have in common factors in. We do not want to just know about the "where?", but want to know "why", and "what are the factors?", and we want to test out theories. In other words, we want data for analysis.

While there is nothing wrong with building apps and mapping out cool things, what is wrong with this picture is that the City of Toronto will most likely develop a view that demand for their data is from the developer sector only. Already, many of the datasets offered are at what I like to call the "lowest-common denominator" level. Two cases in point; when I put a post in to their new request system at datato.org for high-resolution orthophotography, someone replied to me that there is already a Web Mapping Service (WMS) of their latest air photos. As we all know a WMS is fine for a backdrop, but pretty much useless for GIS analysis. A second example is the TTC data. The TTC holds their bus and subway routes in GIS formats. Data that they have kindly provided the University of Toronto Libraries for free for a number of years. But what is available on toronto.ca/open is only a spit out from GIS data into text files. Yes, text files! Anyone wanting to do GIS on them has to then rebuild them as GIS files.

Over the years I have requested and received (in exchange for money and a signed license agreement, and sometimes not) many other datasets for the University of Toronto community from different City of Toronto departments. What we have received has always been high-quality GIS data. But now what should I expect from the city when I request data? Will I have to just be happy with the data that's online? Will I have to keep battling for data that governments deem already liberated such as the data on the City of Toronto's zoning web application toronto.ca/zoning; or their land use data in PDF format from their online Official Plan? Both great to have as reference, but useless for analysis.

The City of Toronto is not the only government that will think the "lowest-common denominator" method of data delivery is good enough if our voices are not heard. In a recent meeting with the Government of Ontario's main GIS unit, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR), a senior manager basically told the group of librarians assembled that WMS was a large part of the way they would like to distribute their data to its users.

So, GIS users and academics, make your voices heard if you want to be part of the process of liberating data in Canada. Unless they know we want not just data for data's sake, but data for specific GIS applications and analysis, we are still going to have to battle governments to provide us with proper access.

Governments are in a good mood right now as witnessed by the Toronto and Vancouver announcements, and of course the Canadian Federal Government's two free data delivery web pages geobase.ca and geogratis.ca. It is the time to strike while the iron is hot. If you're a GIS professional or academic who feels they need better data access, let your voice be heard by submitting comments and suggestions at datato.org, by email via opendata@toronto.ca or join the group discussion list from the same page. If Toronto ends up understanding what is needed and acts on it, other governments may do the same. Do not think the City of Toronto did not have a close look at what Vancouver did or that Vancouver did not look at other open data initiatives in the U.S. before delivering their data for free on the web.

Marcel Fortin
Geographic Information Systems and Map Librarian
University of Toronto

PS - see also this article in the Globe and Mail

Crime mapping for English and Welsh police forces - CrimeMapper

2009-10-21T09:22:00.001-04:00

Crime mapping for English and Welsh police forces - CrimeMapper

Using PHP/MySQL with Google Maps - Google Maps API - Google Code

2009-10-18T15:09:00.001-04:00

Output your MySQL data to an XML file
Using PHP/MySQL with Google Maps - Google Maps API - Google Code

Using PHP and MySQL to create KML - KML - Google Code

2009-10-18T14:58:00.002-04:00

Dynamically create a KML file from a MySQL database.
Using PHP and MySQL to create KML - KML - Google Code

Open Data – USA vs. Canada | eaves.ca

2009-10-09T12:37:00.000-04:00

Open Data – USA vs. Canada | eaves.ca

Wal-Mart Map

2009-09-29T15:31:00.001-04:00

Using Modest-Map to show the spread of Wal-Mart stores in the United States.

Vancouver's Open Data Pilot Program

2009-09-15T20:12:00.001-04:00

Vancouver's Open Data Pilot Program

Will another Canadian municipality follow?

Copyright Consultation Process - Toronto Town Hall

2009-08-28T10:18:00.007-04:00

From a message sent by Marcel Fortin to CARTA-l on August 28, 2009

As you probably know, the Canadian Government is poised once again to enact a new copyright law for Canada and they have been holding consultations throughout most of the summer through town halls and round tables (http://copyright.econsultation.ca/). I attended the Town Hall meeting in Toronto last night. I was invited to attend on behalf of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives but alas there were too many people and organizers awarded speaking privileges through a lottery and I did not get to express the map and GIS library and academic communities' views.

Warner Music Canada managed to get three if not four of their representatives to speak. SOCAN got to speak, ACTRA got to speak, CRIA got to speak, and so did countless artists, authors and actors. In all, through two hours of three-minute-presentations, only two speakers mentioned the library community's perspective. Leslie Weir of the University of Ottawa represented the Ontario Council of University Libraries and someone from a community college library in Ontario also spoke. Two speakers did mention the need to abolish Crown Copyright, however. Unfortunately not one academic spoke and not one person mentioned the words data or maps.

Most speakers talked about artists (authors, musicians, actors, etc.) who can no longer make a living from their art because of what is perceived as a weak copyright law in Canada. It is clear from their passion and their stories that something needs to be done to help protect culture and artists in Canada through a new copyright law.

However, it is quite unfortunate that the entire debate seems to firmly center around this one aspect of copyright reform. Have a look at the debate on the web page above in the comments section, read the article in the Globe and Mail from yesterday http://tinyurl.com/lgpnh5 , or Michael Geist's blog this morning http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4329/125/

If I had been given a chance to speak I would have tried to convey these points:
- In the current Copyright Act, Maps are considered a part of what are described as "artistic works". But as we all know, very few paper maps are actually published anymore and most maps fall very short of being works of art. It's not a criticism of maps and map makers, it's just a
reality that maps are tools more than they are art. Gone are the days of the cartographer as the only map maker, for better of for worse.

- Most maps are now born digital as databases and anyone with a computer can now build a digital map using a variety of methods. But the key to building those maps is digital data. The better the data the better the maps. Herein is part of the issue. Without proper access to data, the academic and the Canadian public suffer, to say nothing of the economy.

- Canadian governments own most Canadian datasets which means that most data fall under Crown Copyright in Canada. For years governments have, willfully or not, hidden behind the copyright law to restrict access and to impose large fees for use.
- Over the years Crown Copyright restrictions have hindered the development of a proper geospatial industry to say nothing of hindering the education of Canadians in the booming world of digital data and geospatial data.

- As a result of this situation, I would like the Canadian government to single out maps and digital data (geospatial and otherwise) as separate categories and to eliminate or reform Crown copyright surrounding these in order to allow for better dissemination, flow, and use of these by
Canadians.

- And if Crown Copyright cannot be eliminated, that copyright be less restrictive or at the very least consistent. The issue of consistency is important. For instance the copyright notice on two of the federal government's web pages, Geogratis.ca and Geobase.ca from Natural Resources Canada, state that:

"Canada hereby grants to the Licensee a non-exclusive, fully paid,
royalty-free right and licence to exercise all Intellectual Property
Rights in the Data. This includes the right to use, incorporate,
sublicense (with further right of sublicensing), modify, improve,
further develop, and distribute the Data; and to manufacture and / or
distribute Derivative Products."

Other Canadian government bodies should be asked to follow the same policy towards Crown Copyright in our new legislation and allow for the free flow of data to Canadians.

- Another important aspect of copyright reform, which is often mentioned but not specifically concerning maps and and data is that confusion should be eliminated from the legislation (simply think about the debate over the copyright of Fire Insurance Plans) Why, for instance, are paper
maps differently handled within Crown copyright than their digital counterparts? Consider National Topographic Maps (NTS) which are some of Canada's most important and popular maps. These are built on geospatial data, or in many cases the digital data have now been derived from their digital copies. Both the datasets and the actual scanned copies of these
maps are available for free for download from the Geogratis.ca web pages. But the print of the very same paper map that's available for download cannot be photocopied in its entirety from a depository library. In fact, within the current copyright legislation, only ten percent of a government map can be copied to be considered within the boundaries of fair dealing.

- There are many other issues I'm sure, but these are the points I wanted to touch on. With that in mind, I encourage you to let your views be known on this very important matter as the copyright law will be changed soon. Letters are accepted via their web pages here:
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/008.nsf/eng/h_00001.html Andrew Nicholson, president of the ACMLA has sent a letter on behalf of the association but it is important that individuals from the map and GIS community also send letters. If the cultural industries are the only voices heard, you can bet that only their concerns will be examined in the new law.

Sincerely,

Marcel Fortin
Map and GIS Librarian
University of Toronto

Paper Map Collection Temporarily Inaccessible

2009-08-06T12:51:00.002-04:00

Please note the following:

The map cabinets on the fifth floor of the Robarts
Library will be moving temporarily for construction occurring in their current area on the north side of the building. The map cabinets will temporarily be housed on the mezzanine of the 5th floor overlooking the 4th floor. As a result, the map collection, including all books on the North Side of the building on the 5th floor will be inaccessible between August 7th and August 16th inclusively.

Geographic Information Systems and Data Services will be available
during this time as well during regular posted hours.

Google Maps Icons Reference

2009-08-05T10:49:00.001-04:00

Want to use a different icon for your google map? See this link.

New Government of Canada Standard on Geospatial Data

2009-07-06T09:26:00.001-04:00

http://www.geoconnections.org/en/communities/developers/standards/gc

Shp2kml 2

2009-05-13T10:37:00.000-04:00

Convert and format your Shapefiles to KML format.
Shp2kml 2

Global Mapper to Garmin Maps

2009-05-12T12:49:00.000-04:00

GM8DocV2.pdf (application/pdf Object)

cGPSmapper - Your Tool For Creating Maps

2009-05-12T12:27:00.000-04:00

cGPSmapper - Your Tool For Creating Maps

GPSMapEdit

2009-05-12T12:17:00.000-04:00

Author your own GPS Base Maps GPSMapEdit

DEM2TOPO Topographic Contour Generator

2009-05-12T12:13:00.000-04:00

Free DEM to Contour generating software. DEM2TOPO Topographic Contour Generator

OSM Map On Garmin/Download - OpenStreetMap

2009-05-11T22:48:00.000-04:00

Assemble your own base map for your GPS unit. OSM Map On Garmin/Download - OpenStreetMap

uTrack - online GPX track report generator

2009-05-11T22:39:00.001-04:00

uTrack - online GPX track report generator to view your GPS Tracks online, including on a google map

MAC OS X - Garmin GPS Software suite

2009-05-09T10:08:00.000-04:00

Want to use your MAC in conjunction with your Garmin GPS? See Garmin | Mac OS X - Current Software, news and more

Dynamic Drive- FavIcon Generator

2009-05-08T15:29:00.000-04:00

Dynamic Drive- FavIcon Generator Generate icons on the fly

Web Map Service

2009-05-07T22:17:00.000-04:00

Web Map Services from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
Includes these broad categories:
Administrative WMS

Habitat WMS

Infrastructure_WMS

Legal Areas WMS

Misc WMS

Topography WMS

Natural Resources WMS

ColoI(u)r Brewer

2009-05-06T20:59:00.000-04:00

Really should look at this more closely some day http://colorbrewer2.org/

Move the ArcGIS License Manager from one machine to another

2009-05-06T15:28:00.000-04:00

Technical Articles - ESRI Support

OMNR Pit or Quarry Data Class no longer maintained

2009-05-05T16:13:00.000-04:00

As of May 5th, 2009, the LIO has announced that the PIT or Quarry layer of the Ontario Geospatial Data Exchanged will no longer be maintained: View.asp (application/pdf Object)

Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil secrets

2009-05-03T06:09:00.001-04:00

The Associated Press: Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil secrets

maptimeline

2009-04-27T19:46:00.001-04:00

maptimeline -

Google Code

Want latitude and longitude from a simple Google Map

2009-04-20T15:21:00.002-04:00

itouchmap.com allows you to click and get the lat long of the point selected.

Ian Wilson, National Librarian and National Archivist Retires

2009-04-17T06:38:00.001-04:00

Librarian and Archivist of Canada Retiring - What's New - Library and Archives Canada

GeoCommons Maker!

2009-04-08T14:25:00.001-04:00

"Map the World's Data" GeoCommons Maker http://maker.geocommons.com/

GPS Help for the US Census

2009-04-07T07:47:00.001-04:00

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/648727.html

MarcEdit -- By Terry Reese: Downloads

2009-04-06T15:26:00.000-04:00

MarcEdit -- By Terry Reese: Downloads . Includes export to FGDC.

CrimeStat GIS Software for Crime Analysis

2009-04-05T14:17:00.000-04:00

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/CRIMESTAT/download.html

Metadata Object Description Schema: MODS (Library of Congress)

2009-04-03T13:38:00.000-04:00

Metadata Object Description Schema: MODS (Library of Congress)

SIMILE Widgets

2009-04-02T10:28:00.001-04:00

SIMILE Widgets

HGIS with Google Maps

2009-04-02T10:24:00.001-04:00

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter: Exhibit Transforms Your Spreadsheet into an Interactive Web Page

ArcGIS meets Google Maps

2009-04-02T06:46:00.002-04:00

Google Maps API and the ArcGIS JavaScript Extension for Google Maps API meshed together. The future look of GIS software? http://www.geowebdeveloper.com/summitmap/

Geonetwork Manual (PDF)

2009-04-01T13:31:00.000-04:00

Manual.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Help Center ‎(Old Maps Online)‎

2009-04-01T12:01:00.000-04:00

Help Center ‎(Old Maps Online)‎

MapTube, a place to put maps

2009-04-01T09:01:00.000-04:00

http://www.maptube.org/home.aspx

Gmap Creator

2009-03-31T22:06:00.002-04:00

Takes a shapefile and allows easier thematic mapping in your Google maps:
http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/software/gmapcreator.asp

US Army Center for Geospatial Work Created

2009-03-31T19:55:00.000-04:00

United States Army sets up new Center for Geospatial Work
http://tinyurl.com/uoftgis

Microsoft and ESRI Team Up

2009-03-31T06:28:00.000-04:00

GeoCommunity SpatialNews

U. S. Map Copyright Litigation

2009-03-26T13:31:00.000-04:00

U. S. Map Copyright Litigation

A. P. Coleman Exhibition

2009-03-24T13:32:00.000-04:00

A. P. Coleman Exhibition

Geocode using Spreadsheets

2009-03-24T09:40:00.001-04:00

Map addresses in a Google spreadsheet | Workers' Edge - CNET News

TomTom flexes Linux muscle in Microsoft's face • The Register

2009-03-24T06:49:00.000-04:00

TomTom flexes Linux muscle in Microsoft's face • The Register

Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs)

2009-03-23T09:04:00.001-04:00

FEMA: Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs)

Geonetwork v2.0.3 shema/template Howto — GeoNetwork opensource

2009-03-22T06:47:00.000-04:00

Setting up and Modifying GeoNetwork Geonetwork v2.0.3 shema/template Howto — GeoNetwork opensource

Configuring GeoServer - GeoServer

2009-03-21T08:28:00.000-04:00

2 Configuring GeoServer - GeoServer

Geoserver WMS Configuration

2009-03-21T08:03:00.000-04:00

WMS Configuration - GeoServer: "("

Google Earth used by thief to pinpoint buildings with valuable lead roofs - Telegraph

2009-03-17T19:46:00.001-04:00

Google Earth used by thief to pinpoint buildings with valuable lead roofs - Telegraph

Google Earth Spots 1,000 Year Old Fishing Trap : ChattahBox

2009-03-17T16:34:00.000-04:00

Google Earth Spots 1,000 Year Old Fishing Trap : ChattahBox

China plans crackdown on illegal surveying, mapping_English_Xinhua

2009-03-17T12:54:00.000-04:00

Planning on any mapping or surveying of China? Read this article to find out more. China plans crackdown on illegal surveying, mapping_English_Xinhua

MIT's Lindgren Library closes

2009-03-14T16:48:00.001-04:00

MIT's map library closes due to cutbacks closes

Mapping the harbor battlefield

2009-03-14T16:20:00.001-04:00

Charleston Post and Courier article on mapping one of the most important Civil War battlefields in Charleston Harbour.

Global Disease Alert Map

2009-03-11T06:38:00.001-04:00

http://healthmap.org

iPhone Turn By Turn GPS

2009-03-10T16:37:00.002-04:00

It's Apptastic: iPhone Finally Gets Turn By Turn GPS | NBC Los Angeles

Creating a 3d Model of Florida Reef

2009-03-10T16:34:00.001-04:00

Unlocking mystery of the deep: Florida reef getting a road map - Environment - MiamiHerald.com

Research Workshop for Librarians

2009-03-09T15:51:00.000-04:00

To be held at Carleton University Library. For further information see http://www.library.carleton.ca/about/projects/research.html

Metadata Webinar: Land Information Ontario (LIO), Ministry of Natural Resources/Séminaire en ligne sur les métadonnées: Information sur les terres de l'Ontario (ITO) du ministère des Richesses naturelles

2009-03-06T08:38:00.002-05:00

le français suit.

Metadata Promotional Campaign

When? March 12, 2009 - 1:00 to 4:00 PM (Eastern Daylight Time GMT -04:00)

GeoConnections is pleased to invite you to a metadata webinar presented by Land Information Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources.

The objective of this webinar is to present to stakeholders the successes of the metadata promotional campaign project. Geospatial metadata provides the details surrounding the creation and ongoing maintenance of data. Well documented metadata is used both to locate data and to determine its appropriate use. Land Information Ontario has been supporting metadata efforts across the province since 2002 by providing tools, training, support and guidance to all organizations interested in cataloguing and publishing metadata.

A suite of training material has been developed by Land Information Ontario to educate organizations on the importance of creating and maintaining geospatial metadata. The material was presented to several Ontario Ministries, Conservation Authorities and Municipalities, with positive feedback.

The session will cover:

the benefits of creating metadata;
considerations for implementing metadata within your organization;
an overview on the development of the North American Profile of the ISO 19115 geospatial metadata standard.

This project has been a joint venture between Land Information Ontario (LIO) and the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), and was made possible through funding from GeoConnections.

We look forward to your participation in the Metadata Promotional Campaign webinar.

If you would like to participate in this webinar or if you require more information, please contact Nora McNichol at nora.mcnichol@nrcan.gc.ca or Pascale Roussel at proussel@nrcan.gc.ca.

Please note: A separate email will follow with the NRCan Webex Meeting Center login information.

"The potential applications of the CGDI are almost limitless"

English

Campagne de sensibilisation aux métadonnées

Date et heure: 12 mars 2009, de 13 h à 16 h HAE (temps universel -4 heures)

GéoConnexions a le plaisir de vous inviter à participer à un séminaire en ligne sur les métadonnées, présenté par Information sur les terres de l'Ontario, du ministère des Richesses naturelles.

Le séminaire en ligne a pour objectif de présenter aux intervenants les principaux modules d'une suite de matériel de formation, élaboré par Information sur les terres de l'Ontario, pour sensibiliser les organismes à l'importance de la création et du maintien de métadonnées géospatiales. Le matériel a été présenté devant plusieurs ministères de l'Ontario, ainsi qu'à des offices de protection de la nature et des municipalités, suscitant la rétroaction positive de ces derniers.

Les métadonnées géospatiales fournissent des détails sur la création et le maintien continu de données. Les métadonnées bien documentées servent à localiser des données et aussi, à en déterminer l'utilisation convenable. Information sur les terres de l'Ontario soutient les efforts en matière de métadonnées partout dans la province depuis 2002, offrant des outils, de la formation, du soutien et de l'orientation à tout organisme qui s'intéresse au catalogage et à la publication de métadonnées.

La séance portera sur:

les avantages de la création de métadonnées;
les considérations quant à la mise en application de métadonnées au sein de votre organisme;
un survol de l'élaboration du Profil nord-américain de la norme ISO 19115, Information géographique - Métadonnées.

Il s'agit d'un projet conjoint entre Information sur les terres de l'Ontario (ITO) et le U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), rendu possible par le financement de GéoConnexions.

Nous espérons votre participation au séminaire en ligne dans le cadre de la campagne de sensibilisation aux métadonnées.

Pour participer au séminaire en ligne ou si vous avez besoin de plus amples renseignements, veuillez communiquer avec Nora McNichol par courriel à nora.mcnichol@rncan.gc.ca ou avec Pascale Roussel à proussel@nrcan.gc.ca.

Remarque: Un courriel suivra pour donner les renseignements pour l'ouverture d'une session WebEx de RNCan.

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