Documentation - geography products
- Geography catalogue (PDF)
- Hierarchy of standard geographic units for dissemination (Statistics Canada website)
- Overview of the census, ch. 9 census geography (Statistics Canada website)
- Illustrated glossary of terms (Statistics Canada website)
- Geographic name changes (Statistics Canada website)
- Geographic area suppression lists:
- Census subdivision (CSD) (Statistics Canada website)
- Census tract (CT) (Statistics Canada website)
- Designated place (DPL) (Statistics Canada website)
- Population centre (POPCTR) (Statistics Canada website)
- Dissemination area (DA) (Statistics Canada website)
- Reference maps and thematic maps, reference guide (PDF)
- Preliminary 2011 CMA and CA delineation (Statistics Canada website)
Geospatial data
You can download 2011 census boundary files from Scholars GeoPortal or from the Statistics Canada website.
Scholars GeoPortal:
Statistics Canada website:
- Boundary files (digital and cartographic)
- Road network file
Which kind of boundary file do I need? Cartographic boundary files portray the major land mass of Canada and its coastal islands (i.e. the boundaries hug the coastlines). Digital boundary files portray the full extent of the geographic areas, including the coastal water area.
Maps
All Statistics Canada digital maps for 2011 are avaialble on the Statistics Canada website.
- Census divisions and subdivisions (national and by province): Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) reference maps (Statistics Canada)
- Census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomerations (CA) (national maps): Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) reference maps (Statistics Canada)
- Census tracts (by CMA/CA): Census tract reference maps (Statistics Canada).
- Dissemination area (by census tracts/non-tracted CAs/census divisions): Dissemination area reference maps (Statistics Canada).
- Forward Sortation Areas: No maps available, but see Boundary files and their Reference guide (Statistics Canada website)
- Thematic maps, various geographies (Statistics Canada website)
Geographic reference products
Geosuite
- GeoSuite is a software tool for data retrieval, query, and tabular output. GeoSuite allows users to explore the links between all standard levels of geography and to determine geographic codes, names, and population and dwelling counts. GeoSuite includes a dissemination area (DA) reference map listing that facilitates the identification of appropriate DA reference maps.
- Download and install software (Statistics Canada)
- Reference guide (PDF)
Correspondence Files
- Census tracts (CT), 2006-2011. Provides a correlation table between 2006 census tracts and those delineated for 2011.
- Documentation (.doc)
- Data (.xls)
- Dissemination area (DA)/Dissemination block (DB), 2001-2006. Provides a correlation table between 2001 census DAs and DBs and those delineated for 2006, including a flag indicating whether each area is wholy or partially contained in the 2006 area.
- User guide (PDF)
- Data
- Dissemination area (DA) and Land Area, 2006-2011. Describes the percentage of the 2011 DA's land area within the boundaries of the 2006 DA.
- Documentation (Statistics Canada website)
- Data: txt or xlsx
Geographic Attribute File
- The Geographic Attribute File contains geographic data at the dissemination block level. The file includes population and dwelling counts, land area, geographic codes, names, unique identifiers and , where applicable, types.
- Download the file from the Statistics Canada website.
- User guide (PDF)
- Alternative format: Excel file version or ASCII text file
Additional products
Please contact us if you find any broken links on this page! We also have copies of these files archived at the Map & Data Library.