Scholars GeoPortal is a geospatial discovery tool that provides access to large scale geospatial datasets that can be used for mapping or analysis. These datasets encompass both vector and raster data on a variety of topics such as land-use, transportation networks, census geography, aerial imagery, geology, and more. Furthermore, Scholars GeoPortal allows users to customize their data extracts by selecting the appropriate area of interest, temporal extent, file format, and coordinate system for their work.

The CHASS Canadian Census Analyser allows members of the University of Toronto research community to generate custom tables from the Census of Canada (1961-2016) and the National Household Survey (2011). The interface enables the selection of relevant variables and census geographies, providing access to data down to the dissemination area (DA) level. Census data can be incorporated into analytical and GIS software.

SimplyAnalytics is a web-based data visualization application. It can be used to create simple thematic maps and tables from census and other socio-demographic data, as well as business point data. This online tutorial will provide an introduction to the tool and a few of its many possible uses, through the following seven steps, with exercises interspersed to test your understanding:

Accessing Simply Map

All U of T students, staff, and faculty have access to SimplyMap. SimplyMap is accessed through a web browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer). If you are off-campus, you need to login with your UTORid before you can use SimplyMap. In this case, you should start by accessing SimplyMap through the library’s website. Go to https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca. Type “simplymap” in the search box. In the search results, under “Databases”, click “SimplyMap Canada”:

1. Open Scholars GeoPortal by going to http://geo.scholarsportal.info

2. Use the main search box to search for census tract boundary files. You can search by phrase, keyword, title, and more.
   Type in the phrase “Census Tracts 2011” and click Search.
   

Example 1: Batch Clip

This first example model will be used to process a batch clip. It will iterate through shapefiles in a directory, and clip each one based on another shapefile’s area, and save the new clipped shapefiles to a different directory.

For an accessible introduction to coordinate systems and map projections, please see the Coordinate Systems and Projections page in the Scholars GeoPortal user guide.

1. Launch FME Quick Translator from the Start Menu. On Map & Data Library computers, it is located in All Programs > FME Desktop 2012 SP4 > Utilities > FME Quick Translator.

1. Use the Add Data button to add each of the datasets you wish to convert to the map document.
   

DEMs stored as point shapefiles

1. Add your DEM point dataset to your map document. Open up the Layer Properties window and click on the Source tab. You should see the line “Coordinates have Z values: Yes” in the Data Source section of the window. This indicates that elevation or height values are included in the spatial reference information for each entity in the dataset.
   Click OK or Cancel to return to the map document.