Guide for Site Research

General Resources

• Research Guide on Newspapers

Books

• 100 Site Analysis Essentials: An Architect’s Guide
• Fieldwork: Landscape Architecture Europe
• Interpreting Site: Studies in Perception, Representation, and Design
• Site Matters: Strategies for Uncertainty through Planning and Design
• Site Planning: International Practice

Images and Videos

• Archivision Collection in JSTOR
• OnArchitecture

Indigenous Resources

• The Toronto Carrying Place : rediscovering Toronto's most ancient trail
• Toronto During the French Regime : A History of the Toronto Region From Brule to Simcoe, 1615-1793
• Walking into wilderness : the Toronto Carrying Place and Nine Mile Portage
• Atlas of Great Lakes Indian history

Planning Documents and Toronto Buildings

• Archives of Ontario
• City of Toronto Archives
• Local government, e.g., Toronto Official Plan
• Toronto Building Database
• Urban Toronto

Mapping Resources

General map resources

• How to find and request maps
• How to read maps: see Esri's Map Use: Reading, Analysis, Interpretation
• Map request form - note that you can request specific items from LibrarySearch if signed in, and you can use this form to make general requests (e.g., "Maps of Toronto showing High Park")

Toronto Property Data Maps

• Print Property Data Maps (1962 to 2010, various years)
• Digital Property Data Maps (scroll down to "Property Data Maps index")

National Topographic System (NTS)

• These are the official topographic maps of Canada
• Historical sheets:
  • NTS sheets, 1:25 000 scale
  • NTS sheets, 1:50 000 scale
  • NTS sheets, 1:63 360 scale
  • Additional older topographic sheets are available at the Map & Data Library; please use the request form
• Modern sheets
  • Go to GeoGratis
  • Click on "Geospatial Product Index"
  • Click on "Themes", then "Raster", pick a Scale, then zoom in on the map and click a tile

Scanned Maps

• Scanned maps from the University of Toronto (note these are a small fraction of our total maps)
• City of Toronto: Find the History of Your House
• Archives of Ontario RG1-100 Patent Plans
• Historical Maps of Toronto
• David Rumsey (note the ability to search for text on maps, e.g., specific placenames)
• JCB Library
• OldMapsOnline
• Barry Lawrence Ruderman, Antique Maps Inc.
• Alexandre Antique Prints, Maps & Books

Aerial Photos

• Map & Data Library's air photo page
• Map & Data Library's complete air photo listing
• City of Toronto Orthoimagery (2009-2022) (2023 coming soon)
• City of Toronto historic aerial photographs (1947-1992)

Atlases

• County map atlases (townships and counties/districts), e.g., Illustrated historical atlas of York County, Ontario
• Historical Atlas of Toronto
• Ontario's History in Maps
• Historical Atlas of Canada and the Atlas historique du Canada

City Directories

• City Directory guide
• Listing of Toronto City Directories
• Additional information on using City Directories

Fire Insurance Plans

• Map & Data Library's general page for Fire Insurance Plans (click the links in the bullet points for scanned and georeferenced maps for Toronto)
• U of T's Fire Insurance Plan complete listing (Canada-wide)
• City of Toronto's Fire Insurance Plan listing
• Toronto Public Library's Fire Insurance Plan listing
• Copyright holders for most Canadian fire insurance plans (for publishing inquiries and additional plans)

Web Mapping Projects

• Ontario County Map Project (nineteenth-century maps of Southern Ontario, with names of owners of specific plots)
• Don Valley Historical Mapping Project (historical businesses along the Don River)
• Lost Rivers of Toronto and Lost River Walks

Other mapping materials

• Many digitized materials (books, maps, historical documents) can be found in Canadiana
• Archives of Ontario general search and Archives of Ontario Image Search (photographs, maps)

Geospatial Resources

Land Use, zoning, and land cover

• Zoning by-law
• Site and Area Specific Policies
• Land Cover (City of Toronto)
• Land Cover (Toronto and Region Conservation Authority)
• Property Boundaries

Environmental

Hydrology

• Waterbodies

Vegetation

• ELC (Ecological Land Classification)

Protected Areas – Ravine Bylaw Areas, ESAs, NHIC

• Environmentally Significant Areas
• Natural Heritage System
• Ravine Bylaw Areas
• ANSI (Area of Natural and Scientific Interest)

Infrastructure

Roads and Railways

• Toronto Centreline (also includes rivers and other line features)
• Toronto Topographic Mapping Edge of Road

Demographic

• Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles
• If using ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Pro, the Geoenrichment functionality can be used to retrieve demographic statistics for a given geometry:
  • ArcGIS Online Enrich Layer
  • ArcGIS Pro Enrich tool

Climate

• Historical Climate Data, including historical data and monthly climate summaries back to 1840 for some parts of Canada; Historical Radar Data for some years as well

Historical and Cultural

• Heritage Register
• Heritage Conservation Districts

Hazards

• Flood lines

Topographic

Contour Lines

• Toronto Contour Lines 1m

Elevation

• Note that slope, aspect, hillshade, and contours can be derived from this if needed
• Greater Toronto Area 2002 Digital Elevation Model
• Provincial Digital Elevation Model 2019
• Toronto Building Outlines
• Toronto 3D Massing (includes building heights)

OpenStreetMap

• OpenStreetMap
• Download geospatial data from OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik)
• Guide to using OpenStreetMap data in QGIS

Demographic Statistics

Census Data

• General guide to numeric data
• Canadian census data by year
• CHASS Census Analyser and Census Analyser Tutorial
• Statistics Canada data tables for 2021
• Feel free to request help from the Map & Data Library

Census Records (individuals or households from 1825-1926/1931)

• Census records and guides
• Census search

Other Guides and Resources

• Exporting GIS to CAD format (Rhino; Illustrator; AutoCAD)