Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 1

18 Apr 2023

http://atlas.gc.ca

Atlas of CanadaAtlas of Canada6th Edition6th Edition

Gazetteer Gazetteer ServiceService

& Find a Place & Find a Place ApplicationApplication

The Atlas of Canada

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 2

18 Apr 2023

OverviewOverview

• Background – Who we are?

• Canada’s Geographical Names (CGNS)

• Feature Name Tagging

• Gazetteer Service

• Find a Place Application

• Find a Place Next Steps

• Questions

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 3

18 Apr 2023

The Atlas of Canada The Atlas of Canada Mission StatementMission Statement

• The Atlas of Canada provides authoritative, current and accessible geographic information products at a national level. Working with partners, the Atlas facilitates the integration and analysis of diverse data in order to increase overall knowledge about Canada.

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 4

18 Apr 2023Canadian Geographical Names Canadian Geographical Names

ServiceService

• A distributed toponymic data service for the CGDI operated by the Geographical Names Section

• The purpose is to deliver a national view of Canada’s geographical names into the standards and technology framework of the CGDI

• The Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) is the technology, standards, access systems and protocols necessary to harmonize all of Canada’s geospatial data bases, and make them available on the internet. CGDI is facilitated by GeoConnections

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 5

18 Apr 2023

Feature TaggingFeature Tagging

• 1:7.5million and 1:1million scales

• Statistical framework: provinces, cities, towns, villages, hamlets, municipalities, Indian reserves

• Islands and island groupings

• Hydrology: rivers and lakes

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 6

18 Apr 2023

Tagging ChallengesTagging Challenges

• No control over the structure and content of the names database

• Hierarchies

• Relationships between framework layers

• Duplicate names for the same feature - Pan-Canadian names or cross provincial names

• Time Stamps

• Features with fuzzy boundaries – bays, capes

• Data tagged at more than one scale

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 7

18 Apr 2023

WFSAtlas 1Mfeatures

WFSConcise Gazetteer

Records

CGDIGazetteer Service

request

response

XMLdocument

Client

CGDI Gazetteer ServiceCGDI Gazetteer Service

The CGDI Gazetteer Service performs ‘on the fly’ linking of toponymy to feature data.

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 8

18 Apr 2023

ConciseGazetteer

User (human) selects place nameof interest. Clicks on Go.User enters place feature.

Find a PlaceDatabase (FAPD)

Find a Place Find a Place ApplicationApplication

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 9

18 Apr 2023

AddingAddingThematicThematicData Data

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 10

18 Apr 2023

• All official names in Canada are stored in the Geographical Names Section of Canada database (CGNDB).

• Each official name (place or physical feature) is assigned a unique identifier, e.g. Pictou County –CBDUD.This identifer is used to obtain the feature extent from the WFS, based on the official name queried.

• This unique identifier is the primary key

that relates the tables in the Find a Place

Database (FAPD) together.

• Each table represents a feature type

(e.g. river, census division) which contains

the thematic attribute information from

the Atlas of Canada database. The thematic

data is derived from Atlas thematic shapefiles.

Find a Place DatabaseFind a Place Database

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 11

18 Apr 2023

• Content Perspective:

• Add secondary names. Secondary names are non-official names, such as health districts, ecozones, etc.

• Resolve issues of labelling/symbology.

• Add more thematic layers, e.g. drainage

basins.

• Eventually, allow users to locate any place/feature on a thematic map.

• Locate places on different and appropriate scales, such as the 1: 1 million, and possibly topo-maps (1:250 000/1:50 000).

• Continually add more thematic data to FAPD.

Find a Place Next Steps ...Find a Place Next Steps ...

Earth Sciences SectorNatural Resources Canada

Slide 12

18 Apr 2023

L’Atlasdu Canada

Atlasof Canada

The

http://atlas.gc.cahttp://atlas.gc.ca

Come visit !Come visit !