Download Directory and Documentation

Access to geospatial data files

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to distribute geospatial data via its website. Below an exhaustive list of collections that allows to access the FTP site directly. In the FAQ section, the question Is it possible to access files with an FTP client (for example Filezilla, BulletProof FTP, etc.)? will help you for the massive download.

Some digital files are large, often tens of megabytes in size. Plan to download during off-peak hours. It should be noted that the geospatial data have a wide variety of sources, scales, resolutions, projections, spectral resolutions and formats.

Documentation is available for most products and is located with the product. In some cases it may be in a separate "doc" subfolder.

Download Directory by Product Categories

Elevation Data

• High Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM) (Application, FTP and WMS)
• Canadian Digital Elevation Model (CDEM) (FTP)
• Canadian Digital Elevation Model (CDEM) using the data extraction service (Application)
  • CDEM documentation (FTP)
  • CDEM Information Sheet (PDF, 678 KB)
• Canadian Digital Surface Model (CDSM) using the data extraction service (Application)
  • CDSM documentation (FTP)
  • CDSM Information Sheet (PDF, 666 KB)
• Canadian Digital Surface Model (CDSM) (FTP)
• Canada3D - Digital Elevation Model of the Canadian Landmass (FTP)

Geospatial Data

• CanVec Multi-scale data (FTP)
  • CanVec Information Sheet (PDF, 450 MB)
• CanVec using the data extraction service (Application)
• Vector Indexes of the National Topographic System of Canada (FTP)
• National Topographic Data Base (NTDB), Canada (FTP) - Legacy
• NTDB Correction Matrices (FTP) - Legacy
• VMAP1 (FTP) - Legacy

Topographic Maps*

• Index Maps of the National Topographic System of Canada (Application)
• Digital topographic raster maps - ARCHIVED (FTP) – Legacy
  Note: This group of maps includes the CanMatrix – Georeferenced, CanMatrix – Print Ready and CanTopo collections.
• Toporama (FTP) - Legacy

*To obtain paper maps, please contact a Regional Distribution Centre or a Certified Map Printer.

GeoBase

• National Hydro Network (NHN) (FTP)
• National Railway Network (NRWN) (FTP)
• Land Cover, circa 2000-Vector (LCC2000-V) (FTP) - Legacy
• Canadian Geographical Names (FTP)
• Aboriginal Lands of Canada (FTP)
• GeoBase Orthoimage 2005-2010 (FTP)
• Landsat-7 Orthoimage (FTP)
• RADARSAT-1 Orthorectified Imagery (FTP)
• Control Points for Landsat 7 Imagery (FTP)

Atlas of Canada Data

• North American Atlas
  • North American Atlas - Bathymetry (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Glaciers (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Hydrography (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Watersheds (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Political Boundaries (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Populated Places (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Railroads (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Roads (FTP)
  • North American Atlas - Sea Ice (FTP)

Atlas of Canada Maps

• Atlas of Canada Archives
  • Atlas of Canada - 1st Edition (FTP)
  • Atlas of Canada - 2nd Edition (FTP)
  • Atlas of Canada - 3rd Edition (FTP)
  • Atlas of Canada - 4th Edition (FTP)
  • Atlas of Canada - 5th Edition (FTP)
  • Atlas of Canada - 6th Edition (FTP)
  • Atlas Poster Maps (FTP)
  • Atlas Reference (FTP)
  • Atlas of Canada - Various (FTP)
  • Glacier Atlas of Canada (FTP)
  • Hydrological Atlas of Canada, 1978 (FTP)
  • International Map of the World - Canada Sector (FTP)

Thematic Data and Maps

• Borehole Geophysical Logs in Surficial Sediments of Canada (FTP)
• Flood Disasters in Canada (FTP)
• Paleo-environmental records of climate change across Canada - Vegetation History, Glaciated North America (FTP)
• Potential Sediment Transport by Wind in the Prairie Provinces (PSTWPP) (FTP)
• Rock-Eval Data for Canadian Borehole Cuttings, Core and Outcrop Samples (FTP)
• Deglaciation of North America (FTP)
• Tabular Data
  • Gas Chromatography Data for Crude Oils, Condensates and Rock Extracts From Canadian and Selected International Sedimentary Basins (FTP)
• Tactile Maps (FTP)

Satellite Imagery

• Landsat 7
  • Landsat 7 Orthorectified Imagery over Canada (FTP)
  • CanImage - Landsat 7 Orthoimages of Canada, 1:50 000 (FTP)
  • SPOT
    • GeoBase Orthoimage 2005-2010 (FTP)
    • Canada 1-km, 10-day SPOT/VEGETATION composites for growing season 1998-2004 (FTP)

Regional Distribution Centres – Certified Map Printers

Use the HTML geospatial product index to visualize an inventory of our digital topographic map collections and to download the files. Click on the data type "Raster" under "Data Types", then choose "CanTopo – CanMatrix – Latest Edition 1:50 000" collection in the "Collections" section. Zoom and click on the desired region to select the files.The CanTopo file is always the most recent.

Archived Collections

Please note that the following collections have been archived as part of the federal government Web renewal project. They are no longer available in the Open Government catalogue.

• Elevation Data
• Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED) (FTP) - Archived
  • CDED documentation (FTP) – Archived
• GeoBase
• Municipal Boundaries (FTP) - Archived
• Canadian Geopolitical Boundaries (FTP) – Archived
• Atlas of Canada Data
• Atlas of Canada 1,000,000 National Frameworks Data
  • Administrative Boundaries (FTP) - Archived
  • Canadian Place Names (FTP) - Archived
  • Census Subdivisions and Population Ecumene (FTP) - Archived
    Note: For up-to-date information, see Census of Population - Statistics Canada
  • Hydrology - Dams (FTP) - Archived
  • Hydrology - Drainage Areas (FTP) - Archived
  • Hydrology - Drainage Network (Analytical) (FTP) - Archived
  • Hydrology - Drainage Network (Cartographic) (FTP) - Archived
  • Protected Areas (FTP) – Archived
    Note:  For up-to-date information, see Protected areas in Canada.
  • Rail Network (FTP) - Archived
  • Road Network (FTP) – Archived
• The Atlas of Canada Base Maps (FTP) - Archived
• National Framework Canada Lands Administrative Boundaries Level 1 (FTP) - Archived
  Note: The official product National Parks and National Park Reserves of Canada Legislative Boundaries is available on the Open Government portal.
• National Frameworks Level 0 Standard Geographical Classification, Canada (FTP) – Archived
• Thematic Data and Maps
• Canada Land Inventory, 1:1 000 000 (FTP) - Archived
  Note: For up-to-date information, see Canada Land Inventory (CLI) 1:1 000 000 - Land Capability for Agriculture - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Canada Land Inventory, 1:250 000 (FTP) - Archived
  Note: For up-to-date information of agriculture, see Canada Land Inventory (CLI) 1:250 000 - Land Capability for Agriculture - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Canada Land Inventory, 1:50 000 (FTP) - Archived
  Note: For up-to-date information, see Canada Land Inventory (CLI) 1:50 000 - Land Capability for Agriculture - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Ecosystems Data
  • The State of Canada's Ecosystems in Maps (FTP) - Archived
  • Maritime Strategic (1987) Land Use Database (SLUD), Canada (FTP) - Archived
  • Ontario Land Cover - National-Scale, 1:250 000 Version (FTP) - Archived
    Note: Data is continually being updated in the Ontario Forest Resources Inventory Status product.
  • Ontario Timber Inventory (OTI) Level-I Digital Data (FTP) - Archived
    Note: Data is continually being updated in the Ontario Forest Resources Inventory Status product.
  • City Land Capability for Agriculture - Canada Land Inventory, 1:50 000 (FTP) - Archived
  • City Land Capability for Recreation - Canada Land Inventory, 1:50 000 (FTP) - Archived
  • East-Central Labrador Ecological Land Survey, Canada (FTP) - Archived
  • Qu'Appelle River Valley Land Planning Database, Canada (FTP) – Archived
  • Canadian Diatom Database (FTP) - Archived
  • Canadian Peatland Database (FTP) - Archived
  • Canadian Permafrost Thickness, Geological Survey of Canada (FTP) – Archived
  • Geoscape Canada - A map of Canada's earth materials (FTP) – Archived
  • Urban Geology and Environmental Geology of the St. Lawrence Valley (FTP) - Archived
  • Urban Geology of the National Capital Area, Canada (FTP) - Archived
• Canada Land Use Monitoring Program (CLUMP) Urban Land Use (FTP) – Archived
  Note: For up-to-date information, see Built-up area, Census metropolitan area - Statistics Canada
• Tabular Data
  • North American Conservation Areas Database (NCAD) (FTP) – Archived
• Satellite Imagery
• AVHRR
  • AVHRR Land Cover Data, Canada (FTP) - Archived
• ERS-1
  • British Columbia Mainland (FTP) - Archived
  • Vancouver Island (FTP) - Archived
• Landsat 5
  • Great Lakes Mosaic of Landsat MSS Images (FTP) – Archived
• Landsat 7
  • Landsat 7 Level 1-G Imagery over Canada (FTP) – Archived
  • Landsat Image Mosaic of Canada (FTP) - Archived
  • Landsat ETM mosaic of northern Canada - Circa 2000 (FTP) - Archived
  • Northern Land Cover of Canada – Circa 2000 (FTP) - Archived
  • A complete orthorectified Landsat-7 mosaic of the Canadian artic archipelago (FTP) - Archived
• RADARSAT
  • RADARSAT Ortho-rectified Mosaic of Canada (FTP) - Archived
• RADARSAT-1
  • Ortho-rectified Mosaics of Canada, Lambert Conformal Conic, 100 Metres (FTP) - Archived
• SEASAT
  • SEASAT SAR Data over Canada (FTP) – Archived
• SPOT
  • GeoBase Raw Imagery 2005-2010 (FTP) - Archived

Most requested

• Topographic Information
• Web Services
• Frequently Asked Questions
• What’s New