Map Sources

The Atlas maps are composed of several layers of which there are two broad categories: thematic and base layers. Find below a description of each of the map layers. The layer source is included in the metadata.

Thematic Map Layers

Land Cover of Canada (image)

The images were acquired in 1995 by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board of the NOAA-14 satellite operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The images were processed to enhance the vegetation by a group of scientists from the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing and the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada. The land cover image map contains 31 land cover classes: 12 forest; 3 shrubland; 7 tundra / grasslands; 7 developed land types including cropland, mosaic and built-up areas; and 2 water areas. Canada Center for Remote Sensing, Natural Resources Canada, 1995.

Base Map Layers

Atlas of Canada Framework Layers

Base map components are features that provide a geographic context for the thematic data shown on Atlas of Canada maps. These features include rivers, lakes, administrative boundaries, populated places, roads and rail lines. All of the Atlas of Canada base map components are available for immediate free download in five scales and in a number of data exchange formats. The 1:7 500 000 and the 1:1 000 000 scale data are the primary base frameworks used for all Atlas of Canada 6th Edition online maps. You can download Atlas of Canada data from this Web page on GeoGratis.

References

Canada. Natural Resources Canada. 1999. Land Cover of Canada. National Atlas of Canada Reference Map Series. MCR 103. Ottawa, 1999.

Rowe, J.S. 1972. Forest regions of Canada. Environment Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Publication 1300. 172 p.

Web Sites