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Updated Toporama – Topographic Maps
These new maps are the next generation of the Centre for Topographic Information’s Toporama product. The National Topographic System (NTS) provides general-purpose topographic map coverage of Canada. These maps depict, in detail, ground relief (landforms and terrain), drainage (lakes and rivers), forest cover, administrative areas, populated areas, transportation routes and facilities (including roads and railways), and other constructed features. The maps use data from the Atlas of Canada (1: 1 000 000 to 1:30 000 000), National Topographic Data Base 1:250 000 and CanVec 1:50 000. Toporama continues to provide topographic information from national to regional scales.
Main Improvements to Toporama:- A more current data source is being used.
- Feature names are easier to read using a variety of sizes to indicate significance.
- River names follow the course of the river.
- Lake and river names are shown on the less detailed maps as well as the more detailed.
- Feature names and symbols are consistent across all maps.
- Roads, rivers and other line type features have been smoothed to look better.
List of Topics:
- Topographic Maps in the Atlas of Canada
- The National Topographic System – An Overview
- Topographic Map Distributors – Paper Maps
- Digital Topographic Data
- Licensing Guidelines
Topographic Maps in the Atlas of Canada
The Atlas of Canada offers Toporama – free access to the National Topographic System in an easy-to-use mapping tool. Select one of the links below to explore and find, print and save the map of your choice.
- Explore Topographic Maps – Go directly to Toporama
- Search for Place names – Cities, towns, villages, mountains, rivers and lakes etc.
- Topographic Mapping Tool Help page
- Frequently Asked Questions
The National Topographic System – An Overview
What is a topographic map? Select one of the links below to find out all about topographic maps and the National Topographic System.
Topographic Map Distributors – Paper Maps
To find the National Topographic System (NTS) map number for the area you are interested in and to purchase printed topographic maps, select one of the links below to locate a map distributor near you.
Digital Topographic Data
To obtain free digital topographic data, select one of the links below.
- Centre for Topographic Information – Topographic Data
- Toporama Tiles - Raster topographic map files, at a scale of 1:50 000, based on the National Topographic system available at no cost on GeoGratis.
- Toporama WMS - A Web Map Service offering complete topographic map coverage of Canada that is compliant to Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards. The service offers data at scales from 1:60 000 000, to 1:50 000 and 16 feature themes.
- CanVec – The new multi-source product, used in Toporama, combining the best available vector topographic data.
- CanMatrix – Georeferenced, Digital topographic maps of Canada
- CanMatrix – Print Ready, Digital topographic maps of Canada
- National Topographic Database – The legacy National Topographic Database (replaced by CanVec)
Licensing Guidelines
When the Government of Canada produces maps, charts, and other publications, the content of these publications is automatically protected under the Copyright Act. The Government of Canada has a right to the intellectual property contained on maps of the National Topographic System (NTS), published by Natural Resources Canada. Anyone wanting to exploit or reproduce information shown on NTS maps requires the authorization of the Government of Canada, through the Centre for Topographic Information Ottawa (CTIO) of Natural Resources Canada.
- Licence Agreement for Unrestricted Use of Digital Topographic Data
- Licence Agreement for Unrestricted Use of Digital Data on GeoBase
- Liability Note – for Topographic Maps in the Atlas of Canada