National Topographic Data Base (NTDB)

Available online from GeoGratis.

Description:

The National Topographic Data Base (NTDB) comprises digital vector data sets that cover the entire Canadian landmass. Geomatics Canada has digitized and structured thousands of topographic maps, creating a complete and uniform product that can be highly useful in a broad range of industries.

The organizational unit for the NTDB is the National Topographic System (NTS), based on the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). Each file (data set) consists of one NTS unit at either the 1:50,000 or 1:250,000 scale. Furthermore, the data is now available by themes within a file. The ground data is depicted through points, lines, and areas.

Coverages are organized into one of the following 13 themes: hydrography, hypsography (contours), vegetation, the road network, roads, the rail network, the electric power network, designated areas, landform and relief, water saturated soils, toponymy and manmade features. Many of the coverages or individual data sets are listed in the following table.

National Topographic Data Base Coverages
Aerial Cableways	Golf Courses	Sports Tracks/Race Tracks
Auto Wreckers	Hazards to Navigation	Stadiums
Barriers/Gates	Historic Sites/Points of Interest	Tanks
Breakwaters	Highway Exits	Toponyms
Bridges	Liquids Depots/Dumps	Towers
Buildings	Limited Use Roads	Trails
Built Up Areas	Marinas	Transmission Lines
Cemeteries	Mining Areas	Tunnels
Chimneys	Navigation Aids	Underground Reservoirs
Contours (10m interval for 1:50,000, 50m interval for 1:250,000)	NTS Limits	Vegetation
Conveyors	Parks	Walls/Fences
Cranes	Picnic Sites	Water Disturbance (Rapids, Discharge, etc.)
Cut Areas/Lines	Ponds	Waterbodies
Disappearing Streams	Railways	Watercourses
Elevation Points	Roads	Wetlands
Embankments	Runways	Wharfs
Ferry Routes	Sandy Area	Zoos
Footbridges	Seawalls
Fortifications	Silos

Spatial Reference and Data Type:

These data sets are available in geographic (lat/long) and co-ordinates; horizontal datum is NAD 83. These data are available in Esri Shapefile format.

Data Manipulation and Storage:

There are public workstations in the Geospatial Centre that provide access to both ArcGIS and ArcView software programs, program extensions and data manipulation utilities. Patrons may use the GIS and image processing software in the library to view and manipulate the data. UW faculty, students and staff may copy these data to other media (for example: CD, DVD or Zip disc) for use elsewhere.

Data Output:

These images may be exported from ArcGIS in a choice of bitmapped formats (also known as raster graphics) including JPG, TIFF, GIF, and BMP or in a choice of vector graphics formats including AI, EPS, and SVG. Yet another option is PDF. The GeoExpressView may also be used to export the image, in whole or in part. The user defines the output resolution.

Citation:

National Topographic Data Base (3rd Edition) [computer file]. Ministry of Natural Resources Canada Centre for Topographic Information (1998).

Sample View of the Data:

Don Valley and Highway 401

, Library Assistant
May 30, 2012

Maps • Geospatial Centre