Geospatial Data Research Guide (GIS): Web Resources

Canada’s spatial data infrastructure (SDI), referred to as the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) is the relevant base collection of standards, policies, applications, and governance that facilitate the access, use, integration, and preservation of spatial data. GeoConnections is a national program with the mandate and responsibility to lead the CGDI through the use of standards-based technologies and operational policies for data sharing and integration.

The Catalogue is a directory for efficient searching of geographic documents. It is a user-friendly and flexible tool that provides access to government geographic information. The Catalogue begins with a description of the documents produced by the Geographic Information Branch of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources and will gradually be expanded to include documents from other departments and agencies.

Based on the same idea as what3words, this free and open source uses a 4-word combination, which makes it, in many regards, a more robust option than what3words. It is an especially helpful tool directing people with no technical background to precise locations without having to resort to traditional georeferencing coordinates.

In its desire to offer simple and free access to up-to-date data related to Quebec's forest territory, the Gouvernement du Québec is making available the Forêt ouverte (Open Forest) interactive map as well as several other web mapping services that can be easily integrated into a geographic information system.

This is a list generated from a geospatial web services harvester developed for the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure. Updated weekly.

Infolot allows online consultation of the Cadastre du Québec. This public register represents on a map the private land properties of Quebec by assigning them a distinct lot number (1,000,000 and more). This lot number is necessary to consult, among other things, the Quebec land register online.

A worldwide community dedicated to improving access to geospatial or location information. The OGC is an international standards organization, aimed at encouraging the development and implementation of open standards for geospatial content and services, GIS processing and data sharing, among other resources.

Various datasets, including geospatial ones, provided by the Government of Canada

An open source and collaborative project, OpenStreetMap provides map data for thousands of websites, mobile apps, and hardware devices.

CanVec contains more than 60 topographic features classes organized into 8 themes: Transport Features, Administrative Features, Hydro Features, Land Features, Manmade Features, Elevation Features, Resource Management Features and Toponymic Features.

The City of Sherbrooke makes available to professionals, researchers, students, associations and citizens a set of cartographic data on various themes. This open data, shared in several formats, can be used, analyzed and represented in multiple applications.

what3words is a georeferencing algorithm that use words instead of digits. It can be useful to casually describe a location where an address is either unavailable or not precise enough. A mobile app is also available.