GeoBase is a federal, provincial and territorial government initiative that is overseen by the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG). It is undertaken to ensure the provision of, and access to, a common, up-to-date and maintained base of quality geospatial data for Canada. Through the GeoBase portal, users with an interest in geomatics have access to quality geospatial information at no cost and with unrestricted use, although a fee is charged for users in Quebec due to the provincial government's decision not to support funding of the service.[1]
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These are the fundamental principles that GeoBase operates under and that direct the decision making process on a regular basis:
Provincial, territorial, and municipal stakeholders agreed to work together to ensure the availability of high-quality geospatial data covering the entire Canadian landmass. This data is collected once and maintained closest to the source, and provided freely through the GeoBase portal with no restrictions for users.
GeoBase has partnerships with federal, provincial, and territorial agencies, with the dual goals of eliminating data duplication and optimizing collectively available resources. GeoBase partners are involved in different levels of the data production process such as project funding, sharing of source data or by working on data collection and data processing.[3][4]
All GeoBase data must conform to the following technical characteristics:
The purpose of this layer is to store names and their attributes that have been approved by the Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) and to make these authoritative records available for government and public use.[6] These records include the names of over 70,000 populated places and administrative areas; 300,000 water features; and 115,000 terrain features (e.g., mountains and peninsulas).[7]
Since 2003, GeoBase has provided a consistent, accurate, and current NRN. The first edition of the NRN depicted the centerline of over 1.1 million kilometers of non-restricted use roads in Canada. In the fall of 2007 the second edition of the NRN was launched. NRN 2.0 includes place names, street names, and address ranges between intersections.[9]
Road network data provides the framework for many geomatics applications such as mapping, geo-coding, geographic searching, and area delineations. NRN data can be used in a wide variety of activities, including: managing road operations, business development and marketing, transportation, and government services delivery (e.g. census and elections).[10]
The following organizations are 'closest to the source' partners actively working as the authoritative data providers of GeoBase's National Road Network:
| Natural Resources Canada | Centre for Topographic Information |
| GeoConnections | GeoConnections |
| Statistics Canada | Statistics Canada[4] |
This data layer contains the international, inter-provincial, and territorial boundaries, as well as the boundaries of Canada’s exclusive economic zone. It is not intended for legal use, and should be utilized for cartographic purposes only. The dataset is composed of three files: an administrative boundary file, an administrative areas file, and a metadata file.[11]
The authoritative data source providers for this data layer are:
The NHN focuses on providing a quality geometric description and a set of basic attributes describing Canada’s inland surface waters. It provides geospatial digital data describing hydrographic features such as lakes, reservoirs, rivers, etc., as well as a linear drainage network and the toponymic information (geographical names) associated to hydrography.[12]
The initial release of the NHN contained data on 287 drainage basins. On March 20, 2008—in celebration of United Nations World Water Day on March 22—an additional 552 drainage basins were added, bringing the available total to 839. Also on this date, a web viewer for NHN data and a national index of drainage area limits were both added to the GeoBase portal.
Three additional NHN data releases of approximately 100 drainage basins each are planned for release in June, October, and December 2008. This will complete the national coverage of more than 1100 areas.[13]
GeoBase is joined by the following provincial/territorial partners for this data layer:
The Canadian Geodetic Network data has created a dynamic infrastructure to serve both present and future needs for positioning. As well as being a GPS control network, the Geodetic Network can serve as a monitoring network for deformation studies of the Canadian landmass.[14]
GeoBase Orthoimage 2005–2010 is made from SPOT 4/5 earth observation data covering Canada's landmass south of the 81st parallel; approximately 5000 images will be acquired during the period 2005–2010. Each orthorectified satellite image covers an area of approximately 3 600 km², or 60×60 km of the Earth’s surface. In addition, Landsat 7 provides a complete set of cloud-free orthoimages covering the Canadian landmass.[15]
The GeoBase SPOT 4 and SPOT 5 orthoimagery can be used in a wide variety of applications including: mapping; agriculture; forestry; geology; land use planning and management; maritime monitoring; disaster management and mitigation; and in defence, intelligence, and security.
GeoBase SPOT orthoimagery is aligned with, and can be integrated with, other GeoBase data layers. It can also be used in combination with other remotely sensed data.[16]
With funding support from GeoConnections, the following federal and provincial/territorial agencies jointly contributed to the production of the orthoimages:
Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED) consists of an ordered array of ground elevations at regularly spaced intervals. The source digital data for CDED is extracted from the hypsographic and hydrographic elements of the National Topographic Data Base (NTDB) or various scaled positional data acquired from the provinces and territories.[17]
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the following provincial agencies jointly produced the CDED files, with funding support from GeoConnections:
A process is required for the acceptance of a new data theme into GeoBase. The objectives of having such a process are: