Selected Electronic Resources and Databases

Collections that Western users have access to are highlighted on this page, as are utilities to access these data and geospatial files.

Access Ponts to Data

Equinox Data Delivery System This online system provides access to data made available through Statistics Canada's Data Liberation Initiative (DLI), to DMTI files, to some (but not all) ICPSR and OGDE files, and provides pointers to other sources of data (e.g., the "Official Statistics" web site). Additionally, through Equinox, users can refer to documentation about data files.

The Ontario Data Documentation, Extraction Service and Infrastructure <odesi> provides access to DLI data, to Canadian Gallup Polls and to IPSOS-REID public opinion surveys, and discovery access to files from ICPSR and the Canadian Opinion Research Archive.

ICPSR-Direct The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) offers more than 500,000 digital files containing social science research data. Disciplines represented include political science, sociology, demography, economics, history, gerontology, criminal justice, public health, foreign policy, terrorism, health and medical care, early education, education, racial and ethnic minorities, psychology, law, substance abuse and mental health, and more.

CANSIM - CANSIM is Statistics Canada's key socioeconomic database. Updated daily, CANSIM provides fast and easy access to a large range of the latest statistics available in Canada. CANSIM brings the power of information directly to you.

Access to CANSIM:

CANSIM (via E-stat) - CANSIM for academic use, updated annually

CANSIM (via CHASS) - CANSIM  updated weekly

Government Sources of Data

Country Profiles - Current statistical data, news about various countries

Country Profiles: international - Publications and statistics of major international organizations

Data Subscriptions

Statistics Canada's Data Liberation Initiative

This membership provides Western access to all publicly-available electronic data from Statistics Canada, including CANSIM, available either through the Statistics Canada interface (update in the past July), and the University of Toronto interface (updated daily). If you find data on the Statistics Canada DLI site which are not available through Equinox, please contact the Map and Data Centre for assistance: the Data Resources Librarian is the official DLI contact, and is authorized to download files from the Statistics Canada web site.

The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), in Ann Arbor, MI;

Western subscribes to ICPSR-Direct, an online system which permits individual users to download data for themselves: if you need assistance with obtaining ICPSR files, please contact the Map and Data Centre: the Data Resources Librarian is the Official Representative to ICPSR.

DMTI Spatial's Spatial Mapping Academic Research Tools (SMART) program;

The SMART program provides Western with access to mapping and data products, including: Map, Rail, Park and Water layers, Route Logistics, Clutter files, the GeoPinPoint software, neighbourhood boundary files, Street files, postal code/forward sortation areas, and enhanced points of interest. These various files are made available through Equinox. Either the Map or Data Librarian can provide assistance with obtaining files not loaded into Equinox.

The International Monetary Fund electronic library

This subscription includes four widely-used databases (International Financial Statistics, Direction of Trade Statistics, Balance of Payment Statistics, and Government Finance Statistics) and access to all electronic publications of the IMF.

 Maps

Collections of geospatial files and maps which are available to the Western community are highlighted in the section below.  Geospatial files can also be accessed by geographic region using one of the links below.

Skip to: Ontario | Other Provincial | Canada | United States | World

Collections and Web Sites

GeoGratis - Natural Resources Canada digital topographic maps

Atlas of Canada - maps and data

GEOSCAN - Geological Survey of Canada digital maps

Scholars GeoPortal - Ontario geoportal

Ontario Geology - maps and data

GeoCommunity - GIS & Geospatial data

GeoNames - place name search database

City of London - various maps of London

GeoNB - New Brunswick geoportal

GeoSask - Saskatchewan geoportal

GeoNOVA - Nova Scotia geoportal

Land Information Ontario - geographic data about Ontario

Manitoba Land Initiative - Manitoba geospatial information

MapPlace - British Columbia digital maps

DataBC - BC's Open Data site

BC Base Map On Line Store - BC Satellite imagery, air photos and orthophotos

Map Locator - US Topographic maps

Outine Maps - Selection of free downloadable base maps