Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (T.R.C.A.)

Description

Since its formation in 1957, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) has been delivering programs for the management and protection of the watersheds within its jurisdiction.

In April 2008 and March 2014 the Geospatial Centre received vector datasets from the TRCA which cover the municipalities of Toronto, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Pickering, Ajax and parts of Uxbridge, Whitchurch-Stouville, Aurora, King, Caledon, Brampton and Mississauga. The fauna and flora layers are very rich in detail. Current data is available from teh TRCA Open Data site.

The datasets provided to the Geospatial Centre include:

Contours (1 metre)
Ecological land classification (distribution and groupings of plant species)
Fauna (significant species: birds, squirrels, frogs: alder flycatcher, bobolink, etc.)
Flora (significant species: woodfern, shagbark hickory, wild ginger, black ash, star-fire, etc.)
Municipality boundaries
Natural cover (forest, meadow, beach bluff, ecological succession, wetland)

TRCA properties
Vegetation community types (sumac cultural, thicket, willow shrub beach, dry-fresh oak-hardwood deciduous forest)
Water courses
Waterbodies
Watershed boundary

Spatial reference and data type

These data sets are available in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). zone 17 co-ordinates; horizontal datum is North American Datum (NAD) 83. These data are stored as Esri shapefiles. Other data formats can be accommodated, as the Geospatial Centre has access to a number of conversion utilities.

Data access

In order to access these data sets, please visit the Geospatial Centre reference desk during reference hours. Library reference staff are available to provide further information about these data sets and to deliver data upon request.

Data manipulation

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 Geographic Information System (GIS) and image processing software in the library to view and manipulate the data. UWaterloo faculty, students and staff may copy these data to other media (for example: CD, DVD or Zip disc) for use elsewhere.

Data output

This image 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 Adobe Illustrator (AI), Encapsulated Postscript (EPS), and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Yet another option is PDF.

Use restrictions/licensing/copyright

These data are provided for personal use for academic, research, and/or teaching purposes. A data release agreement must be agreed to before these licensed data can be released. Toronto and Region Conservation Authority must be acknowledged on any derivative product, whether printed or electronic, including for example, a printed map, a raster or vector graphic, a web-based application, etc. Patrons are advised to fully respect the provisions of Canada's Copyright Act as well as terms and conditions imposed by the data provider.