Contact the Geospatial Centre
Dana Porter Library, Room 328
University of Waterloo Library
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
(519) 888-4567 x32795
In 2011, the staff in the University Map Library re-constructed the 1955 street network for Waterloo County. In 2017, the staff at the Geospatial Centre updated the project with 2016 data. The data analysis files are made freely available in digital map format, GIS shapefiles and KML files, allowing scholars, historians and community residents to study and analyze past and present street patterns.
Staff have discovered some interesting finds with respect to changes in city boundaries, urban growth, and street names. To visualize the changes which have occurred within the Waterloo Region multiple web maps were created to showcase the urban growth, road network, and road name changes between 1955 and 2016; these maps are best viewed in Firefox.
You may download the street shapefiles or KML files for your own use.
Road network growth | Road network length in metres (km) | Road network growth per year in metres (km) | Percentage (%) |
---|---|---|---|
1955 | 12174.79 | N/A | N/A |
2011 | 3811.00 | 29.22 | 42.93 |
2016 | 3887.33 | 15.27 | 1.96 |
Urban growth | Urban growth in squared metres (km2) | Urban growth per year in squared metres (km2) | Percentage (%) |
---|---|---|---|
1955 | 49.35 | N/A | N/A |
2011 | 177.66 | 2.29 | 72.23 |
2016 | 198.92 | 4.25 | 10.69 |
Growth | Network Length for 2011 (km) | Network Length for 2016 (km) | Growth | Percentage (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Waterloo | 521.42 | 543.17 | 21.76 | 4.01 |
Kitchener | 990.31 | 1015.56 | 25.25 | 2.49 |
1955 | 2011 | 2016 | |
---|---|---|---|
Average Speed (km/h) | N/A | 51.7 | 51.3 |
Total Area Covered by Roads (km2) | 15.25 | 31.82 | 32.84 |
Total number of Roads | 330 | 4490 | 5647 |
% of land occupied by road network | 1.10 | 2.30 | 2.37 |
If you would like access to historical air photos of the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s please visit our Historical Air Photo Digitization Project website.
Eva Dodsworth, Geospatial Data Services Librarian
Geospatial Centre, 2017
Dana Porter Library, Room 328
University of Waterloo Library
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
(519) 888-4567 x32795
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.