“Ecumene” is a term used by geographers, meaning “inhabited lands.” Populated places in the ecumene database are referenced using natural boundaries, as opposed to administrative or census boundaries, and provide a more suitable means for integrating socio-economic data with ecological and environmental data in a region.
The Canadian Ecumene GeoDatabase 3.0 includes the custom boundaries for more than 3,000 populated areas across Canada, many of which were derived from remote-sensing “night-lights” imagery. Each ecumene place has a corresponding set of attributes pertaining to place name, province, ecozone, indigenous communities, and other descriptive information, as well as an initial custom set of demographic variables derived from Statistics Canada Census and National Household Survey data for 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. A number of additional layers are also included that map the extents of Canada's ecumene in alternate ways, using transportation and utility networks, nightlights imagery, and population density.
(NOTE: In the list below, the V2 Shape, KML, and TIFF files have not changed for the CanEcumene 3.0)
Provided layer: The Canadian Ecumene (CanEcumene) 3.0 GIS Database
============================================================================================
Database Citation (Update):
Eddy, B.G., Muggridge, M., LeBlanc, R., Osmond, J., Kean, C., and Boyd, E. 2023. The CanEcumene 3.0 GIS Database. Federal Geospatial Platform (FGP), Natural Resources Canada. https://open.canada.ca
Methods Publication Citation:
Eddy B, Muggridge M, LeBlanc R, Osmond J, Kean C, Boyd E (2020) An Ecological Approach for Mapping Socio-Economic Data in Support of Ecosystems Analysis: Examples in Mapping Canada’s Forest Ecumene. One Ecosystem 5: e55881. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.5.e55881
- Publisher - Current Organization Name: Natural Resources Canada
- Licence: Open Government Licence - Canada
Data and Resources
-
06. CanEcumene-V3 - Shape Files (SHP)SHPEnglish French dataset SHP
-
10. CanEcumene-V3 - WMS - ENWMSEnglish web_service WMS
-
11. CanEcumene-V3 - WMS - FRWMSFrench web_service WMS
-
09. CanEcumene-V3 - Raster Files (GeOTIFF)TIFFNo linguistic content; Not applicable dataset TIFF
-
02. CanEcumene-V3 - Référence technique - FR (PDF)PDFFrench guide PDF
-
04. CanEcumene-V3 - MXD - FRMXDFrench guide MXD
-
07. CanEcumene-V3 - ESRI REST - ENESRI RESTEnglish web_service ESRI REST
-
08. CanEcumene-V3 - ESRI REST - FRESRI RESTFrench web_service ESRI REST
-
03. CanEcumene-V3 - MXD - ENMXDEnglish guide MXD
-
05. CanEcumene-V3 - GDB/FGDBFGDB/GDBEnglish French dataset FGDB/GDB
-
01. CanEcumene-V3 - Technical Reference EN (PDF)PDFEnglish guide PDF
Contact Information
Delivery Point: 26 University Dr.
City: Corner Brook
Administrative Area: Newfoundland and Labrador
Postal Code: A2H 5J3
Electronic Mail Address: briang.eddy@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca