UNB Libraries Geospatial Resources

CENSUS GEOGRAPHY FILES

The DLI program allows access to geographical files in addition to data files to authorised users under the DLI license. The census spatial files are provided by Statistics Canada in both ArcInfo and MapInfo formats. The files currently available for downloading are in ArcInfo format but, until they are added to the web site, MapInfo files may be requested directly through the UNB Libraries DLI Contact.

Spatial files may be available as "digital boundary files" (.dbf files) which reflect administrative boundaries or "digital cartographic files" (.dcf files) which provide a more accurate geographical representation. Knowledge of a GIS package, such as MapInfo, ArcView, or ArcInfo, is usually a prerequisite for using these files.

Documentation and codebooks, which provide information on the files, are available in either PDF format, which can be downloaded and viewed with a viewer such as Adobe Acrobat, or as WordPerfect documents (downloaded in compressed format and, when unzipped, ready for loading WordPerfect). Print versions of codebooks may be consulted in the Government Documents, Data and Maps Department on the third floor of the Harriet Irving Library.