3. About this product

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Purpose of the product
Definitions and concepts
Content
Limitations
Comparison to other products/versions
Using with other products
Reference date

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Purpose of the product

The 2011 Geographic Attribute File is a dataset at the dissemination block level that also contains the complete set of 2011 Census geographic units, their attributes and population and dwelling counts. The purpose of the file is to provide users the ability to aggregate the dissemination blocks to all geographic levels, the complete geographic hierarchy.

Definitions and concepts

Geographic terms and concepts are briefly defined in the glossary (Appendix A). More details can be found in the 2011 Census Dictionary (Catalogue no. 98-301-X) and in the 2011 Illustrated Glossary (Catalogue no. 92-195-X). Supplementary information is provided in the appendices.

A dissemination block, the basic geographic level used to create the Geographic Attribute File, is an area bounded on all sides by roads and/or boundary of standard geographic areas. The dissemination block is the smallest standard geographic area for which census population and dwelling count data are available.

Content

The 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File contains all the 2011 Census dissemination blocks and their selected attributes, such as population and dwelling counts, land area, standard geographic areas unique identifiers and the corresponding dissemination areas' representative point coordinates.

Geographic unique identifiers

Geographic unique identifiers consist of a set of unique numbers that are used to identify and access individual 2011 Census standard geographic areas for the purpose of data storage, retrieval and display.

The systematic assignment of numeric codes to provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions is described within the Standard Geographical Classification. This classification system is a hierarchical coding system that provides a unique identifier for each level within the geographic hierarchy. This coding system is developed by Statistics Canada and approved by provincial authorities. More details can be found in the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC), volume I – Statistical Area Classification – Variants of SGC (Catalogue no. 12-571-X).

Census consolidated subdivision unique identifiers are derived from the component census subdivisions. Census consolidated subdivision unique identifiers coincide with the census subdivision component with the largest land area within a census consolidated subdivision.

The source of the geographic unique identifiers of federal electoral districts is the 2003 Representation Order, Elections Canada. All other geographic unique identifiers are developed by Statistics Canada.

Within the 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File, geographic unique identifiers are a concatenation of geographic codes that uniquely identify 2011 Census standard geographic areas. For example, each dissemination area is assigned a four-digit code that is unique within a census division. In order to uniquely identify each dissemination area, the four-digit dissemination area code is preceded by the two-digit province or territory code and the two-digit census division code. This eight-digit concatenated code is referred to as the dissemination area unique identifier.

Hierarchy of standard geographic areas

The 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File includes population centres as parts of provinces. For the 2011 Census, there are five population centres that cross provincial boundaries:

• Campbellton (New Brunswick/Quebec)
• Hawkesbury (Quebec/Ontario)
• Ottawa - Gatineau (Quebec/Ontario)
• Flin Flon (Manitoba/Saskatchewan)
• Lloydminster (Saskatchewan/Alberta)

If users of the 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File generate a list of all population centres located in the province of Manitoba, for example, only the Manitoba portion of the Flin Flon population centre will be included on the list. The portion of the Flin Flon population centre located in the province of Saskatchewan will be excluded.

The 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File also includes census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations as parts of provinces. For the 2011 Census, there is one census metropolitan area and three census agglomerations that cross provincial boundaries:

• Census Agglomeration of Campbellton (New Brunswick/Quebec)
• Census Agglomeration of Hawkesbury (Quebec/Ontario)
• Census Metropolitan Area of Ottawa - Gatineau (Quebec/Ontario)
• Census Agglomeration of Lloydminster (Saskatchewan/Alberta)

If users of the 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File generate a list of all census agglomerations located in the province of New Brunswick, for example, only the New Brunswick portion of the Campbellton census agglomeration will be included on the list. The portion of the Campbellton census agglomeration located in the province of Quebec will be excluded.

2011 Census population and private dwellings

The population and dwelling counts contained within the Geographic Attribute File are from the 2011 Census. The counts for a particular geographic area represent the number of people whose usual place of residence is in that area, regardless of where they happened to be on Census Day, May 10, 2011.

2011 Census land area

Land area is the area in square kilometres of the land-based portions of 2011 Census standard geographic areas. The land area data contained within the 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File may or may not be consistent with land area data provided by other sources. Land area is calculated using ArcGIS^® software for the sole purpose of calculating population density.

The data are derived from the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), including selected hydrographic polygon layers. The Lambert conformal conic projection is transformed to the Albers equal-area conic projection, since the property of equal area is appropriate for calculating land area. The same projection parameters (two standard parallels, central meridian and latitude of projection origin) are used for each province or territory.

Land area data for 2011 Census standard geographic areas reflect the boundaries in effect on January 1, 2011 (the geographic reference date for the 2011 Census of Canada).

2011 Census incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements flag

In 2011, there were a total of 31 Indian reserves and Indian settlements that were 'incompletely enumerated.' For these reserves or settlements, enumeration was either not permitted or was interrupted before it could be completed, or enumeration was not possible because of natural events (specifically forest fires in Northern Ontario).

Compared to previous censuses, there was a decrease in the number of band councils that did not give permission to enter their territory to conduct the census, from 18 Indian reserves and Indian settlements in 2006 to 14 in 2011.

There were 13 Indian reserves and Indian settlements where enumeration was not possible as a result of forest fires in Northern Ontario at the time of census collection. Collection for these communities was done at a later time. While the data are not included in the 2011 Census tabulations, it is expected that separate special tables showing data for these communities will be made available at a later date, subject to data quality evaluation.

The 2011 Census population and dwelling counts are not available for the 31 incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements, and are not included in 2011 Census tabulations. Data for geographic areas containing one or more of these reserves and settlements are noted accordingly. Because of the missing data, users are cautioned that for the affected geographic areas, comparisons (e.g., percentage change) between 2006 and 2011 are not precise. The impact of the missing data for higher-level geographic areas (Canada, provinces, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations) is very small. However, the impact can be significant for smaller areas, where the incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements account for a higher proportion of the population.

Positional data

The 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File contains the representative point coordinates for the dissemination areas, weighted by population data. The representative point coordinates were reprojected from Lambert Conformal Conic into latitude and longitude coordinates (NAD83) using the ArcGIS^® ArcCatalog (Feature-Project) tool.

The Lambert Conformal Conic map projection is widely used for general maps of Canada at small scales and is the most common map projection used at Statistics Canada.

The 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File representative point coordinates are in the following geographic representation:

The North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) is an adjustment of the 1927 datum (NAD27) that reflects a higher accuracy of geodetic surveying.

The geographic coordinate system is the primary locational reference system for the earth. This system provides for the unique statement of location for features such as points, lines and polygons.

Limitations

Not applicable

Comparison to other products/versions

The 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File contains geographic unique identifiers, names and, where applicable, types or classes applicable to the 2011 Census.

The 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File includes all the dissemination blocks, while the Dissemination Block Cartographic Boundary File does not include the dissemination blocks located entirely within coastal waters.

Using with other products

The 2011 Census standard geographic areas in the 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File can be linked to other 2011 Census products using the geographic unique identifiers.

The 2011 Census dissemination block unique identifiers included in the 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File can be used with the 2011 Census Correspondence Files (Catalogue no. 92-156-X) to identify corresponding 2006 Census dissemination blocks. The 2006 dissemination block unique identifiers can then be linked to the 2006 Census Geographic Attribute File (Catalogue no. 92-151-X) or GeoSuite 2006 (Catalogue no. 92-150-X) to retrieve the 2006 Census standard geographic areas and their attributes.

Reference date

Population and dwelling counts

The population and dwelling count data contained within the 2011 Census Geographic Attribute File refer to the 2011 Census of Population which was conducted on May 10, 2011.

Standard geographic areas

The geographic reference date is a date determined by Statistics Canada to finalize the geographic framework for which 2011 Census statistical data are collected, tabulated and reported. The reference date for 2011 Census standard geographic areas is January 1, 2011. More specifically, the census reports data according to the geographic areas (e.g., municipalities and equivalents referred to as census subdivisions) that are in effect on January 1, 2011, provided that Statistics Canada receives the information on the changes by March 1, 2011 (see 2011 Census Dictionary – Geographic reference date for more details).