---
title: Welcome to Data for Canada
toc: false
---

## Mission

Data for Canada exists to bridge the gap between open data availability and data usability. We curate, clean, and re-engineer high-value Canadian datasets into high-performance, analysis-ready formats for researchers, developers, and systems.

## The Problem

Canada creates incredible amounts of open data, from foundational road networks, federal census statistics, orthoimagery, and other. However, these datasets are often locked in legacy formats, fragmented portals, or structures that require significant engineering effort to normalize before they can be used. For a researcher or a system developer, the "time-to-insight" is often bottlenecked by data preparation.

## The Solution

We act as the transformation layer. We aggregate datasets with permissive licenses and process them into "digestible" standards optimized for modern downstream applications.

* **For Researchers and Developers:** Skip the cleaning phase. Access normalized, documented data ready for analysis.
* **For Systems:** Standardized data structures designed to feed directly into pipelines, data warehouses, and downstream services.

## High-Level Overview

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    subgraph "Data Sources"
        StatProducts@{ shape: lean-l, label: "Statistical Products"}
        Orthoimagery@{ shape: lean-l}
        Elevation@{ shape: lean-l}
    end

    subgraph "Processing Pipeline"
        Raw@{ shape: rect, label: "Raw Data Ingestion"}
        Transform@{ shape: rect, label: "Transform"}
        Opt@{ shape: rect, label: "Optimization"}
    end

    subgraph "Dissemination Formats"
        Parquet@{ shape: lean-l}
        FlatGeoBuf@{ shape: lean-l}
        PMTiles@{ shape: lean-l}
        COG@{ shape: lean-l}
    end

    subgraph "Distribution Infrastructure"
        ObjectStorage@{ shape: bow-rect}
        Metadata@{ shape: rect}
        HTTP@{ shape: rect, label: "Static Files & API"}
        DecentralizedDistribution@{ shape: rect, label: "Decentralized Distribution"}
    end

    subgraph "Experimental Infrastructure"
        Martin@{ shape: rect}
        GeoServer@{ shape: rect}
        ZOOProject@{ shape: rect, label: "ZOO Project"}
        BBOXServer@{ shape: rect, label: "BBOX Server"}
    end

    subgraph "Consumption"
        DataSci@{ shape: rect, label: "Researchers & Developers"}
        Systems@{ shape: rect, label: "Systems"}
    end

    %% Relationships
    StatProducts a1@--> Raw
    a1@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Orthoimagery a2@--> Raw
    a2@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Elevation a3@--> Raw
    a3@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Raw a4@--> Transform
    a4@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Transform a5@--> Opt
    a5@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Opt a6@--> Parquet
    a6@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Opt a7@--> FlatGeoBuf
    a7@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Opt a8@--> PMTiles
    a8@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Opt a9@--> COG
    a9@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Parquet a10@--> ObjectStorage
    a10@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    FlatGeoBuf a11@--> ObjectStorage
    a11@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    PMTiles a12@--> ObjectStorage
    a12@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    COG a13@--> ObjectStorage
    a13@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    ObjectStorage a14@--> Metadata
    a14@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    Metadata a15@--> HTTP
    a15@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    HTTP a16@--> DataSci
    a16@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    HTTP a17@--> DecentralizedDistribution
    a17@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    HTTP a18@--> Martin
    a18@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    HTTP a19@--> GeoServer
    a19@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    HTTP a20@--> ZOOProject
    a20@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    HTTP a21@--> BBOXServer
    a21@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    DecentralizedDistribution a22@--> Systems
    a22@{animate: true, animation: fast}
    DecentralizedDistribution a23@--> DataSci
    a23@{animate: true, animation: fast}

    Martin a24@--> DataSci
    a24@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    GeoServer a25@--> DataSci
    a25@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    ZOOProject a26@--> DataSci
    a26@{animate: true, animation: slow}
    BBOXServer a27@--> DataSci
    a27@{animate: true, animation: slow}

    click Parquet "https://github.com/apache/parquet-format/" _blank
    click FlatGeoBuf "https://flatgeobuf.org/" _blank
    click PMTiles "https://github.com/protomaps/PMTiles/blob/main/spec/v3/spec.md" _blank
    click StatProducts "https://www.dataforcanada.org/docs/processes/statistical_products/" _blank
    click Orthoimagery "https://www.dataforcanada.org/docs/processes/orthoimagery/" _blank
    click DecentralizedDistribution "https://www.dataforcanada.org/docs/dissemination/" _blank
    click Metadata "https://stac-utils.github.io/stac-geoparquet/latest/spec/stac-geoparquet-spec/" _blank
    click Martin "https://martin.maplibre.org/" _blank
    click GeoServer "https://geoserver.org/" _blank
    click COG "https://cogeo.org/" _blank
    click ZOOProject "https://zoo-project.org/" _blank
    click BBOXServer "https://www.bbox.earth/" _blank
```