Topographic maps produced by Natural Resources Canada conform to the National Topographic System (NTS) of Canada. Indexes are available in three standard scales: 1:1,000,000, 1:250,000 and 1:50,000. The area covered by a given mapsheet is determined by its latitude and longitude. 1:1,000,000 mapsheets are identified by a combination of three numbers (e.g. 098). 1:250,000 mapsheets are identified by a combination of numbers, and letters ranging from A through P (e.g. 098C). Sixteen smaller segments (1 to 16) form blocks used for 1:50,000 mapping (e.g. 098C03).

Each pixel value corresponds to the quality control, cloud cover and snow fraction value for each pixel in the Best-Quality Max-NDVI product.

FCOVER corresponds to the amount of the ground surface that is covered by vegetation, including the understory, when viewed vertically (from nadir). FCOVER is an indicator of the spatial extent of vegetation independent of land cover class. It is a dimensionless quantity that varies from 0 to 1, and as an intrinsic property of the canopy, is not dependent on satellite observation conditions.This product consists of FCOVER indicator during peak-season (June-July-August) at 100m resolution covering Canada's land mass.

The 2005 AAFC Land Use is a culmination and curated metaanalysis of several high-quality spatial datasets produced between 1990 and 2021 using a variety of methods by teams of researchers as techniques and capabilities have evolved. The information from the input datasets was consolidated and embedded within each 30m x 30m pixel to create consolidated pixel histories, resulting in thousands of unique combinations of evidence ready for careful consideration. Informed by many sources of high-quality evidence and visual observation of imagery in Google Earth, we apply an incremental strategy to develop a coherent best current understanding of what has happened in each pixel through the time series.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS ) is one of the most sophisticated sensors that is used in a wide range of applications related to land, ocean and atmosphere. It has 36 spectral channels with spatial resolution varying between 250 m and 1 km at nadir. MODIS channels 1 (B1, visible) and 2 (B2, near infrared) are available at 250 m spatial resolution, an additional five channels for terrestrial applications (bands B3 to B7) are available at 500 m spatial resolution, the other twenty-nine channels not included in this data set capture images with a spatial resolution of 1 km. The MODIS record begins in March 2000 and extends to present with daily measurements over the globe. This level 3 product for Canada was created from the following original Level 1 (1B) MODIS data (collection 5): a) MOD02QKM - Level 1B 250 m swath data, 5 min granules; b ) MOD02HKM - level 1B , 500 m swath data, 5 min granules; c) MOD03 - level 1 geolocation information, 1 km swath data, 5 min granules. All these data are available from the DAAC Earth Observing System Data Gateway (NASA http://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov/data/search.html). The terrestrial channels MODIS (B3 to B7) at 500 m spatial resolution were reduced to 250 m with an adaptive regression system and normalization described in Trishchenko et al. (2006, 2009), and the data were mapped using a Lambert Conformal Conic (LCC ) projection (Khlopenkov et al., 2008). These data were combined to form pan-Canadian images using a technique for detection of clear sky, clouds and cloud shadows with a maximum interval of 10 days (Luo et al., 2008). Atmospheric and sun-sensor geometry corrections have not been applied. For each date, data include forward and backward scattering observations as separate files. This allows data to be optimized for a given application. For general use, data from either forward or backward scattering or both should be used. Future release of the MODIS time series will correct the forward and backward scattering geometry to provide a single best observation for each pixel.

The Canadian long term satellite data record (LTDR) derived from 1-km resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data was produced by the Canada Center for Remote Sensing (CCRS). Processing included: geolocation, calibration, and compositing using Earth Observation Data Manager (Latifovic et al. 2005), cloud screening (Khlopenkov and Trishchenko, 2006), BRDF correction (Latifovic et. al., 2003), atmosphere and other corrections as described in Cihlar et. al. (2004). For temporal analysis of vegetation cross-sensor correction of Latifovic et al. (2012) is advised. Data collected by the AVHRR instrument on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 9,11,14,16,17,18 and 19 satellites were used to generate Canada-wide 1-km 10-day AVHRR composites. Data are available starting in 1985. It is important to note that there are three types of AVHRR sensors: (i) AVHRR-1 flown onboard TIROS-N, NOAA-6, NOAA-8, and NOAA-10; (ii) AVHRR-2 flown onboard NOAA-7, NOAA-9, NOAA-11, NOAA-12, and NOAA-14; and (iii) AVHRR-3 currently operational onboard NOAA-15, NOAA-16, NOAA-17, NOAA-18 and NOAA-19. The AVHRR-1 has four channels, AVHRR-2 has five channels and the AVHRR-3 has six channels, although only five channels of AVHRR-3 can be operational at any one time. As such, channels 3A (1.6 m) and 3B (3.7 m) work interchangeably. The processing procedure was designed to minimize artefacts in AVHRR composite images. There are thirty six 10-day image composites per year. The following three processing levels are provided: P1) top of atmosphere reflectance and brightness temperature, P2) reflectance at surface and surface temperature and P3) reflectance at surface normalized to a common viewing geometry (BRDF normalization). The processing level P1 and P2 are provided for all 36 composites while level P3 is provided for 21 composites from April – October.

The “Soils of Canada, Derived” national scale thematic datasets display the distribution and areal extent of soil attributes such as drainage, texture of parent material, kind of material, and classification of soils in terms of provincial Detailed Soil Surveys (DDS) polygons, Soil Landscape Polygons (SLCs), Soil Order and Great Group. The relief and associated slopes of the Canadian landscape are depicted on the local surface form thematic dataset. The purpose of the “Soils of Canada, Derived” series is to facilitate the cartographic display and basic queries of the Soil Landscapes of Canada at a national scale. For more detailed or sophisticated analysis, users should investigate the full “Soil Landscapes of Canada” product.

Note: To visualize the data in the viewer, zoom into the area of interest. The National Air Photo Library (NAPL) of Natural Resources Canada archives over 6 million aerial photographs covering all of Canada, some of which date back to the 1920s. This collection includes Time Series of aerial orthophoto mosaics over a selection of major cities or targeted areas that allow the observation of various changes that occur over time in those selected regions. These mosaics are disseminated through the Data Cube Platform implemented by NRCan using geospatial big data management technologies. These technologies enable the rapid and efficient visualization of high-resolution geospatial data and allow for the rapid generation of dynamically derived products. The data is available as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) files for direct access and as Web Map Services (WMS) or Web Coverage Services (WCS) with a temporal dimension for consumption in Web or GIS applications. The NAPL mosaics are made from the best spatial resolution available for each time period, which means that the orthophotos composing a NAPL Time Series are not necessarily coregistered. For this dataset, the spatial resolutions vary from 10 cm to 50 cm. The NAPL indexes and stores federal aerial photography for Canada, and maintains a comprehensive historical archive and public reference centre. The Earth Observation Data Management System (EODMS) online application allows clients to search and retrieve metadata for over 3 million out of 6 million air photos. The EODMS online application enables public and government users to search and order raw Government of Canada Earth Observation images and archived products managed by NRCan such as aerial photos and satellite imagery. To access air photos, you can visit the EODMS web site: https://eodms-sgdot.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/index-en.html

The MODIS Surface Albedo and Surface Reflectance Dataset (or simply Albedo) includes times series of 10-day composite products derived at 250-m spatial resolution over Canadian territory and neighboring areas produced at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) since February 2000.The datasets contain spectral and broadband reflectance’s and albedo for MODIS bands B1-B7 designed primarily for land applications. The imagery for all spectral bands was downscaled and re-projected into the Lambert Conformal Conic (LCC) projection at 250-m spatial resolution. The area size is 5,700 km × 4,800 km. The specialized MODIS processing system was developed at CCRS to fully utilize the high quality of MODIS L2 swath imagery over the northern latitudes. As such, the CCRS Albedo product is different from the standard NASA product. The differences are related to temporal and spatial scaling, shape of kernel functions employed to fit data, as well as details of scene identification, atmospheric correction, and data fitting methodology.

Each pixel value corresponds to the mean historical “Best-quality” Max-NDVI value for a given week, as calculated from the previous 20 years in the MODIS historical record (i.e. does not include data from the current year). These data are also often referred to as “weekly baselines” or “weekly normals”.