What is land information?
Land information is information that can be related to a position on the earth's surface. Although land information is often displayed in the form of a map, it can also exist as textual information in a database.
Professionals use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to manage and analyze land information.
Examples of land information include:
- Property boundaries and boundaries of cities and towns
- Topographic features (e.g. elevation, contours, streams, etc)
- Information about water, soil, plants, trees, fish and wildlife
- Structures built on the land such as utilities and buildings
- Road and civic addressing data
- Assessment, ownership and Crown parcel mapping information
- Digital imagery
What is GIS?
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer system capable of integrating, editing, analyzing, sharing, and displaying geographic information. GIS allows users to create interactive searches, analyze geographic information, edit data, maps, and present the results of all these operations.
GIS technology can be used for scientific investigations, resource management and urban development planning. For example, a GIS might allow emergency planners to calculate emergency response times in the event of a natural disaster or a GIS might be used to find wetlands that need protection.
What data is available in the LIO Warehouse?
The LIO Warehouse contains more than 250 layers of geographic information.
To see a list of topics available, visit
Data in the Warehouse.
Who is eligible to access data from the LIO Warehouse?
Only registered members of the Ontario Geospatial Data Exchange can extract data from the LIO Warehouse. The Data Exchange allows organizations to access and share geographic data under a single legal agreement.
How do I become a member of the Data Exchange and how much does it cost?
To become a member of the Data Exchange, please contact us at (705) 755-1878 or by email at
lio@ontario.ca.
Membership in the Data Exchange is free and available to a wide variety of public sector and non-profit organizations.
What organizations are currently members of the Data Exchange?
Data Exchange membership is available to all Ontario Government ministries, municipalities, First Nations communities, federal government departments and broader public sector organizations such as conservation authorities, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions. The Data Exchange has over 200 members. Click
here to view a list of current Data Exchange members.
What format is the data?
The data in the LIO Warehouse is available as ESRI shape files. Users must have Geographic Information System (GIS) software and some technical expertise to use the data.
What data is available to the general public?
The Ministry of Natural Resources makes a number of digital geographic data sets available at no cost. This data is provided free of charge to promote the use of standardized data across the province.
Click here for a list of free data.
How does a member of the public access available data?
Users may access data at no cost through LIO by signing an unrestricted use agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). Once an agreement has been signed by both parties, a user name and password will be supplied to access these data sets from the LIO Warehouse. Please note that MNR does not provide technical support for this data.
