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A Growing Community of Canadian Open Data at Your Fingertips

Published Date
Author Matt Pietryszyn

Did you know that there are close to 150 publicly available open data portals active across Canada? These portals are built with ArcGIS Open Data, and there are over 27,000 Canadian open data products waiting for you to discover, analyze, download and integrate into your enterprise GIS! All of this open data is curated on Esri’s Open Data Hub where you can browse Canadian content and open data from around the world.

More and more Canadian municipalities are beginning to plan the release of their open data, and many are researching which tools to use and which platforms to launch their portals on. ArcGIS Open Data is an Esri-hosted and managed solution that is included with ArcGIS Online. With this solution, you can set up your own public-facing website and share your organization’s open data within minutes.

ArcGIS Open Data makes it simple to publish your open data with purpose. When you leverage your existing data management workflows and connect directly to your source data – whether it’s stored in ArcGIS Online, served from ArcGIS for Enterprise or hosted independently – you’re making better use of your GIS.

ArcGIS Open Data. You already have it.

If you have an ArcGIS Online subscription, you already have ArcGIS Open Data, and enabling it couldn’t be easier. Activate it in your ArcGIS Online organization, identify the data that you want to share by assigning it to groups, and publish public-facing web pages to showcase your data using an intuitive site builder, with drag-and-drop elements that are easy to configure. Hosting your data in ArcGIS Online will consume credits. The information in this table will help you calculate the expected number of credits that will be used. 

Some advantages to enabling your ArcGIS Open Data hub:

  • Host your open data online or on-premises – both are optimized for data viewing and discovery
  • Share dynamic access to your live datasets via a REST API
  • Share your data using 60 different data types

Be a part of the growing number of Canadian organizations who have released their open data!

Many Canadian cities are already sharing their open data. If you’re looking for inspiration, visit Esri Canada’s Open Data Hub and explore various data portals, including a growing list of Smart Communities.

Sharing your open data with ArcGIS is easy as 1-2-3

And while you’re at it…

Have you heard of the Community Map of Canada? It is an integrated map that includes layers, such as roads, address points, buildings, parcels, imagery, and many more. Using your authoritative data, this basemap can support your work with improved planning, reduce operational redundancies, develop innovative GIS applications, and save staff time and resources to develop and host a high-quality basemap.

Contributors to the Community Maps of Canada include federal, provincial, regional and municipal groups. Since January 1, 2019, there have been over 1,400 automated updates from 100 contributors.  For more information on how to participate in this program, you can email communitymaps@esri.ca.

Visit Esri Canada's App Hub to learn more: esri.ca/apps

Want more?

July 30 @ 1 pm ET
Webinar: Enhancing your Open Data Portal for Increased Public Engagement

Not sure if ArcGIS Online is for you? Sign up for a free trial.

If you would like more information on how to get started with ArcGIS Open Data, don’t hesitate to contact me at mpietryszyn@esri.ca or leave a comment below.