Zone

Unclear: ask the City of Quesnel's planning staff

Zoning bylaw

City of Quesnel Zoning Bylaw No. 1980 of 2025

Where it applies

Zoning Bylaw No. 1980 zones all land in the city; land its map leaves unzoned is Agriculture (A-1). Land outside the city is zoned by the Cariboo Regional District.

Our summary

The rural zones only, checked against the bylaw on 2026-10-02 (the bylaw as adopted 2025-12-30)

Heritage conservation area

None over the lot on the Province's list of local heritage conservation areas (a newly designated one may not be listed yet, and single buildings protected by a heritage bylaw aren't on it)

Small-scale housing (provincial minimum)

No 3-to-6-home floor: lots over 4,050 m² are exempt, and this one is about 19,727 m². If the lot is zoned for only detached houses (unclear here), Quesnel must still allow at least one secondary suite or detached accessory home (a garden suite or carriage house) next to a house.

Transit-oriented area (provincial minimum)

Not in one: the Province sets transit-oriented areas only around the SkyTrain, West Coast Express and bus exchange stations its regulations list, in Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Delta, the Langleys, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, the North Vancouvers, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Victoria, Saanich, Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Nanaimo, Lantzville, Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon, Penticton, Prince George and Whistler, and Quesnel isn't one of them (B.C. Reg. 263/2023, checked 2026-10-06).

Short-term rentals (provincial rule)

The Province's principal residence requirement doesn't apply in Quesnel (list in force from June 1, 2026), so the provincial rule doesn't limit short-term rentals to the host's home. Local bylaws, including the zone's own rules, can be stricter. Hosts anywhere in BC register each unit with the provincial registry.

Ask the City of Quesnel's planning staff which zone this lot is in, or find it on the bylaw's zoning map (Schedule B): the rules shown apply only in that zone, and the bylaw has other zones we haven't summarised.

Zoning is only one layer: the ALR, development permit areas, the official community plan, building and septic permits and provincial housing rules can add limits or allow more. Confirm with the City of Quesnel's planning staff before you buy or build.

The provincial floor is our summary of the small-scale multi-unit housing rules in the Local Government Act (ss. 481.3 and 481.4) and the Local Government Zoning Bylaw Regulation, checked 2026-10-04. Local governments had to bring their bylaws in line by June 30, 2024, and with the 2025 changes by June 30, 2026, so the zone's own rules usually allow at least these homes already; height, coverage, setbacks and parking still decide how they fit. Whether the lot is inside an urban containment boundary, on community water or sewer, or near a frequent bus stop isn't checked here: confirm with the local government before you buy or build.

Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

1.8 ha (91%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

0%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

9%

15 to 30% slope

6%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

0%

Median slope

3%

Main slope direction

Mostly flat (slopes under 5%); worked out from NRCan's lidar elevation model (Riverine Floodplain survey, 2019; 2 m grid)

Which way it faces

2% south (SE to SW), 4% north (NW to NE), 77% flat; the rest east or west

Terrain stability (Province's map)

The Province's terrain stability mapping doesn't cover this lot: it was mapped from air photos, mostly on forest land, so most towns and farmland aren't on it. That says nothing either way about the ground's stability

Fossils recorded within 5 km

2 published collections, from the Pleistocene and Eocene; the nearest: mammals, Pleistocene, about 50 thousand years ago; placed only roughly in the record.

Estimated on Natural Resources Canada's lidar elevation model, from the Riverine Floodplain survey (2019): bare ground with buildings and trees taken out, read here on a 2 m grid, with one dot on the plan every 4 m. Retaining walls, road cuts and ditches count as steep ground, and earthworks since the survey aren't shown. Slopes over 30% usually need a geotechnical engineer's report to build on; 15 to 30% is buildable with more work.

Not counted: zoning setbacks from the lot lines, room for a septic field and well (the Septic section screens for a field), easements and rights of way, and the local government's own slope or hazard development permit areas. What you can build names them where the local government publishes its map. A surveyor and the local government confirm where you can build.

Fossils recorded nearby are collections published in the scientific literature and entered in the Paleobiology Database: where a find was made, not what lies under the lot, and most of BC's fossil ground has never been searched. Positions are as the papers gave them, often to the nearest minute (up to about 2 km off), so a collection is never placed on the lot. On Crown land fossils are the Province's, and collecting rules apply; on titled land, ask the owner.

Dams nearby

None within 1 km on the Province's list of dams

Dikes nearby

None within 1 km on the Province's map of dikes and flood protection works

These maps were drawn mostly in the 1980s and 1990s and cover only some rivers and lakes. Not being on one doesn't mean the land can't flood: ask the local government whether it has newer flood mapping, and whether its bylaws set a flood construction level or floodplain setback here.

Fires on the parcel

0

Fires within 2 km

3

Within 2 km in the last 30 years

0

Most recent nearby

1938 (2 ha, caused by people)

Largest nearby

1924 (177 ha, caused by people)

Causes on record within 2 km

3 caused by people

Natural fire regime (the Province's ecosystem map)

NDT3, frequent stand-initiating events: forest where wildfire, or on the outer coast windstorms, replaced the stand about every 100 to 150 years on average, often in large fires (BC's largest fires burn in this type)

Biogeoclimatic unit

Sub-Boreal Spruce zone, moist hot subzone (SBSmh)

Within 1 km, not on the lot

Fire in 2025 (nearest 650 m); mountain pine beetle in 2007 (nearest 460 m)

Surveys read

1999 to 2025, the Province's own; on the lot or within 1 km of its line

Fire perimeters mapped by the BC Wildfire Service since 1919, each with its size and the cause the Service recorded (lightning or people, sometimes unknown); older and small fires are less complete. Past fire is history, not a forecast: for insurance, ask about the fire protection area and the distance to the nearest fire hall.

The natural disturbance type is how the forest here burned, blew down or otherwise renewed itself before logging and fire suppression, from the Province's biogeoclimatic map and its Biodiversity Guidebook (1995). It describes the land around the lot over centuries, not the lot's own fire risk or the odds of a fire in any year; the Province's fire threat rating and fuel maps aren't open data. Our summary, checked 2026-10-11.

The Province's Aerial Overview Survey is flown each summer from small planes 500 to 1,000 m up, sketching damaged stands on maps at 1:100,000 to 1:250,000: it gives the general location and rough extent of damage, not a ground count, and the Province says it isn't accurate enough to direct work on the ground. Most of the province is flown each year, but weather and smoke leave gaps, so a year with no record isn't a year with no damage. Each year's polygons record the trees recently killed (fading or red) or the foliage damaged that season, as the surveyors read it from the air; trees killed in earlier years aren't counted again, and dead trees may since have fallen, been logged or burned. Clumps of up to about 50 dead trees are mapped as spots, which aren't shown here. Our summary of the survey's standards and damage ratings, checked 2026-10-12.

Community water

No open map of the City of Quesnel's water service: ask the City of Quesnel whether the lot is on it

Wells within 2 km

88

Median depth

30 m

Median tested yield

45 L/min (42 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

15 m

Aquifer 115 under the lot

Northeast of Quesnel: confined sand and gravel (glacial); productivity moderate, vulnerability moderate, demand moderate; 1,520 wells linked, median depth 30.5 m

Aquifer 370 under the lot

Area west of Quesnel: unconfined sand and gravel (medium stream system); productivity high, vulnerability high, demand moderate; 56 wells linked, median depth 39.8 m

Observation well 364

in aquifer 370, 570 m from the lot's middle: water level rising about 7.3 cm a year over 2014 to 2023; stable or no clear trend over 2006 to 2023; water typically 54 m below ground in a well 78 m deep (the Province's trend, records to December 2023)

Groundwater tested 560 m away

At the Province's observation well 364 in aquifer 370, the aquifer under this lot: manganese median 0.31 mg/L, over the 0.12 mg/L limit (5 of 5 samples over); within Health Canada's limits (medians, mg/L): arsenic 0.0012, fluoride 0.07, uranium 0.0024, nitrate (as nitrogen) under detection, lead 0.00003; up to 5 samples, 2005 to 2025. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 4.6 km away

At the Province's observation well 260 in aquifer 115, the aquifer under this lot: manganese 0.993 mg/L, over the 0.12 mg/L limit; within Health Canada's limits (mg/L): arsenic under detection, fluoride under detection, uranium under detection, nitrate (as nitrogen) under detection, lead under detection; 1 sample, 2025. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 9.5 km away

At a sampled well in aquifer 115, the aquifer under this lot: within Health Canada's limits (mg/L): arsenic 0.0096, manganese 0.0052, uranium 0.0034, lead 0.00029; 1 sample, 2008. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

More wells tested

1 more within 10 km in the Province's records, farther away or in another aquifer

Drinking-water protection zone

None over the lot on the Province's map (it holds only the zones a water system's protection plan has mapped, so many wells and intakes have none on it)

Water systems' wells and intakes within 300 m

None on the Province's list

Community watershed

None over the lot on the Province's map

Neighbours' wells show what drillers found nearby, not what a new well here will find; many wells were never registered. For a property on a well, ask for a recent flow test and water quality test.

Productivity is how much water the aquifer gives up to wells; vulnerability is how easily a spill at the surface could reach it; both are the province's ratings for the whole aquifer, not this lot. Mapped aquifers cover mostly settled valleys: a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

Observation wells are the Province's monitoring wells, their water level measured for years or decades. The trend is the Province's reading of one well's yearly levels: a decline of 3 to 10 cm a year that the record clearly shows is a moderate rate, 10 cm or more a large one, anything not clear is stable or no clear trend. It shows how the aquifer has behaved there, not what a well on this lot will give; confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

These are samples of raw water, before any treatment, from wells in the Province's environmental monitoring records since 2000: its observation wells and groundwater surveys, water systems' wells and other drinking-water wells; wells at landfills, mines and permit holders' works are left out. A result below the lab's detection limit counts at that limit. Lead mostly comes from a well's pipes and fittings rather than the aquifer. Groundwater changes over short distances and with depth, so a nearby well says what the aquifer can hold, not what a well on this lot gives. Bacteria aren't shown: they depend on how each well is built and kept.

Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality set the most a drinking water should hold: arsenic 0.010 mg/L, fluoride 1.5 mg/L, manganese 0.12 mg/L (and 0.02 mg/L for taste and for staining laundry and fixtures), uranium 0.02 mg/L, nitrate 10 mg/L as nitrogen (45 mg/L as nitrate) and lead 0.005 mg/L, with arsenic and lead kept as low as reasonably achievable. Our summary of Health Canada's summary table, read 2026-10-11.

Test your own well, for bacteria and these, at an accredited lab; your health authority can say which labs take samples from private wells.

Community sewer

No open map of the City of Quesnel's sewer service: ask the City of Quesnel whether the lot is on it

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

None recorded within 30 m

Mapped water within 30 m

None mapped

Within the setbacks, under 15% slope (gravity fields, mounds and trenches)

1.6 ha (80%)

Within the setbacks, under 25% slope (mounds, at-grade beds and trenches)

1.7 ha (84%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

1.8 ha (90%)

Screening, not a site assessment: measured on the same elevation cells as the buildable area, against the separations in the Province's Sewerage System Standard Practice Manual: a field stays 30 m from a drinking-water well (60 to 90 m from a high-pumping one), 30 m from a lake, river or permanent stream (15 m from seasonal water and the sea), 7.5 m from a downslope drain or bank where effluent could break out, and, as a guideline, 3 m from the lot line. We use 30 m for every mapped stream. A gravity field isn't allowed on slopes over 15%, a mound or at-grade bed over 25%, and trenches over 45%.

Under the Sewerage System Regulation, only an Authorized Person (a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner or a professional engineer or geoscientist) may plan and install a system, and they file the plans with the regional health authority before work starts. They dig test pits to check the soil depth and the seasonal water table and measure how fast the soil drains, which no open map shows. Ask the seller for the filing and maintenance records of an existing system, and have it inspected.

Well locations in GWELLS are often approximate, and many wells were never registered: look for well caps on and next to the lot. Wells, water lines and septic fields on the neighbours' land count too.

If the lot is on a community sewer, none of this applies; ask the local government, which may also set larger setbacks or a minimum lot size for septic.

Cutblocks applied for (1 km)

0

Approved, not yet logged (1 km)

0

Logged in the last 5 years (1 km)

0

Crown land applications (1 km)

None

Quarry, industry, energy or tower tenures (500 m)

None

Along the lot line

Private land along about 50% of the lot line (the north and east sides); no parcel mapped along about 50% of the lot line (the south and west sides), most often a road allowance, water or Crown land the parcel map doesn't draw

Rights of way and easements drawn on the lot

None drawn on ParcelMap BC; a charge with no plan can still be on the title, so ask for it

Local development applications

Not covered here: we read applications only where the local government publishes them as open data (the CSRD, the City of Surrey, the City of Abbotsford and the District of Squamish). Ask the City of Quesnel what's in progress on and near the lot

Nearest power line (200 m)

None mapped within 200 m

Oil and gas pipelines (200 m)

None within 200 m on the BC Energy Regulator's permit map

Gravel pits, quarries and mine permits (2 km)

A sand and gravel pit (Quesnel Paving Pit, permit G-10-89), about 1,050 m from the lot line, about 12 ha of ground to be disturbed in its notice of work, authorised to 2045; A sand and gravel pit (Carson Pit, permit G-10-72), about 1,850 m from the lot line, authorised to 2029

Permitted discharges to air, water and land (2 km)

A soil amendment (biosolids or other wastes spread on land), about 310 m from the lot line, may discharge to land (refuse), under a permit (authorization 112419, 2026); A sawmill or other primary wood processing, about 340 m from the lot line, may discharge to air, under a permit (authorization 7512, 1986); A fuel storage or distribution site, about 520 m from the lot line (position given to about 100 m), registered under the Petroleum Storage and Distribution Facilities Storm Water Regulation (authorization 14133, 1994); An electrical products plant, about 760 m from the lot line, may discharge to air, under a permit (authorization 13326, 1995); A pulp mill, about 780 m from the lot line, may discharge to water or land (effluent), under a permit (authorization 5803, 1981); and 13 more

Major projects in assessment (10 km)

None

Major projects approved (10 km)

None

Reviewed, no assessment needed (10 km)

Quesnel Water Wells (groundwater extraction; about 2.4 km away; reviewed Oct 26, 2020: no assessment needed, not yet built)

Closed or not reviewable (10 km)

None

Cutblocks are from the Province's forest tenure records, which cover Crown forest licences and woodlots, not logging on private land. Crown land applications are on the Province's tenure register; the Applications, Comments and Reasons for Decision site takes public comments on them. Mineral and placer claims have their own section.

Who owns the land beside the lot is ParcelMap BC's owner type for each parcel that shares the lot line (measured along the line); the open parcel map names no owners. Crown land beside a lot, with a title or without, can be logged, leased, grazed or roaded, and a view or trail across it isn't yours to keep; ask the natural resource district or FrontCounter BC. Land owned by the local government is often a park, a road allowance or a utility lot; ask the local government what it's for.

Major projects are those large enough to need a provincial environmental assessment: mines, power plants, pipelines, transmission lines, highways, ports, dams and resorts, among others. Each is on the Environmental Assessment Office's register at a single point, the location it gives for the project. A mine, pipeline, transmission line or road can reach well past that point, so a project listed 8 km away can still pass the lot, and one placed beyond 10 km isn't listed here. Each project's page on the EAO's site has its maps, documents and comment periods; distances run from the lot line to the point. Smaller projects (subdivisions, smaller pits and quarries, and other works under the assessment thresholds) aren't on this register.

Power lines are from two maps read together: the Province's map of high-voltage transmission lines (BC Hydro's, private and independent producers' lines), which leaves voltages out, and OpenStreetMap, where volunteers map lines and record the voltage where it's known. Smaller distribution lines along streets aren't included. Distances run from the lot line to the mapped line, which can sit some metres off the real one. The line's right of way, and what it lets the line's owner do on the land, is set by the easement on title, which is the definitive record: check it in the title search, and ask BC Hydro (or the line's owner) about clearances for building and trees.

Mine permits are from the Province's map of Mines Act permit areas for regional mines: sand and gravel pits, quarries, placer mines, coal and mineral exploration, on Crown or private land. The area drawn is what the permit covers, often larger than the ground worked at any one time, and distances run from the lot line to its edge. Large mines are on a separate map that isn't open data, so they aren't listed here; the major projects in this section include those under environmental assessment.

Under the Mines Act (s. 10) no work may start at a pit, quarry or mine without a permit, which sets its plan and the reclamation of the land when work ends. A pit listed as not started can begin work under its permit. Hours, truck routes, dust and noise are often set by the local government's soil removal or gravel bylaw: ask the regional district or city, and the Ministry's regional office about the permit.

Permitted discharges are from the Province's list of active waste discharge authorizations under the Environmental Management Act: permits, approvals and operational certificates, and sites registered under its regulations and codes of practice (sewage, fuel storage, vehicle recycling, concrete, asphalt, composting and others). Each is one point the Province gives for the site, which can be a plant's office or an outfall rather than the ground worked; distances run from the lot line to that point. Metro Vancouver issues its own air quality permits, which aren't on this list, and the Province's Site Registry of contaminated sites isn't shown here: searching it is free, but its records are reports bought per site.

An authorization sets what may be discharged, how much and on what conditions; it doesn't mean the site is out of compliance. The Province's Authorization Management System search shows each authorization's documents by its number. Odour, dust and noise are often for the local government too: ask the regional district or city, and the Province's environmental protection office about the authorization.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

None recorded

Wide-ranging species mapped over it

Ashton's Cuckoo Bumble Bee (Red-listed), Sprengel's sedge (Blue-listed), Yellow-banded Bumble Bee (Blue-listed)

Secured records in the wider area

No

Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

Proposed Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Proposed ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

Federal critical habitat over the lot

None on the federal map

Sensitive ecosystems mapped on the lot

Not mapped here: the lot isn't covered by any of the Province's sensitive ecosystem inventories (checked 2026-10-11)

Invasive plants recorded on the lot

None on the Province's list

Invasive plants recorded within 100 m

None on the Province's list

Red-listed species are at risk of being lost from BC; Blue-listed are of special concern. A record shows where the species was found, sometimes decades ago; no record doesn't mean nothing lives here, since most land has never been surveyed.

Species at risk can still limit building through local environmental development permit areas: ask the local government before planning work.

Critical habitat for some sensitive species is kept off the public map; Environment and Climate Change Canada's Species at Risk Public Registry has each species' recovery strategy.

The Province's records come from invasive plant surveys, mostly since 2022, along roads, trails and shores and wherever crews were sent; no record doesn't mean no invasive plants. A record marks where a plant was found that day; it may since have been treated.

Nearest railway (2 km)

A railway siding or yard track, about 75 m from the lot line

Nearest main railway line

A main railway line (Prince George Subdivision, Canadian National Railway, Rocky Mountaineer), about 340 m from the lot line

Nearest highway or major road (2 km)

Cariboo Highway (Highway 97), a highway, about 350 m from the lot line

Nearest airport or airstrip (2 km)

Quesnel Airport (YQZ), about 1.5 km from the lot line. Statistics Canada counted about 3,460 takeoffs and landings there in the 12 months to July 2026

Light at night (within 1 km, 2024)

31 nW/cm²/sr, like a town centre or a city suburb such as Nelson, Smithers or Salmon Arm; brighter than at about 68% of BC homes.

Aircraft accidents recorded within 2 km (since 1995)

1, per the Transportation Safety Board, in July 1996: a plane, its position given only to the nearest minute; TSB occurrence A96P0128.

Distances only, not a measured noise level; noise depends on traffic, trains per day and terrain. Measured in a straight line from the lot line to the mapped centreline of the track or road, or to the edge of an airport's mapped grounds (to its point where only a point is mapped); a mapped line can sit some metres off the real one.

Railways are OpenStreetMap's track in use: main, branch and industrial lines, sidings and yards, and rapid transit; lines mapped as disused or abandoned, and track in tunnels, are left out. "Main line" is how OpenStreetMap's mappers class the line. Highways and major roads are the roads OpenStreetMap classes as motorway (a freeway), trunk (a highway) or primary (a major road). Airports and airstrips are every aerodrome OpenStreetMap maps, public or private, with its type where mapped; heliports aren't included. Airport noise exposure maps (the NEF contours some airports draw) aren't open data, so they aren't used.

Visit at rush hour and at night, ask the seller how often trains pass, and confirm with the local government whether a noise bylaw, a development permit area or an airport zoning regulation covers the lot. For a railway, the railway company or Transport Canada can say how many trains use the line; for an airport, ask the airport about flight paths.

Light at night is what the VIIRS satellite records looking down at about 1:30 a.m., averaged over the cloud-free nights of 2024, with fires, the northern lights and other passing light left out (the Earth Observation Group's yearly composite); its cells are about 460 m by 300 m in BC. We give the median of the cells within 1 km of the lot's middle, in nanowatts per square centimetre per steradian (rounded to whole numbers), set against the same figure at BC's homes (Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's points) and named after places that read alike (our reading). It is light going up, not how dark the sky looks from the ground: a nearby town's glow on the horizon (Winter sun lists any towns whose lights are in direct line), the moon, a neighbour's yard light and the trees aren't in it, and it says nothing of light at other hours. For stargazing, look at the sky from the lot on a clear, moonless night. This product was made utilizing VIIRS Nighttime Lights data produced by the Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines.

Aircraft accidents are the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's record of occurrences it classes as accidents in BC since 1995, incidents left out. The TSB gives most positions to the nearest minute of latitude and longitude, up to about 1 km off, or at the aerodrome's own point, so an accident is counted when its given position is within 2 km of the lot line, and never placed on the lot. A count of past accidents, not a measure of risk or noise.

December 21 (shortest day)

6 h 40 min of possible direct sun; 7 h 20 min on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

11 h 30 min; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

16 h; 16 h 40 min on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

14° above level; the hills due south rise to 1°, 10.5 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

3° above level to the south-west, 4.6 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 499 m, from head height

Solar panel output (south-facing, tilted at the latitude)

About 930 kWh a year for each kW of panels (December about 32), on Natural Resources Canada's 1998-2022 sunshine map; the sun on the panel's face is 3.41 kWh/m² a day over the year, 1.37 in December

Water the ground lets you see (16 km)

Quesnel River to the east-northeast, from about 2.6 km away

Highest skyline

4° above level to the west-southwest, 4.3 km away

Named peaks in view (150 km)

Mount Milburn to the west, 17 km away (about 1,322 m)

Highest ground in view

About 1,445 m, to the south-southeast, 40 km away

Farthest ground in view

About 40 km to the south-southeast

Most relief in one direction

To the south-southeast: from about 499 m at the lot up to about 1,445 m, 40 km away

Town centres in line of sight

None within 150 km, over the bare ground

City lights in direct line (150 km)

In direct line: the lights of Quesnel to the east-southeast, 3.2 km (21 nW/cm²/sr at the brightest in line, like a town centre or a city suburb)

Worked out from the terrain only: trees, buildings and cloud aren't counted, so the sun that reaches a window or a garden is often less. The hours are possible direct sun, counted from when the sun's centre clears the hills, at head height at the middle of the lot; another spot on a hillside lot can differ.

The horizon is read from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model in 72 directions, out to 16 km: on its 30 m grid within 1.5 km, beyond that on a 120 m version of it, where single peaks can read a little lower than they are. The curve of the earth is taken into account.

The sun's path is from the standard solar position formulas. Hours are counted in sun time; clock times shift with daylight saving and with how far the lot is from its time zone's centre.

Check it on site: visit on a clear day in December or January, look at where the trees and buildings to the south fall, and ask neighbours when the sun leaves and comes back.

The panel output is our reading of Natural Resources Canada's figures: its map gives the sun reaching a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude, averaged over 1998-2022 on a grid of about 10 km, and we turn it into kWh for each kW of panels at the performance ratio its Photovoltaic Potential maps use (0.75: losses in heat, wiring, the inverter and dirt). The map is for an open sky: the hills around the lot, trees, buildings and snow on the panels aren't counted. The hills around this lot take about 10% of the direct sun on December 21 (our figure above), so a panel at the lot's middle would most likely make less than this, most of all in winter (the hills block direct sun, not all the light). A solar installer measures the roof or the spot itself.

What the ground allows you to see from head height at the middle of the lot, read on the same elevation model as the sun hours, out to 16 km: trees, buildings and the house's own spot and height aren't counted, so a view the ground allows can be hidden by the forest, and a second storey can see over a rise. Lakes and rivers are the Freshwater Atlas's; the sea is read where the elevation model sits at sea level.

Peaks, towns and the farthest ground are read out to 150 km on the same elevation model, coarser past 16 km (cells of 240 m to 60 km, 480 m beyond), with the curve of the earth and the usual bending of light: summits read lower than they are at that scale, so a peak only counts when it clears the ground before it, and one at the very edge of the skyline may be left out. It's what the bare ground allows on a perfectly clear day: haze, smoke, cloud, trees and buildings aren't counted. Peak names are BC Geographical Names'; peaks outside BC aren't named.

City lights in direct line are our reading: the satellite's lit cells (15 nW/cm²/sr and up, the brightness of a town centre or more) within 150 km, each named after the nearest town centre within 8 km, and a town counted when one of its brightest cells, taken 10 m above the ground, clears the bare ground before it on the same elevation model as the long view. It says where lights are in a straight line, not how bright they look: the glow a town throws over a ridge isn't modelled, so a town behind the hills can still light the sky above them, and haze, trees and buildings aren't counted.