Data sources and credits

Every fact on a report names its source and date. The main publishers:

• Parcel outlines: ParcelMap BC parcel polygons, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Addresses: BC Address Geocoder, Province of British Columbia.
• Agricultural Land Reserve: Agricultural Land Commission (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). The Commission's applications and notices of intent (exclusions, inclusions, subdivisions, non-farm uses, soil and fill; ALR Applications (Spatial View) and ALR Notices of Intent (Spatial View)) are access only (not open data), so reports don't list applications on or near a lot (checked 2026-10-12).
• Soil for farming: Agriculture Capability mapping, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia): the Canada Land Inventory and later provincial maps, drawn from the 1960s to the 1990s at 1:20,000 to 1:250,000.
• Former orchards (in Soil for farming): Annual Crop Inventory, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada): its 30 m satellite crop classes, the cells classed orchard each year from 2012 (2009 to 2011 hold no BC orchard class). The Province's older land use maps were checked for orchards and have none we can use: Baseline Thematic Mapping's present land use has no orchard class, and TRIM land cover and the cities' agricultural use layers are access only (not open data) (checked 2026-10-14).
• Designated floodplain maps: Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Local flood construction levels and setbacks: see floodplain bylaw coverage.
• A river's yearly peak flows at the Water Survey of Canada gauge on a named river or stream within 30 m of the lot, within 25 km: HYDAT, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada), read live through the MSC GeoMet API. We take the median and highest from the gauge's yearly peaks.
• Dikes and bank protection near a lot, with their diking authority: Flood Protection Works: Structural Works, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), surveyed mostly in 2019 and 2020. We measure distances from the lot line; what the Dike Maintenance Act sets is our summary.
• Dams on or within 1 km of a lot, with their type, height, operating status and failure consequence classification: BC Dams, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). The owner and dam safety officer fields name people and aren't used. We measure distances from the lot line; what the Dam Safety Regulation sets is our summary.
• Wildfire perimeters since 1917, and fire names, dates and season counts: BC Wildfire Service fire perimeters and fire incident locations, historical and current (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Evacuation orders and alerts: Historical Orders and Alerts (lifted, since April 2017) and Evacuation Orders and Alerts (in effect now), Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Earthquake shaking: 2020 National Building Code seismic hazard values (the sixth-generation Canadian Seismic Hazard Model, CanadaSHM6), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Radon: Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011), Health Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada), placed by the Province of BC's Health Service Delivery Area Boundaries (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Shown as a regional figure, never as a reading for a lot.
• Terrain stability over a lot (classes I to V and the reconnaissance classes S, P and U, read from air photos for forestry, with each class's share of the lot, which we measure): Terrain Stability Mapping (TSM) Detailed Polygons, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). What a building inspector can require on hazard land is our summary of the Community Charter.
• Karst-prone rock under a lot (the share of soluble rock, how strongly karst is estimated to develop, and whether karst or caves are known in the unit; caves never named or placed): Reconnaissance Karst Potential Mapping, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Names on the map around a lot (the official place names within 5 km, nearest first, each with its kind, distance and the year it became official): the Canadian Geographical Names Database (Natural Resources Canada, OGL-Canada). Each name links to its page on BC Geographical Names, which holds origin notes; that service is access only (not open data), so none of its text is copied. Old newspapers are a link to UBC's BC Historical Newspapers search, whose terms allow research or private study.
• Fossils recorded near a lot (published collections within 5 km: what was found, its age and rock formation, and how far, as precisely as the paper placed it; no collection named or pinned): the Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0). The Province's own fossil maps (Important Fossil Areas, fossil sites) are access only (not open data).
• Landslide records: Preliminary Canadian Landslide Database, M.-A. Brideau and co-authors, including the Geological Survey of Canada, the BC Ministry of Forests and the Yukon Geological Survey (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, CC BY 4.0).
• Federal contaminated sites: Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (Open Government Licence – Canada). BC's own Site Registry isn't shown: searching it is free, but its records are reports bought per site.
• Mineral, placer and coal titles: Mineral Titles Branch (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We show counts and kinds of titles and name each title's holder as the record files it, people included, with the title number, its good-to date and the work filed: no client number, address or anything joined from other sources. A person who wants their name left off our pages can write to hello@placedossier.com and is taken off.
• Mineral reserves over a lot, where new mineral, placer or coal titles can't be registered or only on conditions: Mineral Reserve Sites, Mineral Titles Branch, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). What a reserve does is our summary of the Mineral Tenure Act; the reserve's requestor is never shown.
• Crime: Crime severity index and incident-based crime statistics by police service in British Columbia, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence), with Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) rural detachments placed by the BC Address Geocoder. Police-reported figures for the whole area a police service covers, never for a lot or street.
• Property crime reported near a lot, where the city publishes it by block: Crime Incidents, City of Surrey (Open Government Licence – Surrey); Property Crimes, Township of Langley (Open Government Licence – Township of Langley); Property Crime Data Layers for Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam RCMP and the City of Coquitlam (Open Government Licence – Coquitlam). Each incident is placed at the middle of its hundred block with the BC Address Geocoder, refreshed monthly, and compared with the average titled lot in the same city (ParcelMap BC). Vancouver's police crime map (GeoDASH) is all rights reserved and the commercial crime maps forbid reuse, so neither is shown.
• Water wells: GWELLS (the Groundwater Wells and Aquifers database), Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Fish recorded in the water by a lot: Known BC Fish Observations and BC Fish Distributions, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), matched to the named streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands within 30 m of the lot, and any record within 50 m.
• Water licences: Licensed Springs and Drinking Water Sources (Surface Water PODs), Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), the licensed springs and drinking-water diversions within 300 m of the lot, never the licensee. The full record of water licences (Water Rights Licences) is access only (not open data), so other licences aren't shown and the report links the Province's Water Licence Search.
• Water use cut back for fish in dry summers: Water Sustainability Temporary Protection Orders – Public, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), the orders under the Water Sustainability Act s. 88 (and before it the Fish Protection Act s. 9) whose watershed covers a lot, each linked to its text on BC Laws. What the orders do is our summary of the Act.
• Drought levels (the Province's drought level, 0 to 5, for the water basin under a lot, now or in past summers) aren't shown: BC Drought Levels, BC Historical Drought Levels and the BC Drought Information Portal are access only, all rights reserved by the Province, not open data (checked 2026-10-12). The portal shows the current level for each basin.
• Services nearby: Hospitals in BC, Emergency Rooms in BC and Walk-in Clinics in BC and Pharmacies in BC (with the hours they list), HealthLinkBC, and BC Schools K-12 (kindergarten to grade 12), Ministry of Education and Child Care, and First Responders (fire halls, ambulance stations and police detachments, stations and community policing offices), GeoBC, and Service BC Office Locations, Service BC (all Open Government Licence – British Columbia); grocery stores, transfer stations, landfills and recycling depots, post offices, gas stations, and fire stations the Province's list lacks, from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database Licence, ODbL), refreshed monthly. We measure distances as straight lines. Drive times are our reading: the quickest way over OpenStreetMap's drivable roads at a typical speed for each kind of road, from the road nearest the lot's middle to the nearest hospital, 24-hour emergency department, grocery store and public elementary and secondary school on those lists, worked out monthly for every road in BC; ferries, traffic and road closures aren't counted. The lot's postal area: Statistics Canada's 2021 forward sortation area boundary file (Statistics Canada Open Licence); rural or urban is read from Canada Post's own code (a 0 as the second character). Airports with screened airline flights: the aerodromes listed in the CATSA Aerodrome Designation Regulations (reproduced under the Reproduction of Federal Law Order), kept where OurAirports (public domain) also lists scheduled flights, at OurAirports' points; other airports and floatplane bases with scheduled flights, named first where nearer, and the floatplane bases that tell an OpenStreetMap aerodrome is one, are OurAirports' too. School catchments: see catchment coverage. Transit stops: see transit schedules.
• Child care near a lot: Child Care Map Data, Child Care Programs and Services, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), the licensed facilities the Province funds, refreshed monthly: the nearest group facility, those within 1 and 2 km by the ages their operators list and the fee reduction (CCFRI), and any space an operator reported in the 60 days before the report. Family child care is in the provider's home, so it's counted only, never named or placed. Each place's page and licensed child care by place count the facilities in the place's 2021 census boundary, placed by us.
• Parks and recreation sites near a lot: BC Parks, Ecological Reserves, and Protected Areas, BC Parks and GeoBC, and Recreation Sites (Subset), Recreation Sites and Trails BC (both Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We measure distances from the lot line; whether a recreation site is open isn't on the open list, so we never say it is.
• Internet: National Broadband Data and the Pseudo-Household Demographic Distribution, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; Open Government Licence – Canada): the speeds providers report for homes and roads, not a quote for any address. Which mobile carriers have a cell site near a lot isn't shown: ISED publishes its spectrum licence site data under its website terms, which allow only non-commercial reproduction without permission, and its openly licensed authorization extract holds no cell sites (checked 2026-10-12). The carriers ISED lists for mobile service in each hexagon of about 25 km² come from the same National Broadband Data's map files, and the nearest FM and TV transmitters from the Spectrum Management System Authorization Data Extract's broadcast file (ISED; Open Government Licence – Canada), without the licensees' names or addresses.
• Drinking-water protection zones over a lot and the water systems' wells and intakes near it (the land a community well or intake's protection plan maps as where surface activity can reach the water): Drinking Water Sources – Protection Zones and Drinking Water Sources – Intakes/Wellheads, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Sea water intrusion (the Province's 2021 rating, Low to High, of how easily sea water could be drawn into the coastal aquifer under a lot; a regional screening, not a test of any well): Aquifer Vulnerability to Sea Water Intrusion, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), with the method in GIS Modelling of Sea Water Intrusion Risk along British Columbia's Coast (2021) and the well owners' advice summarised from the Province's Best Practices for Prevention of Saltwater Intrusion.
• Community watersheds (the land draining to a licensed drinking-water intake, designated under the Forest Practices Code): Community Watersheds – Current, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Water users are named only where the map names a waterworks or water users' body.
• Aquifers: Ground Water Aquifers, Water Protection and Sustainability Branch, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), with the wells GWELLS links to each. Ratings explained in our words after Berardinucci and Ronneseth (2002), Guide to Using the BC Aquifer Classification Maps.
• Lake water quality (Secchi depth, total phosphorus, chlorophyll a): results from the BC Environmental Monitoring Data System (EnMoDS), the province's record of water and environmental samples, Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Branch, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), matched by us to Freshwater Atlas lakes.
• Lake depth (the deepest point and mean depth, and the Province's scanned depth maps): Lake Inventory Surveys and Bathymetric Maps – Open, Fisheries Inventory, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), the latest survey with a depth matched by us to each lake page by its outline and name. The digital depth contours (Bathymetric Maps of Surveyed Lakes) and the map sheets layer are access only (not open data), so they aren't used.
• Streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastline: Freshwater Atlas, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Short-term rentals: where the Province's principal residence requirement applies, from the communities listed on the Province of BC's principal residence requirement page, matched by us to each place and restated in our words.
• Species and ecosystems at risk: BC Conservation Data Centre, publicly available occurrences; Wildlife Habitat Areas and ungulate winter ranges, approved and proposed (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• How severely a fire of the last few seasons burned a lot (Wildfire history): Fire Burn Severity – Same Year, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), the latest season the Service has mapped; we measure each rating's share of the lot. Fire Burn Severity – Historical, the earlier seasons, is access only (not open data), so it isn't used.
• Forest damage mapped from the air on and within 1 km of a lot since 1999 (Wildfire history): Pest Infestation Polygons, the Aerial Overview Survey's polygons, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), a yearly download we cut into tiles; we measure the shares of the lot and the distances, and the survey's classes are described from its standards and damage ratings in our own words. Pest Infestation Polygons – Current and – Historic (the layers openmaps serves) are access only (not open data), so they aren't used; the survey's spots (Pest Infestation Points) are open only through a custom order, so they aren't shown.
• The forest's natural fire regime and biogeoclimatic unit over a lot (Wildfire history): BEC Map, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), its natural disturbance types described from the Biodiversity Guidebook (Forest Practices Code, 1995) in our own words. The fire threat rating and fuel types (the BC Wildfire Service's Provincial Strategic Threat Analysis) are access only (not open data), so they aren't used.
• Fire centres and smoke sensitivity zones (which BC Wildfire Service fire centre and which zone of the Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation a lot is in) aren't shown: BC Wildfire Fire Centres is access only (not open data), and the smoke sensitivity zones and the ventilation index are the Province's own maps, not open data (checked 2026-10-18). Burning brush or slash links them.
• Federal critical habitat over a lot (Wildlife and habitat): Critical Habitat for federally-listed species at risk (posted), Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada). The secure version, for sensitive species, is access only and not used; areas described only by a 10 or 50 km grid square are said as such. What the Species at Risk Act does on private land is our summary.
• Invasive plants recorded on or within 100 m of a lot (Wildlife and habitat): Invasive Species Observations (InvasivesBC), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Only the species found are read; we measure the distances. Which are noxious weeds, and the occupier's duty to control them, are our summary of the Weed Control Act and Regulation.
• Regulated pest areas at a lot (Wildlife and habitat): the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Japanese beetle and emerald ash borer regulated areas, from its own ArcGIS Online maps (Open Government Licence – Canada), read at the lot's middle. CFIA re-issues the areas each year and its maps can lag its pages; what may not leave an area is our summary of CFIA's pages.
• Forest cover on a lot: VRI – Forest Vegetation Composite Rank 1 Layer (R1), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia): each stand's land cover, leading species, projected age and height, crown closure, dead share and last harvest, read from air photos. We count the shares of the lot. Built-up land in towns is one wide polygon, so a town lot says something only where a stand is mapped on it.
• Sensitive ecosystems mapped on a lot: Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory (SEI) Detailed Polygons and Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory (SEI) Project Boundaries, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Mapped in 27 projects only (the Okanagan valley, east Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast, Princeton, Prince George, Darkwoods, Atlin and a few others); elsewhere a report says the lot isn't covered. We count the shares of the lot; the projects' mapper names are never read.
• Planned and recent logging: forest tenure cutblocks from the Forest Tenures Administration system, version 4.0 (FTA 4.0), the ministry's record of the cutting permits it issues, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Major projects (mines, power plants, pipelines, transmission lines, highways, resorts and others that need a provincial environmental assessment): Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) project points, the EAO's register with one point per project, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Crown land tenures and applications: TANTALIS, the Province's register of Crown land leases, licences and applications, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); also the docks and moorage on it within 50 m of a lot, beside our summary of the Province's private moorage page and its General Permission.
• Ground elevation and slope: High Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM): the bare ground, with trees and buildings removed, mapped by lidar (laser scanning from an aircraft) at 1 m, where a lidar survey covers the area around the lot, each report naming the survey and its year; elsewhere the Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model at 30 m (MRDEM-30). Both Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Census facts and area boundaries: Census of Population 2021, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence).
• Municipal names, legal status and regional district: Municipalities – Legally Defined Administrative Areas of BC, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Transit-oriented areas (the Province's minimum height and density near SkyTrain, West Coast Express and bus exchange stations): the stations' points and the tiers in the Local Government Transit-Oriented Areas Regulation (B.C. Reg. 263/2023) and the Vancouver Transit-Oriented Areas Regulation (B.C. Reg. 265/2023), BC Laws, summarised in our words; distances from a station to the lot line are our measure, and the area the local government designated by bylaw is the one that counts.
• Who owns the land along the lot line (Crown land, the Province, the local government, private land; by parcel, which we measure along the line): ParcelMap BC parcel fabric, its parcel class and owner type only, Land Title and Survey Authority of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Reserve land on or within 500 m of a lot (who decides land use there): Indian Reserves and Band Names – Administrative Boundaries, Province of BC, from Natural Resources Canada's Canada Lands Survey System (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Heritage conservation areas over a lot (the areas local governments designate in their official community plans, as the Heritage Branch lists them): Heritage Conservation Areas of BC, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Military exercise areas offshore of a sea-front lot: the Department of National Defence's Pacific firing practice and exercise areas in the Annual Notice to Mariners, Section F, Notice 35, Canadian Coast Guard (Open Government Licence – Canada, through the open.canada.ca record DND Firing Practice and Exercise Areas); the areas' corners transcribed by us from the 2026 edition.
• The shore in front of a sea-front lot (shore type, width between the tides and wave exposure): Shore Unit Classifications – Line (ShoreZone), Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), its classes in our words from the Province's Physical Shore-Zone Mapping System.
• Tsunami notification zones (the five stretches of coast the Province's tsunami alerts name, drawn over the water, not a flood map): Tsunami Notification Zones for BC, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); the distance to the sea from the Freshwater Atlas coastline. On the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, the modelled tsunami inundation extent (Cascadia and Alaska scenarios, present-day sea level): West Coast Tsunami Inundation Models, Strathcona Regional District, from the Northwest Vancouver Island Tsunami Risk Assessment by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants (Open Government Licence – Canada, licensed by the SRD on 2026-10-17).
• Whether a rural lot is in an Islands Trust local trust area, where the provincial small-scale housing floor doesn't apply: Local Trust Areas – Legally Defined Administrative Areas of BC, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• The electoral area a rural lot is in, as drawn today (areas redrawn since the 2021 census included), and the area rules that go by it: Electoral Areas – Legally Defined Administrative Areas of BC, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia).
• Climate normals (30-year averages at the station: 1991 to 2020 where Environment and Climate Change Canada publishes them, else 1981 to 2010; precipitation, snowfall, frost dates, frost-free period and days with snow on the ground where the normals carry them; figures resting on fewer years than the World Meteorological Organization's standard are marked and not ranked): Environment and Climate Change Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Poor-air days (the days a year whose 24-hour average of fine particles, PM2.5, passed 25 µg/m³, the level of BC's Ambient Air Quality Objective, at the nearest air monitoring station within 30 km, which we count from the hourly readings): Air Quality and Climate Monitoring: Verified Hourly Air Quality and Meteorological Data, BC Ministry of Environment and Parks (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), refreshed each year.
• Climate projections for the 2050s (days over 30 °C, the longest frost-free run and the share of winter precipitation falling as snow: the median and 10th to 90th percentile of 26 models for 2041-2070 under SSP2-4.5, against the same models' 1971-2000, on a grid of about 9 by 6 km; projections, not forecasts): Statistically downscaled climate indices from CMIP6 global climate models (CanDCS-M6), Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, via the Canadian Centre for Climate Services (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Plant hardiness zones: Plant hardiness zones of Canada (the 2025 map), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Building design values (the ground snow load, wind pressure and design temperatures a house is built for) aren't shown: the National Building Code's Table C-2 is the National Research Council's copyright, free to read but not open data, and the gridded and future values (the Design Value Explorer, ClimateData.ca's summaries) are published without an open licence (checked 2026-10-12). Your local building department gives the values that apply.
• Named peaks in view (summits the bare ground lets you see from the lot, out to 150 km): BC Geographical Names, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); heights and sightlines read by us on the Medium Resolution Digital Elevation Model (Natural Resources Canada, Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Solar panel output (the sun on a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude, yearly and in December, at the lot's middle): Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada (1998 to 2022, a grid of about 10 km), Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada); turned into kWh for each kW of panels by us at the performance ratio of Natural Resources Canada's Photovoltaic Potential and Solar Resource Maps of Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Lightning near a lot or a place's centre (days a year with a cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km, and flashes per km² a year, averaged over 1998-2025): Environment and Climate Change Canada's Canadian Lightning Detection Network cloud-to-ground flashes (CanCPLDv1), on a 0.1-degree grid (Open Government Licence – Canada), set against Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's Pseudo-Household Demographic Distribution (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Light at night (the median light within 1 km of the lot's middle or a place's centre, and the brightest spot within 5 km): VIIRS Nighttime Lights, annual composite, Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines (CC BY 4.0; Elvidge et al. 2021, Remote Sensing 13(5):922), via Hengl, OpenGeoHub, Zenodo doi 10.5281/zenodo.7750174 (CC BY 4.0). This product was made utilizing VIIRS Nighttime Lights data produced by the Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines. Set against Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's Pseudo-Household Demographic Distribution (Open Government Licence – Canada).
• Aircraft accidents within 2 km of the lot line since 1995 (fine print at the foot of Noise sources nearby, only where there is one): the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's Air occurrence data from January 1995 to present (Open Government Licence – Canada), accidents only, with the month, the kind of aircraft, whether anyone died and the TSB's occurrence number and report. Most positions are given to the nearest minute or at the aerodrome's own point, so none is placed on a lot; registrations, operators, makes and the TSB's summaries aren't kept.
• Land for sale near a lot or a place: the active BC listings on AcreScout, a Buretto site, with the asking price, size and listing date it shows. They come and go as sellers list and sell; a report shows the ones listed on the day you open it. Asking prices aren't valuations or sale prices.
• BC outline on the map of places: Natural Earth (public domain).
• Roads, railways, airports, power lines and military land: © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
• Power lines the Province maps: BC Transmission Lines (BC Hydro's and independent power producers' lines), Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), shown beside OpenStreetMap's, which carry the voltages.
• Crown range within 1 km of a lot (grazing and hay cutting tenures): Range Tenure Polygons, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We measure the distances; tenure holders' names are never read, as many are people; what the Livestock Act says about fencing livestock out is our summary.
• Building permits the City of Vancouver issued within 200 m of a Vancouver lot in the last two years: Issued building permits, City of Vancouver (Open Government Licence – Vancouver). Kind of work, use, value and issue month only: each permit's description, applicant, contractor and street address are never read, as they name people and neighbours' houses. We measure distances to the permit's address point.
• Old growth set aside from logging within 1 km of a lot: Old Growth Management Areas - Legal - Current, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Legal areas only; the non-legal layer is a plan's intent and isn't used. We measure the distances; the layer's change and reason fields, which name people and companies, are never read. What an area means for logging is our summary of the Province's landscape unit pages.
• Trails within 1 km of a lot: Recreation Lines, Ministry of Forests, and Historic Trails of British Columbia with Historic Trail Areas, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Retired trail sections are left out; we measure the distances and the length of trail along or across the lot. Recreation Sites and Trails BC's own trails list and the Trans Canada Trail layer are access only (not open data) and aren't used. What an established trail and a heritage-protected trail mean is our summary of the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Heritage Conservation Act.
• Tree farm licences and their Schedule A land within 1 km of a lot: FADM - Tree Farm License Agreement Boundary (TFL) and FADM - Tree Farm License (TFL) Schedule A, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). The "TFL Current View" layer is access only (not open data) and isn't used, so licence holders aren't named; we measure the distances; what the Forest Act says about land in a tree farm licence is our summary.
• Woodlot licences, community forest agreements and First Nations woodland licences within 1 km of a lot: Forest Tenure Managed Licence, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Active and pending licences only; we measure the distances; licence holders' names and client numbers are never read, as many are people; what the Forest Act and the Woodlot Licence Planning and Practices Regulation say about land in a licence is our summary.
• Wildlife conservation land within 1 km of a lot (wildlife management areas, land held or leased for habitat, Crown land reserved for it): Conservation Lands, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We measure the distances; a lot's title, legal description and any owner named in a site's name are never read; what the Wildlife Act and the Land Act say about this land is our summary.
• Crown land reserves and notations within 1 km of a lot (Land Act reserves, map reserves, designated use areas and notations of interest, for a gravel source, a road, recreation, a treaty and other uses): TANTALIS Crown Land Reserves and Notations, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We measure the distances; a file's location and legal description are never read; what the Land Act says about reserved land is our summary.
• Registered traplines and guide outfitter territories over a rural lot: Traplines of British Columbia and Guide Outfitter Areas, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Only the area's number and region are read, never a holder's or guide's name; what the Wildlife Act says about trapping and hunting on titled land is our summary.
• Whether each BC place lies in a census metropolitan area or census agglomeration (on buyers who aren't Canadian): Statistics Canada's 2021 census subdivisions with their census metropolitan area or agglomeration, as the Province's openmaps holds them (Current Census Subdivision Boundaries, Statistics Canada Open Licence). Which census areas are metropolitan areas is from Statistics Canada's Standard Geographical Classification 2021; what the federal ban and the Property Transfer Tax Act say is our summary.
• Wildlife management units over each BC place (on hunting and shooting on your own property and the area pages): Wildlife Management Units, Province of BC (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); we measure each unit's share of a place on the 2021 census boundaries. The seasons and closed areas by unit are in the Province's Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis, linked, not copied.
• Oil and gas pipelines within 200 m of a lot, with their permit holder, line type and status: Oil and Gas Pipeline Segment Permits, BC Energy Regulator (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We measure the distances; what the Energy Resource Activities Act and the Pipeline Crossings Regulation set is our summary. The Regulator's pipeline application layers are under its own licence and its well layers are access only (not open data), so neither is used.
• Gravel pits, quarries, placer mines and mineral exploration permits within 2 km of a lot, with their permit, operating status and authorised-to year: Notice of Work (NoW) – Permitted Mine Areas – Regional Mine – Public, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We measure the distances; what the Mines Act sets is our summary; the permittee is never shown, as a permittee can be a person. The major mines' permitted areas are access only (not open data), so they aren't used.
• Permitted discharges to air, water and land within 2 km of a lot (landfills, sewage, sawmills, asphalt and concrete plants, vehicle recycling, fuel storage, biosolids and others), with their kind, what they may discharge and their authorization number: Waste Discharge Authorizations – All Authorizations, Province of British Columbia (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), a download kept as a BC extract of the active ones with a position. We measure distances to the Province's one point for each; the holder, the site's address and its description are never shown, as a holder can be a person. Metro Vancouver's own air quality permits aren't on it.
• Which roads the Province maintains: Ministry of Transportation Road Features Inventory and District Boundaries (Province of BC, Open Government Licence – British Columbia). Snow-clearing priority on city streets: see snow clearing coverage.
• Forest Service Roads and forest road permit roads within 100 m of a lot, with their file, section and natural resource district: Forest Tenure Road Segment Lines, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). We measure the distances; who maintains each kind of road is our summary of the Forest Act, the Forest Planning and Practices Regulation and the Forest Service Road Use Regulation. Permit holders' names are never shown. The Ministry's road section and road line layers are access only (not open data) and aren't used.
• Satellite and topographic maps on reports: Esri World Imagery and World Topographic Map (Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics and the GIS user community), shown under Esri's terms of use. We draw our own layers on top; the photos can be several years old.
• The map of BC (/bc and the maps on place, lake and aquifer pages): base map from Protomaps' build of OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and Natural Earth, redrawn in our own style; lot lines from the ParcelMap BC parcel fabric download, Land Title and Survey Authority of BC (LTSA; Open Government Licence – British Columbia); place outlines from the 2021 census subdivisions, Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada Open Licence), as published on the BC Data Catalogue; the farmland reserve, historical fire perimeters and aquifer outlines drawn by the province's own map service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia). All refreshed monthly. Relief shading: Terrain Tiles on the Registry of Open Data on AWS (Mapzen's build; in BC from the Canadian Digital Elevation Model, Natural Resources Canada, Open Government Licence – Canada, and NASA's SRTM, public domain). Satellite photos at lot zoom: Esri World Imagery, as on reports.
• Map display: MapLibre GL JS (BSD licence, a permissive open-source licence).

Tax rates (published, not open data)

Tax rates are facts set in public bylaws, so we use them though the Province's files aren't open data. We take only the rates, cite each one to its bylaw, and don't copy or offer the files:

• Municipal residential rates and their split: each municipality's tax rates bylaw, as compiled by the Province of BC in Local Government Statistics Schedule 702.
• Electoral area rates: the Surveyor of Taxes' rural tax rates, Province of BC.

Zoning coverage

Zones come from each local government's own zoning map, where it publishes one under a licence that allows our use. In the table, OGL stands for Open Government Licence, the open licence most of them use; a regional district's electoral areas are its rural areas outside towns. Where we've read the bylaw, the report adds our summary of the zone's rules, citing the bylaw's sections; elsewhere it names the zone and links the bylaw.

Checked and not shown, because the zoning map isn't published under a licence that allows our use (checked 2026-10-02): Central Kootenay Regional District, Fraser Valley, Squamish-Lillooet, Cowichan Valley, Comox Valley, Capital (Juan de Fuca), Alberni-Clayoquot, Fraser-Fort George, Cariboo, Mount Waddington, Kootenay Boundary and Peace River regional districts, Chilliwack, Mission, West Kelowna, Vernon, Salmon Arm, Nelson, Williams Lake, Courtenay, Campbell River, Langford, Parksville, Quesnel, Spallumcheen, Richmond, New Westminster, the City and District of North Vancouver and White Rock (checked 2026-10-05: a disclaimer only, a copy last updated in 2017, or no licence on the zoning layer), West Vancouver (only third-party copies of its zoning are published openly), Colwood, Oak Bay, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Sidney, Sooke, Ladysmith, Comox, Qualicum Beach, Powell River, Sechelt, Kimberley, Trail, Terrace and Dawson Creek (checked 2026-10-05: no licence on the zoning layer, a disclaimer only, or terms limiting use), Pitt Meadows, View Royal, Port Alberni, Golden, Fernie, Castlegar, Prince Rupert and Smithers (checked 2026-10-05: zoning published as a PDF map or a viewer only), Kitimat, Kent, Sparwood, Sicamous, Anmore, Rossland, Elkford and Invermere (checked 2026-10-12: a zoning layer online with no licence, a disclaimer only, or, for Invermere, a copy on the RDEK's server kept off its open data site), Hope, Cumberland, Armstrong, Tofino, Ucluelet, Port Hardy and Lantzville (checked 2026-10-12: zoning in a web viewer only, under terms of use, a disclaimer or personal-use terms), Coldstream, Enderby and Lumby (checked 2026-10-12: the RDNO's open map draws their community plan designations, not their zones), Creston, Metchosin, Lake Cowichan, Chetwynd, 100 Mile House, Warfield, Duncan, Vanderhoof, the Northern Rockies, Mackenzie, Houston, Highlands, Tumbler Ridge, Port McNeill, Fruitvale, Harrison Hot Springs, Burns Lake and Nakusp (checked 2026-10-12: zoning published as a PDF map in the bylaw, or no zoning map found online), the qathet, Bulkley-Nechako, Kitimat-Stikine, North Coast and Central Coast regional districts (checked 2026-10-12: no licence on qathet's zoning layer, a viewer, PDF maps or a zoning enquiry only for the others). Reports there name the local government to ask; in the Cariboo (every electoral area), Mount Waddington, the Comox Valley, Quesnel and Spallumcheen they also show our summary of the bylaw's rural zones, marked as not this lot's zone.

Local governments not named on this page aren't covered: reports there name the local government to ask. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Thompson-Nicola Regional District, the Open Government Licence – Columbia Shuswap Regional District, the Open Government Licence – Regional District of East Kootenay, the Open Government Licence – Kamloops, the Open Government Licence – City of Kelowna, the City of Penticton Open Government Licence, the Open Government Licence – City of Abbotsford, the Open Government Licence – Vancouver, the Open Government Licence – Burnaby, the Open Government Licence – Coquitlam, the Open Government Licence – City of Port Coquitlam, the Open Government Licence – Maple Ridge, the Open Government Licence – Port Moody, the Open Government Licence – City of Victoria and the Open Government Licence – Canada (the Strathcona Regional District's zoning). North Okanagan zoning: Source: Regional District of North Okanagan GIS Department.

School catchment coverage

The report's services section names the elementary and secondary catchment the lot's middle falls in where the school district's boundaries are published as open data under a licence that allows our use. Elsewhere it says to ask the district. Catchments change, and a catchment school can be full: confirm with the school district.

Checked and not shown, because the boundaries aren't open data we may use (checked 2026-10-04): Vancouver (SD39): the Vancouver School Board publishes shapefiles, but under its terms of use (personal, non-commercial use only); Delta (SD37): the catchments are on the City of Delta's web map, but not in its open data catalogue; Greater Victoria (SD61): maps on ArcGIS Online with no licence stated; Abbotsford (SD34): the City of Abbotsford's open data has the catchment lines under its open licence, but without school names; Burnaby (SD41), Coquitlam (SD43), Richmond (SD38), Central Okanagan (SD23), Nanaimo-Ladysmith (SD68) and other districts: an address lookup or PDF maps only, no open data. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Surrey and the Open Government Licence – North Vancouver.

Transit schedules

The report's services section names the nearest transit stop to the lot's middle, the routes serving it and how many departures it has on a weekday, Saturday and Sunday, which we count from the providers' published schedules (GTFS) for one week, refreshed monthly. Each month we count the busiest of the three weeks after we read the schedules, so a holiday week doesn't stand in for a normal one; the stop where a trip ends isn't counted as a departure. Distances are straight lines, so the walk is longer. Service changes with the seasons: check the provider's timetable.

• BC Transit, every transit system's GTFS feed, under the BC Transit Open Data Terms of Use (a licence to use, reproduce and redistribute the data, naming BC Transit as its source; read 2026-10-11).
• TransLink (Metro Vancouver's buses, SkyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express), under TransLink's GTFS Terms of Use on that page (a licence to use, reproduce and redistribute the data; read 2026-10-11).

Other transit, such as community shuttles, First Nations' and health authorities' buses and ferries, isn't on these schedules. Contains data from BC Transit and TransLink.

Community water and sewer coverage

The report's septic section leads with the sewer, and its wells section with community water, where the local government publishes its service areas or its pipe map as open data under a licence that allows our use. A service area is read at the lot's middle; a city main counts when it runs within 30 m of the lot line, and that the lot can connect to it is our reading. A regional district's map shows only the systems it runs, so a lot outside them may still be served by an improvement district or a private system: confirm with the local government.

Checked and not shown, because the map isn't open data we may use (checked 2026-10-04): Columbia Shuswap Regional District sewer service areas: shown on the CSRD's property report, but not in its open data, which has only its water service areas; Cariboo Regional District: its maps are published under terms of use, not an open licence. Elsewhere the report doesn't say whether a lot is on a community water or sewer system: ask the local government. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Columbia Shuswap Regional District, the Open Government Licence – Regional District of Central Okanagan, the Open Government Licence – City of Abbotsford, the Open Government Licence – Surrey, the Open Government Licence – City of Kelowna.

Drinking-water advisories (boil water notices, water quality advisories and do not use notices) aren't shown, as no list of them is open data we may use (checked 2026-10-14): the Province keeps none of its own and links each health authority's; Interior Health's advisory map, Northern Health's and the First Nations Health Authority's lists are for personal, non-commercial use under their sites' terms; Fraser Health's, Vancouver Coastal Health's and Island Health's (on its inspection portal) carry no licence for reuse. The Provincial Health Officer's yearly drinking water reports count advisories by health authority only. What the notices mean, who issues them and what a buyer asks: see drinking water advisories. Ask the water system or the health authority whether one is in effect or has been.

Fire protection area coverage

The report's services section names the fire protection area the lot's middle falls in, beside the nearest fire hall, where the regional district publishes its fire protection areas as open data under a licence that allows our use; the insurer questions name it too. In the Central Okanagan it also answers the zoning bylaws' rule that a short-term rental is allowed only inside a fire protection area. A regional district's map shows the areas its own fire departments protect, so a lot outside them reads as outside its map, not as having no fire protection: ask the local government which fire department responds, and your insurer what that means for cover.

Checked and not shown (checked 2026-10-04): Cariboo Regional District: its maps are published under terms of use, not an open licence. Elsewhere the report says to confirm the fire protection area with the local government. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Regional District of Central Okanagan, the Open Government Licence – Columbia Shuswap Regional District.

Fire hydrant coverage

The report's services section gives the nearest fire hydrant to the lot line, and how many stand within 300 m of it, where the city publishes its hydrants as open data under a licence that allows our use. Only hydrants the city marks in service and not private count. A city's map shows the hydrants on its own water system, so a lot with none nearby reads as having none on that map, not as having no hydrant: ask the fire department. In other municipalities the report says we have no open hydrant map of the place; on rural land it says nothing about hydrants.

Licences checked 2026-10-12. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Surrey, the Open Government Licence – City of Kelowna, the Open Government Licence – City of Abbotsford, the Open Government Licence – Kamloops, the Open Government Licence – British Columbia 2.0, as adopted by the City of Coquitlam, the Open Government Licence – Nanaimo, the Open Government License – City of Langley, the Open Government Licence – District of Saanich (based on the Open Government Licence – British Columbia 2.0), the City of Penticton Open Government Licence.

Floodplain bylaw coverage

Many local zoning bylaws make the land by a lake or stream floodplain: below a flood construction level, a floor used for living, business or storage isn't allowed, and within a floodplain setback from the water no building is. Where we've read the bylaw, the report's floodplain section names the level and setback for the water within 30 m of the lot on the province's water map (the Freshwater Atlas), and for a lake the bylaw gives a fixed level, within 300 m. How much of the lot lies below a level is said only where lidar covers the lot, as our reading; a BC land surveyor decides. Our summaries, read 2026-10-04:

Also read: the CSRD's Bylaw No. 168 sets a floodplain only inside one comprehensive development zone, along Colepitts Creek (s. 3.02I.07); the CSRD's Bylaw No. 2500 leaves floodplains to the Salmon Valley Floodplain Management Bylaw No. 2600, which we haven't summarised. The CSRD's development permit areas, which include flood construction level and floodplain setback areas, aren't published as open data. Elsewhere the report says only whether the lot is on a provincial floodplain map: ask the local government for its flood construction level and setbacks.

Snow clearing coverage

In towns, the report's road access section names the snow-clearing priority the city gives each street along the lot, in the city's own words, where the city publishes its priorities as open data under a licence that allows our use. A street counts as along the lot when the city's line for it runs within 25 m of the lot line. A priority is the city's plan for an ordinary snowfall; confirm with the city how soon a street is usually cleared. Roads the Province maintains keep the Ministry of Transportation's wording, and elsewhere in towns the report says the city clears its own streets but publishes no priority map we can use.

Checked and not shown (checked 2026-10-04): City of West Kelowna: its snow-clearing priority map is published under terms of use, not an open licence; City of Rossland: its plow priority map states no licence; City of Salmon Arm: a 2015 road priority map with no licence stated; City of Victoria: its open Snow Plow Routes layer names the routes but gives no priority; City of Kamloops: its open layer shows plow zones, not a priority for each street; City of Coquitlam: its Snow Response Plan is a PDF, not a map layer; City of Surrey: no snow-clearing layer in its open data. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Abbotsford, the Open Government Licence – City of Kelowna, the Open Government Licence – City of Prince George, the Open Government Licence – City of New Westminster, the Open Government Licence – City of Fort St. John, the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

Development application coverage

The report's "What's planned nearby" section lists the open development applications (rezonings, development and variance permits, subdivisions and the like) on the lot and within 200 m of its lot line, where the local government publishes its applications as open data under a licence that allows our use. Files it marks closed, completed, expired or denied are left out. An application on the lot leads the section: ask the local government what it proposes and whether it goes with the sale.

Checked and not shown (checked 2026-10-04): Township of Langley: its development activity map's layers name no licence; City of Kelowna: its open data has no development applications layer. Elsewhere the report says to ask the local government what's in progress nearby. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Columbia Shuswap Regional District, the Open Government Licence – Surrey, the Open Government Licence – City of Abbotsford, the Open Government Licence – Squamish.

Development permit area coverage

The report's zoning section names the development permit areas over the lot, with a link to each one's guidelines, where the local government publishes its development permit area maps as open data under a licence that allows our use; the buildable area section names the hazard and environmental ones it doesn't count. An area is read at points spread across the lot, so a sliver where the maps don't line up isn't counted. Building, clearing or subdividing in one usually needs a development permit first: confirm with the local government.

Checked and not shown (checked 2026-10-04): Columbia Shuswap Regional District: its property report lists the development permit areas that may apply, but no development permit area map is in its open data; City of Abbotsford: its open data has steep slope and watercourse layers, but no development permit area map. Elsewhere the report says to ask the local government which development permit areas apply. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Regional District of Central Okanagan, the Open Government Licence – Surrey, the Open Government Licence – City of Kelowna, the Open Government Licence – Kamloops, the Open Government Licence – City of Penticton.

Lake coverage

Lake pages and the report's lake section cover every BC lake with clarity or nutrient readings from open water in the province's monitoring records: 906 lakes. Readings at water intakes, outfalls, mines, permit holders' monitoring sites and on the shore are listed but don't count, and a lake is summarised, compared and given a nutrient level only when it has enough recent readings; the rule is on each lake's page.

Aquifer coverage

Aquifer pages and the report's wells section cover every aquifer the province has mapped: 1,166 aquifers, mostly in settled valleys. Most of BC isn't mapped; a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater.

Whether groundwater levels are rising or falling comes from the 247 wells of the Provincial Groundwater Observation Well Network, as Environmental Reporting BC trends them (Long-term Trends in Groundwater Levels in B.C., records to December 2023, Open Government Licence – British Columbia): the report names the observation wells in the aquifer under the lot, else the nearest within 10 km, and each aquifer page lists its own.

What the groundwater tested for comes from the 1,174 wells sampled for arsenic, fluoride, manganese, uranium, nitrate or lead since 2000 in the Province's Environmental Monitoring Data System (Open Government Licence – British Columbia): observation wells, groundwater surveys, water systems' and other drinking-water wells, with wells at landfills, mines and permit holders' works left out and no well's name kept. The report names the nearest within 10 km, the lot's own aquifer first, against Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality (our summary, read 2026-10-11); each aquifer page sums its own.

Each report section names its source and the date we checked it.