Historic bathymetry maps

Bathymetry is the measurement of water depth in lakes. From the 1940s to the 1990s, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry produced bathymetry maps for over 11,000 lakes across Ontario. The data can be used by the general public and GIS specialists for: * climate change modelling * fish monitoring and other ecological applications * hydrologic cycle modelling * recreational fishing maps * watershed-based water budgeting The maps were created using simple methods to determine lake depths. They were meant for resource management purposes only. Little effort was made to identify shoals and other hazards when creating these bathymetric maps. Since this data was collected, many constructed and naturally occurring events could mean that the depth information is now inaccurate, so these maps should not be used for navigational purposes. In many cases, these maps still represent the only authoritative source of bathymetry data for lakes in Ontario. Technical information These maps are being converted to digital GIS line data which can be found in the Bathymetry Line data class. The Bathymetry Index data class identifies if GIS vector lines have been created and the location of mapped lakes. The historic paper maps have been scanned into digital files. We will add new digital files to this dataset if they become available. The digital files have been grouped and packaged by regions into 13 compressed (zipped) files for download. Note: package 99 contains scanned maps where the location shown on the map could not be determined.

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Additional Info

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Last Updated October 20, 2025, 02:08 (UTC)
Created October 20, 2025, 02:08 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Economy
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Historic bathymetry maps
Description
A description of the dataset.

Bathymetry is the measurement of water depth in lakes. From the 1940s to the 1990s, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry produced bathymetry maps for over 11,000 lakes across Ontario. The data can be used by the general public and GIS specialists for: * climate change modelling * fish monitoring and other ecological applications * hydrologic cycle modelling * recreational fishing maps * watershed-based water budgeting The maps were created using simple methods to determine lake depths. They were meant for resource management purposes only. Little effort was made to identify shoals and other hazards when creating these bathymetric maps. Since this data was collected, many constructed and naturally occurring events could mean that the depth information is now inaccurate, so these maps should not be used for navigational purposes. In many cases, these maps still represent the only authoritative source of bathymetry data for lakes in Ontario. Technical information These maps are being converted to digital GIS line data which can be found in the Bathymetry Line data class. The Bathymetry Index data class identifies if GIS vector lines have been created and the location of mapped lakes. The historic paper maps have been scanned into digital files. We will add new digital files to this dataset if they become available. The digital files have been grouped and packaged by regions into 13 compressed (zipped) files for download. Note: package 99 contains scanned maps where the location shown on the map could not be determined.
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
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Metadata Identifier
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Published Date
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2020-10-20
Time Period Data Span (start date)
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
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Field Value
Access category
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License
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Open Government Licence – Ontario
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Location
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https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/3a277f42-00f4-4b39-8343-364108825661
Data Service
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
Government of Ontario | Gouvernement de l'Ontario
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
Government of Ontario; Government of Ontario; Natural Resources and Forestry, https://www.ontario.ca/feedback/contact-us?id=26930&nid=65620
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Contains Indigenous Data
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Version
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None
Source
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None
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
Field Value
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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