Landuse 2016 - Code Description

Metro Vancouver’s 2016 Generalized Land Use map was compiled using a consistent interpretation of all available information. Every effort was made to depict land use activities accurately and consistently across all of the region’s municipalities. Land use classifications were assigned at the municipal cadastre geography wherein each parcel was assigned one single land use classification. Exceptions to this rule occurred in instances where cadastre lots clearly had more than one discrete land use activity which did not fit into one single classification thus requiring the cadastre lot to be split to accommodate multiple land use activities. Exceptions included: hydro right-of-way corridors and school properties (school buildings were classified as ‘Health and Education’ and playing fields coded as ‘Recreation, Open Space and Protected Natural Areas’). Metro Vancouver’s 2016 Generalized Land Use has no official status. It is neither a zoning nor an Official Community Plan map but rather a serves as a ‘regional reference map’ that depicts land activities existing in fall 2016. The 2016 Generalized Land Use is intended to provide a consistent interpretation of on-the-ground land development activity across the Metro Vancouver’s member municipalities, electoral area, and First Nation territories. Based on British Columbia Assessment Authority parcel data, aerial photograph interpretation plus other land data information, land use activities were categorized into one of the twenty-nine classifications defined below. 
Metro Vancouver’s 2016 Generalized Land Use map was compiled using a consistent interpretation of all available information. Every effort was made to depict land use activities accurately and consistently across all of the region’s municipalities. Land use classifications were assigned at the municipal cadastre geography wherein each parcel was assigned one single land use classification. Exceptions to this rule occurred in instances where cadastre lots clearly had more than one discrete land use activity which did not fit into one single classification thus requiring the cadastre lot to be split to accommodate multiple land use activities. Exceptions included: hydro right-of-way corridors and school properties (school buildings were classified as ‘Health and Education’ and playing fields coded as ‘Recreation, Open Space and Protected Natural Areas’). 
Landuse Code Detailed Descriptions: Agriculture (A500): includes actively farmed lands that are cultivated or contain agricultural production facilities such as greenhouses and barns plus inactive and vacant lands in the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) that do not have a recreational, industrial, commercial, institutional, and transportation, communication and utility land use. Any residential landuse that lies within the ALR boundary is classified as A500. Also includes the undeveloped ALR lands at Naval Radio Station Aldergrove in eastern Langley Township. Also includes several properties that are cultivated or contain agricultural production facilities with a location outside the ALR. Many of these latter agriculture properties are anticipated to be redeveloped for urban use in the near future. 
Airport/Airstrip and Ferry (T100): includes airport/airstrip fields and terminals and ferry terminals. 
Cemetery (S420): includes all lands set aside for cemeteries. 
Civic and Other Institutional (S460): includes community ambulance, police and fire stations, correctional facilities, post office, libraries, museums, public art galleries, border crossings, armory, prisons, court facilities and convention centres. Government offices (including city halls) fall under the ‘office’ or ‘other commercial’ land use classification. 
Exhibition, Religious and Other Assembly (S450): includes churches, exhibition grounds, large entertainment and sporting venues, private lodges, non-recreational banquet halls, non-recreation community centres, senior centres, day care and other non-profit centres. 
Health and Education (S400): includes public and private school buildings, university and community college buildings and parking lots (excluding their playing fields and asphalt playgrounds), plus public and private hospitals. 
Hotels, Motels, Rooming Houses (S204): includes stand-alone hotels, motels, rooming house/hotels and SROs. 
Industrial (S300): includes processing, manufacturing, warehousing and wholesaling activities. Additional industrial land activities are captured in the Ports and Airport/Airstrip land use categories. 
Industrial – Extractive (M300): includes uses such as peat extraction, gravel pits, municipal landfill, temporary gravel storage and rock quarries. 
Lakes, Large Rivers and Other Water (R200): includes major water bodies consisting of inlets, large lakes and rivers and other significant water bodies that are excluded from the regional land base. 
Mixed Residential (Low-rise Apartment) Commercial (S230): includes lands permitting up to several floors of commercial use and residential housing when combined is less than five storeys that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Mixed Residential (Mid/High-Rise Apartment) Commercial (S235): includes lands permitting up to several floors of commercial use and residential housing when combined is five or more storeys that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Office (S202): includes private sector and civic office space where building square footage is over 10,000 square feet. 
Parking (T300): includes purpose-built parking structures and dedicated parking lots not associated with adjacent property. 
Vancouver Fraser Port (S600): includes all land based activities occurring on the Vancouver Fraser Port lands. 
Protected Watershed (W400): includes Metro Vancouver watersheds. 
Recreation, Open Space and Protected Natural Areas (R100): includes local, regional and provincial parks (both inside and outside the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve), ecological reserves and wildlife management areas, forested lands actively harvested or devoted to research, uses school playing fields and play grounds, camping parks, commercial RV parks, some undeveloped street allowance/road right-of-way, hydro tower right-of-way, neighbourhood walk paths (not sidewalks) and recreational and community centres, golf courses and ski areas. 
Residential - Institutional and Non-Market Housing (S410): includes group homes, nursing homes, convalescent hospital and other senior care facilities, post-secondary school residences, and other institutional and non-market housing (excluding prisons). 
Residential - Low-rise Apartment (S130): includes apartment structures less than 5 stories that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. Additional low-rise apartments are captured in the Mixed Residential (Low-rise Apartment) Commercial land use category. 
Residential – Mid/High-rise Apartment (S135): includes apartments with 5 stories or more that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. Additional high-rise apartments are captured in the Mixed Residential (Mid/High-rise Apartment) Commercial land use category. 
Residential – Mobile Homes (S100): includes single dwellings placed temporarily on a foundation such as blocks, posts or a prepared pad located within Metro Vancouver’s ‘Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Residential – Rural (S120): includes detached and duplexes dwellings within the Urban Containment Boundary that were not connected and serviced by sewers and located outside Metro Vancouver’s ‘existing urban area’ in 2016. Also includes several large semi-rural estates located within the 2016 existing urban area plus residential dwellings located outside the ALR but within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Rural Area’. 
Residential - Single Detached with No Secondary Unit (S110): includes detached house properties that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Residential – Townhouse (S131): includes row-housing and stacked attached structure types that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Retail and Other Commercial (S200): includes retail, personal services, private sector and institutional office space where building square footage is less than 10,000 square feet and other commercial activities not captured in other land use classifications. 
Road Right-of-Way (S500): includes all developed roads local, regional and provincial.
Transit, Rail and Other Transportation (T200): includes rapid transit corridors and stations, rail corridors, intermodal terminals, transit depots and other transportation activities not captured in the Airport/Airstrip and Ferry land use category. 
Undeveloped and Unclassified (U100): includes lands outside the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve with no visible development, vacant urban land, and forested or vegetated areas not identified as recreation, open space and protected natural areas or agriculture. 
Utility, Communication and Work Yards (T400): includes electrical substations, telecommunications, liquid waste treatment facilities, landfill transfer sites plus private and public work yards.

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Last Updated March 24, 2026, 22:48 (UTC)
Created March 24, 2026, 22:48 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Landuse 2016 - Code Description
Description
A description of the dataset.

Metro Vancouver’s 2016 Generalized Land Use map was compiled using a consistent interpretation of all available information. Every effort was made to depict land use activities accurately and consistently across all of the region’s municipalities. Land use classifications were assigned at the municipal cadastre geography wherein each parcel was assigned one single land use classification. Exceptions to this rule occurred in instances where cadastre lots clearly had more than one discrete land use activity which did not fit into one single classification thus requiring the cadastre lot to be split to accommodate multiple land use activities. Exceptions included: hydro right-of-way corridors and school properties (school buildings were classified as ‘Health and Education’ and playing fields coded as ‘Recreation, Open Space and Protected Natural Areas’). Metro Vancouver’s 2016 Generalized Land Use has no official status. It is neither a zoning nor an Official Community Plan map but rather a serves as a ‘regional reference map’ that depicts land activities existing in fall 2016. The 2016 Generalized Land Use is intended to provide a consistent interpretation of on-the-ground land development activity across the Metro Vancouver’s member municipalities, electoral area, and First Nation territories. Based on British Columbia Assessment Authority parcel data, aerial photograph interpretation plus other land data information, land use activities were categorized into one of the twenty-nine classifications defined below. 
Metro Vancouver’s 2016 Generalized Land Use map was compiled using a consistent interpretation of all available information. Every effort was made to depict land use activities accurately and consistently across all of the region’s municipalities. Land use classifications were assigned at the municipal cadastre geography wherein each parcel was assigned one single land use classification. Exceptions to this rule occurred in instances where cadastre lots clearly had more than one discrete land use activity which did not fit into one single classification thus requiring the cadastre lot to be split to accommodate multiple land use activities. Exceptions included: hydro right-of-way corridors and school properties (school buildings were classified as ‘Health and Education’ and playing fields coded as ‘Recreation, Open Space and Protected Natural Areas’). 
Landuse Code Detailed Descriptions: Agriculture (A500): includes actively farmed lands that are cultivated or contain agricultural production facilities such as greenhouses and barns plus inactive and vacant lands in the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) that do not have a recreational, industrial, commercial, institutional, and transportation, communication and utility land use. Any residential landuse that lies within the ALR boundary is classified as A500. Also includes the undeveloped ALR lands at Naval Radio Station Aldergrove in eastern Langley Township. Also includes several properties that are cultivated or contain agricultural production facilities with a location outside the ALR. Many of these latter agriculture properties are anticipated to be redeveloped for urban use in the near future. 
Airport/Airstrip and Ferry (T100): includes airport/airstrip fields and terminals and ferry terminals. 
Cemetery (S420): includes all lands set aside for cemeteries. 
Civic and Other Institutional (S460): includes community ambulance, police and fire stations, correctional facilities, post office, libraries, museums, public art galleries, border crossings, armory, prisons, court facilities and convention centres. Government offices (including city halls) fall under the ‘office’ or ‘other commercial’ land use classification. 
Exhibition, Religious and Other Assembly (S450): includes churches, exhibition grounds, large entertainment and sporting venues, private lodges, non-recreational banquet halls, non-recreation community centres, senior centres, day care and other non-profit centres. 
Health and Education (S400): includes public and private school buildings, university and community college buildings and parking lots (excluding their playing fields and asphalt playgrounds), plus public and private hospitals. 
Hotels, Motels, Rooming Houses (S204): includes stand-alone hotels, motels, rooming house/hotels and SROs. 
Industrial (S300): includes processing, manufacturing, warehousing and wholesaling activities. Additional industrial land activities are captured in the Ports and Airport/Airstrip land use categories. 
Industrial – Extractive (M300): includes uses such as peat extraction, gravel pits, municipal landfill, temporary gravel storage and rock quarries. 
Lakes, Large Rivers and Other Water (R200): includes major water bodies consisting of inlets, large lakes and rivers and other significant water bodies that are excluded from the regional land base. 
Mixed Residential (Low-rise Apartment) Commercial (S230): includes lands permitting up to several floors of commercial use and residential housing when combined is less than five storeys that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Mixed Residential (Mid/High-Rise Apartment) Commercial (S235): includes lands permitting up to several floors of commercial use and residential housing when combined is five or more storeys that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Office (S202): includes private sector and civic office space where building square footage is over 10,000 square feet. 
Parking (T300): includes purpose-built parking structures and dedicated parking lots not associated with adjacent property. 
Vancouver Fraser Port (S600): includes all land based activities occurring on the Vancouver Fraser Port lands. 
Protected Watershed (W400): includes Metro Vancouver watersheds. 
Recreation, Open Space and Protected Natural Areas (R100): includes local, regional and provincial parks (both inside and outside the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve), ecological reserves and wildlife management areas, forested lands actively harvested or devoted to research, uses school playing fields and play grounds, camping parks, commercial RV parks, some undeveloped street allowance/road right-of-way, hydro tower right-of-way, neighbourhood walk paths (not sidewalks) and recreational and community centres, golf courses and ski areas. 
Residential - Institutional and Non-Market Housing (S410): includes group homes, nursing homes, convalescent hospital and other senior care facilities, post-secondary school residences, and other institutional and non-market housing (excluding prisons). 
Residential - Low-rise Apartment (S130): includes apartment structures less than 5 stories that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. Additional low-rise apartments are captured in the Mixed Residential (Low-rise Apartment) Commercial land use category. 
Residential – Mid/High-rise Apartment (S135): includes apartments with 5 stories or more that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. Additional high-rise apartments are captured in the Mixed Residential (Mid/High-rise Apartment) Commercial land use category. 
Residential – Mobile Homes (S100): includes single dwellings placed temporarily on a foundation such as blocks, posts or a prepared pad located within Metro Vancouver’s ‘Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Residential – Rural (S120): includes detached and duplexes dwellings within the Urban Containment Boundary that were not connected and serviced by sewers and located outside Metro Vancouver’s ‘existing urban area’ in 2016. Also includes several large semi-rural estates located within the 2016 existing urban area plus residential dwellings located outside the ALR but within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Rural Area’. 
Residential - Single Detached with No Secondary Unit (S110): includes detached house properties that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Residential – Townhouse (S131): includes row-housing and stacked attached structure types that are serviced by sewers and located within Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy designated 'Urban Containment Boundary’. 
Retail and Other Commercial (S200): includes retail, personal services, private sector and institutional office space where building square footage is less than 10,000 square feet and other commercial activities not captured in other land use classifications. 
Road Right-of-Way (S500): includes all developed roads local, regional and provincial.
Transit, Rail and Other Transportation (T200): includes rapid transit corridors and stations, rail corridors, intermodal terminals, transit depots and other transportation activities not captured in the Airport/Airstrip and Ferry land use category. 
Undeveloped and Unclassified (U100): includes lands outside the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve with no visible development, vacant urban land, and forested or vegetated areas not identified as recreation, open space and protected natural areas or agriculture. 
Utility, Communication and Work Yards (T400): includes electrical substations, telecommunications, liquid waste treatment facilities, landfill transfer sites plus private and public work yards.
Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
110888.0
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2023-05-15
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
Field Value
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
public
License
License used to access the dataset.
Open Government License
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://open-data-portal-metrovancouver.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/metrovancouver::landuse-2016-code-description
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
mvagoladmin
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
Metro Vancouver
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
[email protected]
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
Metro Vancouver
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
Author
Author of the dataset.
mvagoladmin
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
2023-05-17
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
28de9170a9434974bffc24c119261310
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
English
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
https://open-data-portal-metrovancouver.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/metrovancouver::landuse-2016-code-description
Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
Field Value
Version
Version of the datatset
None
Source
Source of the dataset.
None
Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
Metro Vancouver
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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
Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
Field Value
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
61643
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
12
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
739716
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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