Historic Bathymetry Maps

To access lake maps zoom in on the map and click a lake. Map download links will appear in the pop-up box. This data should never be used for navigation.

The historic bathymetry maps were created using simple methods to determine lake depths and were meant for resource management purposes only.


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 bulk download.


Note: package 99 contains scanned maps where the location shown on the map could not be determined.


Product Packages

Additional Documentation

Status
Completed: Production of the data has been completed

Maintenance and Update Frequency
Not planned: There are no plans to update the data

Contact
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources - Geospatial Ontario,[email protected]

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated March 24, 2026, 20:42 (UTC)
Created March 24, 2026, 20:42 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Historic Bathymetry Maps
Description
A description of the dataset.

To access lake maps zoom in on the map and click a lake. Map download links will appear in the pop-up box. This data should never be used for navigation.

The historic bathymetry maps were created using simple methods to determine lake depths and were meant for resource management purposes only.


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 bulk download.


Note: package 99 contains scanned maps where the location shown on the map could not be determined.


Product Packages

Additional Documentation

Status
Completed: Production of the data has been completed

Maintenance and Update Frequency
Not planned: There are no plans to update the data

Contact
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources - Geospatial Ontario,[email protected]
Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
292632.0
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
19b6e1fbfba846cd80a11acda6b9e1d4
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2023-07-26
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 Licence – Ontario
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://ontariogeohub-lio.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/mnrf::historic-bathymetry-maps-1
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
OntarioProvincialMapping
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
[email protected]
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
Author
Author of the dataset.
OntarioProvincialMapping
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
2025-11-27
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
19b6e1fbfba846cd80a11acda6b9e1d4
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
English
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
https://ontariogeohub-lio.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/mnrf::historic-bathymetry-maps-1
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
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
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.
11367
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.
136404
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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