Ontario Land Inventory Database

The basic purpose of the information provided is for broad or regional levels of resource planning and management. Generally the information gives a broad overview of an area and was not intended to give detailed information on a specific site.

The Ontario Land Inventory (OLI) database provides a digital representation of a series of historical maps created between 1963 and 1977 describing and evaluating Ontario's land resources for its capability for Timber Use, Wildlife Use, Recreation Use and for Shoreland Recreation. Land Classification as used by the Ontario Land Inventory (OLI) is a system of describing the physical features of the land which exert the most significant influence upon the growth of the plant community. The Timber Use Capability ratings of the OLI indicate the potential ability of land to grow tree crops. These ratings are specifically related to the physical features which control the rate of tree growth. Wildlife Use Capability indicates the natural ability of the land to provide the required habitat for a given species. The selection of wildlife species for which an area is rated, is based on the natural range of each species. Recreation Use Capability classifies the land for its inherent ability to attract and sustain recreation use. The physical features of the land determine the intensity of use that can be attracted and sustained. A recreation feature that can attract and sustain use by many people rates higher than a feature that can only attract and sustain a few. The Shoreland Recreation information describes the physical features of the wet beach and backshore of a lake and rates the sites for their capability for bathing and camping activities and lodging and deep water activities. Originally produced as published maps only the Land Classification, Wildlife and Timber information are currently avaliable in a digital format. Support hardcopy published maps, worksheets and source documentation can be assessed through the Archives of Ontario. (excluding Land Classification Series).

Status
On going: Data is continually being updated

Maintenance and Update Frequency
Unknown: Frequency of maintenance for the data is not known

Contact
Ian Smyth, Science and Research Branch, [email protected]

Datasets available for download

• Document LinkHTML

  Linked dataset resource

  To Download

  • More information
  • Go to resource

• MNR
• Ministry of...
• Natural Resources
• ODCSYNC
• Science and Research Branch
• inventory
• land
• land classification
• land management
• land use
• ontario
• open data
• plants and animals
• recreation
• recreation management
• recreation sites
• shorelines
• timber
• timber management
• wildlife
• wildlife management

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (62%)
• Maturity Level 2 (69%)
• Maturity Level 3 (44%)
• Maturity Level 4 (10%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	March 24, 2026, 20:43 (UTC)
Created	March 24, 2026, 20:43 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title Title for the Dataset.	Ontario Land Inventory Database
Description A description of the dataset.	The basic purpose of the information provided is for broad or regional levels of resource planning and management. Generally the information gives a broad overview of an area and was not intended to give detailed information on a specific site. The Ontario Land Inventory (OLI) database provides a digital representation of a series of historical maps created between 1963 and 1977 describing and evaluating Ontario's land resources for its capability for Timber Use, Wildlife Use, Recreation Use and for Shoreland Recreation. Land Classification as used by the Ontario Land Inventory (OLI) is a system of describing the physical features of the land which exert the most significant influence upon the growth of the plant community. The Timber Use Capability ratings of the OLI indicate the potential ability of land to grow tree crops. These ratings are specifically related to the physical features which control the rate of tree growth. Wildlife Use Capability indicates the natural ability of the land to provide the required habitat for a given species. The selection of wildlife species for which an area is rated, is based on the natural range of each species. Recreation Use Capability classifies the land for its inherent ability to attract and sustain recreation use. The physical features of the land determine the intensity of use that can be attracted and sustained. A recreation feature that can attract and sustain use by many people rates higher than a feature that can only attract and sustain a few. The Shoreland Recreation information describes the physical features of the wet beach and backshore of a lake and rates the sites for their capability for bathing and camping activities and lodging and deep water activities. Originally produced as published maps only the Land Classification, Wildlife and Timber information are currently avaliable in a digital format. Support hardcopy published maps, worksheets and source documentation can be assessed through the Archives of Ontario. (excluding Land Classification Series). Status On going: Data is continually being updated Maintenance and Update Frequency Unknown: Frequency of maintenance for the data is not known Contact Ian Smyth, Science and Research Branch, [email protected]
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	MNR Ministry of... Natural Resources ODCSYNC Science and Research Branch inventory land land classification land management land use ontario open data plants and animals recreation recreation management recreation sites shorelines timber timber management wildlife wildlife management
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.	0.07
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry	f30dac4e-2a0a-465e-8621-93674289297a
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2019-03-25
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/lio::ontario-land-inventory-database
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	LandInformationOntario
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Land Information Ontario
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?	[email protected]
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.	Land Information Ontario
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.
Author Author of the dataset.	LandInformationOntario
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.	185c5913ee7545b79e593fa8b0cc8886
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/lio::ontario-land-inventory-database
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 and Forestry
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.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
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.

Please login or register to comment.