Historic Landcover of Southern Ontario: Pre-European Settlement

Historic Landcover of Southern Ontario: Pre-European Settlement

This map is the digitization of a 1970's mapping project that used surveyors field notes created during the southern Ontario settlement period from 1793 to 1850.

Sadia Butt

doi:10.5683/SP3/2DVSW8

Geospatial

CC-BY 4.0

Canada, Ontario

North America

Peter Findlay in the mid-1970's transferred information from surveyors notes to county maps at the University of Waterloo, linked here. In 2002 Sadia Butt digitized these in Arcview 3.2 for The Integrated Mapping and Assessment Lab (IMAP), Environment Canada at the University of Toronto. In 2016 these maps were re-projected and cleaned up at the Map and Data Library at the University of Toronto. The final version was edited in 2023 and the data is available for public use. Peter Findlay took great care to demonstrate the general forest type and then penciled in associate species. The project captured some of these special associations in the T_Code name and added the species in some notes. Not all associated species observed are entered due to time constraints and users are advised to look at the original maps associated with this digitization in their area of interest.

Use limitations: These are first approximations based on surveyor methodology which involved the running of concession lines that were measured using simple tools of compass and chains. Along the concessions, lots were marked off at 67 chains (1 chain = 66 feet = 20.12m). The surveyors noted the vegetation cover along these lines. Thus the polygons created are accurate observations along the concession lines but are not guaranteed for the areas in between as they were built as interpolations by Peter Findlay. There are also limitations with respect to identification of species such as maple and oaks only to the genus level.

Arts and Humanities, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Social Sciences

Ontario landcover