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Open Data catalogue

The Open Data catalogue provides free and open access to over 130 City datasets. New datasets are added on a continual basis.

Open and accessible data

Open and accessible data is defined as non-personally identifiable data that is made freely available to everyone in one or more open and accessible formats.

Explore the Open Data catalogue

When you download datasets, you are agreeing to the licences in the tab below.

View the list of datasets

Related projects

Digital Strategy
Corporate Business Plan (3.6 MB)

Changes to voting division boundaries and voting places datasets

September 15, 2014 – Changed the voting division boundaries dataset to static because Vancouver voters can now vote at any voting place in the city, eliminating the need for voting divisions. Also updated and improved voting places dataset.

Improved property tax report dataset

September 3, 2014 – Improved data and descriptions of the property tax report dataset with two new data fields.

Water (fire) hydrants

August 26, 2014 – Added dataset on locations and attributes of water (fire) hydrants in the city. Data is available in CSV, XLS, DWG, KML, and SHP formats.

Cultural spaces

June 3, 2014 – Added dataset on locations and attributes of cultural spaces. Data is available in CSV and XLS formats.

City Council meeting minutes – archival data

April 14, 2014 – Added City Council meeting minutes and reports for all of the meetings held in the 1970s. Data is available in text (TXT) format and will be refreshed as optical character recognition (OCR) errors are corrected.

Improved data for Council contact information and food asset dataset

February 21, 2014 – Improved City Council contact information dataset with nine additional data fields.

Updated and added coordinates data to community garden and fruit tree dataset.

Improved data for road construction activity and projects

November 6, 2013 – The Road Ahead data package is now refreshed daily in DWG, KML, and SHP formats. Also, new Atom feeds are updated hourly from 7:00am to 7:00pm, Monday to Friday.

3-1-1 case location details data

October 3, 2013 – Added 3-1-1 case location details data. Data is electronically extracted to CSV and XLS formats and is refreshed monthly.

Greenest City projects data

August 26, 2013 – Added a list of projects that are part of the initiatives under the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. Data is available in CSV, XLS and KML formats and is refreshed quarterly.

Community food assets data

July 8, 2013 – Added two new community food assets datasets. One dataset provides information about community food markets and farmers markets, the other dataset provides information about food trees and community gardens. Data is available in XLS and CSV formats and is refreshed every six months.

3-1-1 case volume data and improved interaction volume data

May 2, 2013 – Added 3-1-1 case volume data. Interaction volume data is now extracted electronically and is refreshed monthly. Available in CSV and XLS formats.

2011 orthophotos

April 18, 2013 – Added orthophotos for 2011, available in ECW and MrSID formats. 2006, 2008, and 2009 orthophotos are also available. All photos are in high-quality 10cm pixel resolution.

Awarded contracts for goods and services

April 16, 2013 – Released data about contracts that have been posted publicly and awarded in 2012 to the supplier community to purchase goods and/or services for the Vancouver Group (City of Vancouver, Vancouver Park Board, Vancouver Police Board, and Vancouver Library). Available in CSV and XLS formats.

2001 - 2011 Census local area profiles

March 26, 2013 – Data provided by Statistics Canada from the 2001, 2006 and 2011 Census as custom profile data orders using the City’s 22 local planning areas. Available in CSV and XLS formats.

Council expenses 2012 - Quarter 4

March 12, 2013 – Individual Council members expenses and annual travel and training expenses released for 2012 Quarter 4. Available in CSV, XLS, and XML formats.

Sixteen spatial datasets

February 21, 2013 – Sixteen spatial datasets have just been added to Open Data. They are available in DWG, KML, and SHP formats.

Rental standards - current issues

February 7, 2013 – Released data about licenced rental properties that have current (unresolved) bylaw issues. Available in CSV, XLS, XML, and JSON formats. The data is updated daily.

Bike racks

January 28, 2013 – Released location data of bike racks that are installed on City property. Available in CSV and XLS formats.

Weekend playfield status

January 16, 2013 – Playfield status for weekend play has just been added to Open Data. Available in CSV, XLS, XML and JSON formats.

View list of older updates

Data formats

Datasets are made available in one or more formats depending on the type and context of the data.

CSV/XLS

This is a basic text format that can be opened by many applications including Excel and other spreadsheet applications.

Excel may not display content in CSV correctly.

DWG

DWG is a "de facto GIS standard" format native to Autodesk design and GIS software. It can be consumed by a wide variety of Autodesk and non-Autodesk software packages.

Learn more about DWG

ECW

ECW is a format used for geo-referenced raster images that is highly compressed.

GeoJSON

GeoJSON is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-readable data interchange. GeoJSON is a version of JSON that focuses on geographically-based data.

Learn more about GeoJSON

JSON

JSON is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-readable data interchange.

Learn more about JSON

KML

KML is a mark-up language developed by Keyhole Inc. and subsequently acquired by Google to display data in Google Maps, Google Earth and similar applications. KML is an Open Geospatial Consortium standard.

Learn more about KML

MrSID

MrSID (pronounced "Mister SID") is a format used for geo-referenced raster images that is highly compressed. The MrSID version of the facetized orthophotos are only about 5% of the size of their GeoTiff versions.

SHP

SHP (pronounced "shape") is a "de facto GIS standard" format native to ESRI GIS software. It can be consumed by a wide variety of ESRI and non-ESRI software packages.

Learn more about SHP

Web feed

A web feed (or news feed) is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it.

Learn more about web feeds

Note: DWG, SHP, TIF, Mr. SID and ECW formats are projected in UTM zone10, NAD83 (CSRS). KML and CSV/XLS formats are projected in latitude, longitude (WGS84); this is relevant for CSV/XLS files only if they contain latitude and longitude.

Why are there two licences?

On September 24, 2013, the City adopted the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. This licence is based on version 2.0 of the Open Government Licence – British Columbia, which was adapted from the Open Government Licence – Canada.

The Open Government Licence – Canada was developed through public consultation and collaborative efforts. As a result, this licence states terms for accessing and using government data that are consistent with those applied by several other Canadian government bodies. This consistency makes it easier for users to combine, integrate, and share data from multiple sources across Canada.

Before adopting this new licence, the City used the Archived Open Data Licence.

What licence applies?

Depending on when data was obtained from this website, a specific licence applies.

For data sets obtained:

On or after September 24, 2013, refer to the Open Government Licence – Vancouver
Before September 24, 2013, refer to the Archived Open Data Licence

Open Government Licence – Vancouver

The Open Government Licence – Vancouver is based on version 2.0 of the Open Government Licence – British Columbia, which was developed through public consultation and collaborative efforts by the provincial and federal government. The only substantive change to the licence is references to the Province of British Columbia are replaced with the City of Vancouver.

You are encouraged to use the Information that is available under this licence with only a few conditions.

Using Information under this licence

Use of any Information indicates your acceptance of the terms below.
The Information Provider grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive licence to use the Information, including for commercial purposes, subject to the terms below.

You are free to:

Copy, modify, publish, translate, adapt, distribute or otherwise use the Information in any medium, mode or format for any lawful purpose.

You must, where you do any of the above:

Acknowledge the source of the Information by including any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider and, where possible, provide a link to this licence.

If the Information Provider does not provide a specific attribution statement, or if you are using information from several information providers and multiple attributions are not practical for your product or application, you must use the following attribution statement:

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver.

The terms of this licence are important, and if you fail to comply with any of them, the rights granted to you under this licence, or any similar licence granted by the Information Provider, will end automatically.

Exemptions

This licence does not grant you any right to use:
1. Personal Information
2. Information or Records not accessible under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (B.C.)
3. Third party rights the Information Provider is not authorized to licence
4. The names, crests, logos, or other official marks of the Information Provider
5. Information subject to other intellectual property rights, including patents, trade-marks and official marks

Non-endorsement

This licence does not grant you any right to use the Information in a way that suggests any official status or that the Information Provider endorses you or your use of the Information.

No warranty

The Information is licensed “as is”, and the Information Provider excludes all representations, warranties, obligations, and liabilities, whether express or implied, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
The Information Provider is not liable for any errors or omissions in the Information, and will not under any circumstances be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or other loss, injury or damage caused by its use or otherwise arising in connection with this licence or the Information, even if specifically advised of the possibility of such loss, injury or damage.

Governing law

This licence is governed by the laws of the province of British Columbia and the applicable laws of Canada.
Legal proceedings related to this licence may only be brought in the courts of British Columbia.

Definitions

In this licence, the terms below have the following meanings:

"Information"

means information resources or Records protected by copyright or other information or Records that is/are offered for use under the terms of this licence.

"Information Provider"

means The City of Vancouver.

“Personal Information”

has the meaning set out in Schedule 1 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (B.C.).

“Records”

has the meaning set out in section 29 of the Interpretation Act (B.C.).

"You"

means the natural or legal person, or body of persons corporate or incorporate, acquiring rights under this licence.

Versioning

This is version 1.0 of the Open Government Licence - Vancouver. The Information Provider may make changes to the terms of this licence from time to time and issue a new version of the licence. Your use of the Information will be governed by the terms of the licence in force as of the date you accessed the Information.

Archived Open Data Licence

By accessing the open data datasets, you agree to these Terms of Use, which are intended to protect and promote the City's commitments to open data and ensure that the recipients of these datasets give back to the community the benefits they derive from these datasets. If you have any questions or comments about these Terms of Use, please contact 3-1-1.

For further certainty, this open data section of these Terms of Use apply only to the open data datasets portions of this site and apply to the exclusion of the other sections of these Terms of Use which limit your rights of use to the information on this site. However, all other sections of this Terms of Use which protect the City from legal proceedings and limit the City’s liability apply equally to your use of the open data datasets.

Your Open Licence to the datasets

The City now grants you a world-wide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use, modify, and distribute the datasets in all current and future media and formats for any lawful purpose. You now acknowledge that this licence does not give you a copyright or other proprietary interest in the datasets.

If you distribute or provide access to these datasets to any other person, whether in original or modified form, you agree to include a copy of, or this uniform resource locator (URL) for, this open data section of these Terms of Use and to ensure they agree to and are bound by them but without introducing any further restrictions of any kind.

Giving the City credit

Although you are not required to credit the City for each use or reproduction of the open data datasets, you are entitled to do so and encouraged to conspicuously announce that these datasets are publicly available from the City under these Terms of Use. Upon the request of the City, you may be required to remove a credit from future uses or reproductions should the City decide that such credit is not in the public interest.

No endorsement

You may not publicly represent or imply that the City is participating in, or has sponsored, approved, or endorsed the manner or purpose of, your use or reproduction of the open data datasets.

How to link directly to this tab

To reference the licences on this tab for when you use datasets, use the vanity URL vancouver.ca/open-government-licence.

Open and accessible data

In May of 2009, Vancouver City Council passed a motion referred to as Open3 declaring that the City of Vancouver will endorse the principles of open and accessible data and will freely share with citizens, business, and other jurisdictions the greatest amount of data possible while respecting privacy and security concerns.

Read the motion (23 KB)

The data that people want

The City’s response to this motion involved an initial assessment of what data could and should be made available in the short-term. We identified data that was of most interest to the community and that had already been vetted through many of the legal, business, and technical processes required to make information publicly available. This turned out to be much of the spatial data that we currently publish through VanMap, which is our public mapping portal.

Publishing data

We then launched the Open Data website in September 2009 and have been adding new data to it since then.

In May of 2010, we developed a longer term plan for open data. The plan outlined short and long terms goals, including the publication of certain datasets, engagement with users of open data, and moving open data from project phase to an operational program.

City wins 2011 Most Innovative Organization in BC Award

BC Business recognized the City of Vancouver as the Most Innovative Organization in BC in 2011 for its open data initiative.

"... Our experts were unanimous in their view that the city’s open-data initiative – which aims to make the city’s vast trove of data publicly available online – is a true breakthrough."

Read the rest of the article in BC Business

First annual Open Data Hackathon

On February 23, 2013, we held an Open Data Hackathon to encourage citizens to write applications, liberate data, create visualizations, and publish analyses using open public data.

Learn more about the success of this annual event:

Improve access to government data

In September 2013, the City adopted the Canadian Open Government Licence (OGL). It gives users consistent terms for accessing and using government data, making it easier to combine, integrate, and share data from multiple providers across Canada. This is a major step towards encouraging wider use of open data and delivering more value to the public. Vancouver joins the Government of Canada, Provinces of BC, Alberta, and Ontario, and the cities of Nanaimo, Edmonton, and Toronto in adopting the OGL.

Ask. Tell. Connect.

Phone 3-1-1 to ask, tell, and connect with the City

Outside Vancouver:
604-873-7000

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Contact: City of Vancouver, 453 W 12th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1V4 info@vancouver.ca