Proximity Measures Database, 2021

A new version of the Proximity Measures Database is now available for the 2021 reference period. The Proximity Measures Database provide a wealth of information at a granular level about the distance and amount of access to essential services and amenities in a given neighbourhood. The measures are released as a normalized index value ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates the lowest proximity and 1 the highest proximity in Canada.

The key updates to the Proximity Measures Database, 2021 include the usage of 2021 Census geographies, 2021 OpenStreetMap road network, and an update of all input data sets for amenities such as the Business Register, Generalized Transit Feeds Specification (GTFS) data, and data from authoritative open data providers. Proximity to public transit is now calculated based on the distance to the dissemination block (DB) that contains the public transit stop and not the stop itself. Lastly, the representative point of dissemination blocks is determined using building footprint (polygon) data rather than the centroid of the DB.

Users are cautioned that the 2021 measures cannot be directly compared to the previous version released in 2020 due to the rescaling process, which sets all values as relative to the minimum and maximum values in the respective time period. Since the minimum and maximum in each period may be different, direct comparison across periods is not possible. Moreover, comparison across periods is also difficult since the representative points of DBs are determined differently.

Concise description of the database and methods

The database contains 10 measures of proximity and a composite indicator that combines some of the proximity measures.

All measures are at the dissemination block^{Note 1}, which provides the highest level of geographic resolution currently possible. Some measures – in particular, public transit and neighbourhood parks – are more limited in their nationwide coverage as data is not always made readily available at the desired geographic level by its administrators. As the number of authoritative open data sources increases, a trend in recent years, future iterations of the proximity measures will have more comprehensive coverage spatially.

Proximity measures are based on a gravity model that accounts for the distance between a reference dissemination block (DB) and all the DBs in which the service is located (within a given distance) and the size of the services. The measure accounts also for the presence of services within the DB of reference.

All measures are based on network distances between the representative points of dissemination blocks (as opposed to straight line distances). For some measures a walking network is used while for other measures a driving network is used, as explained below.

The size of the service is captured by total employment, total revenue of the service or, more simply, the presence of points of access to the service within a given distance. The measure of size of the service is specific to each measure and is explained below.

The measures are released as a normalized index value, meaning that the values resulting from computations were converted to a scale from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates the lowest proximity and 1 the highest proximity in Canada. The values are normalized at the national level in order to retain as much detail as possible. This allows for intricate analyses to be conducted on more granular geographies. Dissemination blocks with no value are those with no service locations within a specified distance threshold.

The data sources and specifications used for each measure are described below. Note that businesses beyond the stated threshold of a reference DB are not included in the measure of that reference DB.

Due to the usage of different data sources for the various types of amenities, some inconsistencies between sources were found. For example, open data sources may suggest that a school exists within a dissemination block but the Business Register (BR) suggests that there is no source of employment within that same dissemination block.

Downloading the Proximity Measures Database

The file is provided in compressed CSV format.

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Proximity Measures Database – full database

The Proximity Measures Database contains 10 measures of proximity and a composite indicator that combines some of the proximity measures.

Proximity Measures Database – full database

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Proximity to employment

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a source of employment within a driving distance of 10 km. This measure is derived from the employment counts of all businesses -- that is, all North American Industry Classification (NAICS) codes in the Business Register.

Proximity to grocery stores

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a grocery store within a walking distance of 1 km. This measure is derived from the total revenue of all NAICS 4451 businesses in the Business Register.

Proximity to pharmacies

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a pharmacy or a drug store within a walking distance of 1 km. This measure is derived from the presence of all NAICS 446110 businesses in the Business Register.

Proximity to health care

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a health care facility within a driving distance of 3 km. This measure is derived from the employment counts of all NAICS 6211, 6212, 6213, 621494, and 622 businesses in the Business Register and supplemented with the Open Database of Healthcare Facilities (ODHF).

Proximity to child care

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a child care facility within a walking distance of 1.5 km. This measure is derived from the presence of all NAICS 624410 businesses in the Business Register.

Proximity to primary education

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a primary school within a walking distance of 1.5 km. Primary schools are classified as education facilities with an International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level of 1. The data source is a conglomeration of the Open Database of Educational Facilities and other sources of education facilities.

Proximity to secondary education

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a secondary school within a walking distance of 1.5 km. The data source is a conglomeration of the Open Database of Educational Facilities and other sources of education facilities where secondary schools are classified as ISCED2 and/or ISCED3.

Proximity to public transit

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any source of public transportation within a 1 km walking distance. This measure is derived from the number of all trips between 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. from a conglomeration of General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data sources.

Proximity to neighborhood parks

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a neighborhood park within a 1 km walking distance. This measure is derived from the presence of all parks from a conglomeration of authoritative open data sources and OpenStreetMap.

Proximity to libraries

Measures the closeness of a dissemination block to any dissemination block with a library within a 1.5 km walking distance. This measure is derived from the presence of all libraries from a conglomeration of open and publicly available data sources and OpenStreetMap.

An aggregate measure was created to indicate neighbourhoods that have access to basic needs for a family with minors. A dissemination block with access to a grocery store, pharmacy, health care facility, child care facility, primary school, library, public transit stop, and source of employment is referred to as an amenity dense neighbourhood.^{Note 2} A high amenity density neighbourhood is defined as an amenity dense neighbourhood that has proximity measure values in the top third of the distribution for each of the eight proximity measures.