Canadian Pedestrian Network Database
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Overview
The Canadian Pedestrian Network Database is a consolidated, national-level collection of pedestrian infrastructure data. It provides a standardized dataset for examining pedestrian networks between municipalities.
The data and metadata files can be downloaded as part of the Linkable Open Data Environment. The Canadian Pedestrian Network Database was produced by the Urban Data Lab at Statistics Canada and is available under the Open Government Licence - Canada.
Download
The Canadian Pedestrian Network Database and associated metadata files are downloadable as a compressed folder:
Further information on methodology and results are available via the metadata report.
What’s included in the dataset?
The Canadian Pedestrian Network Database release includes:
- a geospatial dataset: a file compatible with geographic information systems representing municipal pedestrian networks.
- metadata files: comma-separated value (CSV) files containing information on data sources and column descriptions.
- a metadata report: further information on methodology and results.
Data sources and methodology
Geospatial pedestrian data were collected from municipal open data portals from November 2023 to February 2024. Pedestrian infrastructure encompasses built structures in urban environments designed to support walking as a mode of transportation. Pedestrian infrastructure was classified into eight categories: sidewalks, pedestrian paths, multi-use paths, unpaved paths, pedestrian zones, crosswalks, bridges/ underpasses, and stairways. This exploratory classification schema was designed to align with municipal data and recognized guidelines, such as the Can-Walk Report published by CHATR Lab and Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada.
For more information on methodology see the metadata report that accompanies the Canadian Pedestrian Network Database.
Data overview
A total of 55 municipalities were found to have openly available pedestrian data. The number of municipalities found from each province is shown in Table 1. The coverage across Canada is not exhaustive and may improve with future updates as more data become available.
Municipalities varied in the classes of pedestrian infrastructure they reported. Across Canada, 87% of municipalities had data for sidewalks—making it the most commonly reported category--followed by 55% reporting data on pedestrian pathways, 38% unpaved paths and 24% multi-use paths. Less commonly reported were connecting infrastructure. Only 7% of data corresponded to crosswalks, 13% bridges and underpasses and 9% stairways.
A total of 33% of datasets included width information for pedestrian infrastructure, while 52% included the surface material.
| Province/Territory | Number of municipalities with open data |
|---|---|
| Alberta | 5 |
| British Columbia | 15 |
| Manitoba | 1 |
| New Brunswick | 3 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 0 |
| Northwest Territories | 0 |
| Nova Scotia | 1 |
| Nunavut | 0 |
| Ontario | 23 |
| Prince Edward Island | 0 |
| Quebec | 5 |
| Saskatchewan | 2 |
| Yukon | 0 |
| Total | 55 |
Credits
The Canadian Pedestrian Network Database was made possible by the ongoing efforts of organizations that produce and maintain open data and by the cooperation of organizations that have either given permission to include their publicly available data or directly provided their data for release as open data. The contribution and assistance of these organizations are gratefully acknowledged.
- Data compiled by the Urban Data Lab, Centre for Special Business Projects, Statistics Canada
- Supported by: Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC)
How to cite this dataset
Statistics Canada. (2025). Canadian Pedestrian Network Database. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/34-26-0004/342600042025001-eng.htm.
Contact
For queries, corrections or omissions, please contact us at statcan.lode-ecdo.statcan@statcan.gc.ca. Please include the title of the open database in the subject line of the email.
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