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Forward Sortation Area Boundary File, Reference Guide
3. About this product
Purpose of the product
Definitions and concepts
Content
General methodology
Limitations
Comparisons to other products/versions
Using with other products
Reference dates
Purpose of the product
The purpose of the 2011 Census Forward Sortation Area (FSA) Boundary File is to provide a spatial representation of forward sortation areas as reported by census respondents and to facilitate the linkage of 2011 Census data. The file provides a framework to support Geographic Information System (GIS) applications used for land use and demographic studies, social, economic and market research and mapping. The 2011 Census FSA Boundary File can be used with the suite of 2011 Census Boundary Files and the 2011 Census Road Network File, which provides additional reference for mapping.
This product is based upon reported postal codesOM rather than the postal codeOM assigned to the address by Canada Post Corporation. As a result, they should be interpreted as places where respondents reported a postal codeOM other than the one assigned by Canada Post Corporation.
Other differences may arise from the methodology used to delineate the FSA boundaries. As described in Section 5, Data quality, the method used for this product relies on the 2011 Census responses, while those of Canada Post Corporation's are a result of the assignment of postal codesOM for use as a delivery mechanism.
Definitions and concepts
Geographic terms and concepts are briefly defined in the glossary (Appendix A). More details can be found in the 2011 Census Dictionary (Catalogue no. 98-301-X) and the 2011 Illustrated Glossary (Catalogue no. 92-195-X).
Content
The 2011 Census FSA Boundary File contains boundaries for 1,621 FSAs. In total, census respondents reported 1,638 FSAs, seventeen of which are not represented given the methodology described in Section 5, Data quality/Completeness. The 1,621 FSAs portrayed in the boundary file cover the entire country.
A breakdown of the number of FSAs by province and territory is provided below.
| Province or territory | Forward sortation areas |
|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 35 |
| Prince Edward Island | 7 |
| Nova Scotia | 77 |
| New Brunswick | 110 |
| Quebec | 414 |
| Ontario | 516 |
| Manitoba | 64 |
| Saskatchewan | 48 |
| Alberta | 152 |
| British Columbia | 189 |
| Yukon | 3 |
| Northwest Territories | 3 |
| Nunavut | 3 |
| Canada | 1,621 |
A geographic area representing an FSA can be in multiple parts.
General methodology
The National Geographic Database (NGD) is a joint Statistics Canada-Elections Canada initiative to develop and maintain a spatial database which serves the needs of both organizations. The focus of the NGD is the continual improvement of quality and currency of spatial coverage using updates from provinces, territories and local sources. The source files used for the creation of the FSA boundary file reside on Statistics Canada's Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) which was derived directly from data stored in the NGD.
The 2011 Census FSA Boundary File contains the boundaries of 1,621 FSAs derived from postal codesOM captured from 2011 Census questionnaires. By analysing the postal codesOM reported by census households, a single FSA was assigned to each dissemination block (most often the FSA reported by the largest number of census households). FSA polygons were formed by grouping dissemination blocks.
The postal codeOM is a six-character code defined and maintained by Canada Post Corporation for the purpose of sorting and delivering mail. The first three characters of the postal codeOM identify the FSA. Individual FSAs are associated with a postal facility from which mail delivery originates. For the census, the postal codeOM is captured for all households from the address information on the front page of the 2011 Census questionnaire.
To produce the boundary file, the following processes were applied:
Creation of the 2011 Census FSA Digital Boundary File
Steps 1 through 5 were performed for each province and territory individually.
Step 1: Initial assignment of FSAs to dissemination blocks
The FSA was derived from the first three characters of the postal codeOM of each household. The FSA most frequently associated with households in a dissemination block was assigned to that dissemination block. The initial FSAs were assigned in this step for each province and territory by linking census response data to dissemination block unique identifiers. FSAs for dissemination blocks without households were left blank in this layer. In Figure 3.1, the dissemination blocks with an associated FSA are shaded grey.
Figure 3.1 Dominant reported point layer
Step 2: Creation of the initial postal codeOM point layer
Dissemination blocks representative points were generated for each province and territory. Dissemination blocks that did not have an assigned FSA value were assigned the value of the nearest neighbouring representative point (see Figure 3.2) from within the same province or territory. The nearest neighbouring FSA values were then linked back to the provincial or territorial dissemination block polygon layers and updated where blanks previously existed.
Figure 3.2 Assignment of forward sortation area to blank dissemination blocks
Step 3: Creation of FSAs
The polygons with the same FSA value were aggregated to form larger FSA areas (see Figure 3.3).
Figure 3.3 Integration of the forward sortation area and the dissemination blocks
Step 4: Manual editing and generalization of the polygons to improve aesthetic appearance of boundary file (see Figure 3.4).
This included the following steps for each provincial and territorial layer:
- Where there were very small polygons with an FSA value that did not match that of the surrounding area, or where there were non-contiguous FSAs, these polygons were re-assigned the value of the surrounding polygon, where appropriate and where set criteria for number of dwellings reported were met.
- In other instances where FSAs were not contiguous and more than one FSA was reported, these dissemination blocks were examined in terms of the second most frequently reported FSA or the third most frequently reported FSA. Some of the FSAs were then smoothed by taking into consideration the less frequently reported postal codesOM, where applicable.
Figure 3.4 Generalization of the forward sortation area
Step 5: Creation of the provincial and territorial FSA piece
The layer created in Step 4 was dissolved again on the FSA. This resulted in a provincial and territorial FSA piece.
Step 6: Integration of provincial and territorial pieces
The various provincial and territorial FSA pieces were appended into a single coverage, producing a national FSA Digital Boundary File.
Creation of the 2011 Census FSA Cartographic Boundary File
To create the cartographic boundary file, a subset of the full hydrography, the coastal file, was created. This subset of coastal hydrographic features was then used to erase the portions of FSAs that are covered by coastal waters.
The digital and cartographic files were verified for their spatial and attribute content, translated into French and English, and appropriately named according to the file naming convention. Final data processing consisted of the conversion from the File Geo Database format, using FME® (Safe Software), into the following GIS file formats: ArcGIS® (.shp), Geography Markup Language (.gml) and MapInfo® (.tab).
The ArcGIS®, Geography Markup Language and MapInfo® files were compressed into WinZip® files (file extension .zip).
Creation of the 2011 hydrographic reference files
Coastal file
The coastal file was created by selecting a subset of hydrographic features which represent the coastal water bodies surrounding the land area of Canada. This file includes the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and Lake-of-the-Woods.
Inland lakes and rivers (polygon) file
The inland water file was created by selecting water features from the National Geographic Database's hydrographic reference layer. These reference data were sourced from the National Topographic Data Base (1:50,000 and the 1:250,000 maps) and the Digital Chart of the World. In British Columbia, information was supplemented with data from the National Hydro Network. The inland lakes and rivers polygon file contains a selection of water bodies not found in the coastal file.
Inland rivers (line) file
The inland rivers file contains a selection of linear water features such as rivers and streams.
The hydrographic reference files were translated into French and English, and appropriately named according to the file naming convention. Final data processing consisted of the conversion from the File Geo Database format, using FME® (Safe Software), into the following GIS file formats: ArcGIS® (.shp), Geography Markup Language (.gml) and MapInfo® (.tab).
The ArcGIS®, Geography Markup Language and MapInfo® files were compressed into WinZip® files (file extension .zip) and made available for download from the Internet.
Limitations
The positional accuracy of the 2011 Census FSA Boundary File does not support cadastral, surveying, digitizing or engineering applications.
The FSAs contained within this product are those reported by census respondents. The postal codeOM provided by a respondent may not be the same postal codeOM as the one assigned to their dwelling by Canada Post Corporation. Therefore, calculating a provincial population and dwelling count by grouping FSAs will not necessarily yield the same count as the one provided in the provincial or territorial population and dwelling counts table.
The product was created to support the analysis of data from the 2011 Census of Population. It may not be adequate for other purposes, especially if users are interested in business postal codesOM or linking information from other administrative sources.
The geographic data used to create the file were obtained from several sources having a wide range of scales. Boundary files will not be precise if plotted at a larger scale than the scale of the source material used in their creation. Maps created from the boundary file should not be used to determine the precise location of boundaries. The boundary file is not intended to serve as a legal or cadastral representation of 2011 Forward Sortation Areas.
Comparison to other products/versions
The 2011 Census FSA Boundary File is compatible with other Statistics Canada spatial data products such as the 2011 Census Road Network File and 2011 Census Boundary Files. The 2011 Census FSA Boundary File is not necessarily compatible with the 2006 Census FSA Boundary File.
Using with other products
When considering using the 2011 Census FSA Boundary File, users should be aware of the compatibility of this file with those that are available from other sources. They may not be consistent with Statistics Canada files.
Reference dates
Postal codesOM were determined to be applicable for the 2011 Census if they appeared on Canada Post Corporation's Address Lookup File in May 2011, the month of the census. However, postal codesOM provided by the respondents were considered acceptable if they were found in the file from Canada Post Corporation within the six months leading up to the census. This is consistent with the effort to represent the FSA and the postal codeOM whenever they could be considered as being in use at the time of the census.
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