How To Buy Teranet Parcels For CAD & GIS

In Ontario, parcel mapping defining the boundaries of each property is maintained by Teranet. First Base Solutions is the official map data reseller to Canadian businesses working in land development, engineering, natural resources and more.

How To Buy Parcels In CAD & GIS Formats

If you use CAD or GIS software for your mapping projects, there are two recommended ways to purchase a section of the data in DWG or SHP format; MapWarehouse or custom order.

MapWarehouse

The mapping coverage of many kinds of spatial data has been clipped into a grid of 500m x 500m tiles across Southern Ontario. Use the map based search to pick the tiles that cover your area of interest and add them to your shopping cart. Tiles of parcel PINs are priced at a flat rate of $77.00 +tax per tile with the purchase of aerial imagery.

Pros:

• Fast and always available
• Excellent value in dense urban areas
• Choose SHP or DWG format

Cons:

• Only POLARIS quality PINs are available (see the map below)
• Parcels are clipped to tile boundaries

Parcels will be clipped to tile boundaries.
Closed polygons are shown in blue.

The same tile shown in context. More than one tile will
be needed for parcels that fall on the tile boundary.

What You'll Get

At the checkout, you will pick from a SHP or DWG delivery. You will receive *.zip folder containing a 500m x 500m clipped tile of line work defining the parcel boundaries. DWG files will contain PIN text as well. SHP format deliveries will contain one line file for the boundaries and one point file containing the PIN attribute.

 

Custom Order

Contact customer service directly to make your request. To expedite the process, you should provide the following information:

- The county or regional municipality where it's located.
- If your company has more than one branch office, your address.
- The end users' company and contact information if you are purchasing the parcel mapping as a consultant or subcontractor for a third party.
- File format preference (SHP or DWG).
- Datum and projection preference (Default is NAD83 UTM Original).
- Your internal job number to appear on the invoice for reference.

And:

- A boundary file to delineate the area of interest; OR
- A list of PINs as 9 digits numbers, without spaces, dashes; or other characters; OR
- A point coordinate or line, plus a buffer distance to search.

Pros:

• Exactly the parcel(s) you need, no more no less
• Select by corridors
• Refine your selection based on acreage or intersection with another file you provide
• Excellent value for large parcels spanning several tiles 
• Choose PIN, ARN, or both 
• All parcels are available, not just POLARIS

Cons:

• Each order is limited to 3000 PINs 
• Only available during business hours
• Fees for custom labour will apply

What You'll Get

DWG orders will be delivered in a similar way as MapWarehouse, but with complete parcel geometry as there is no need to clip parcels at tiles boundaries. SHP orders are delivered as closed polygon features with the PIN number in the attribute table.

Cadastre Disaster 
* Quality standards here refer to the accuracy of the lot line locations only, not to other information about the property.

Parcel mapping is a messy business. In the past, this mapping was created and maintained by multiple organizations using different standards of quality.  Today, the legacy of patchwork has been simplified into three quality categories based on the source material the mapping was derived from.

POLARIS (Province of Ontario Land Registration Information System): Best spatial accuracy
Produced from established parcel mapping, surveys, and reliable control information.

BIM (Basic Index Mapping): Mid level spatial accuracy
Produced from 1:10,000 MNR mapping. Ground truth locations are less accurate than POLARIS mapping, but the relationship between neighbouring properties is good.

Pre-BIM: Lowest spatial accuracy
Produced from a combination of MNR mapping, older paper map and government sources of 1:10,000 or less.

** Northern Ontario is Pre-BIM

Accuracy can vary from area to area. Better accuracy can be expected in areas with reliable, controlled surveys, typical of larger and newer urban centres. Lesser accuracy can be expected in rural areas where surveys are less available.

*** Parcel mapping, no matter which quality, is not a plan of survey.