Municipal Building Footprints and Fire Safety Attributes

Polygonal data for public and private buildings in Shawinigan, Québec, includes attributes for building type, address, height, and fire safety features. The Government and Municipalities of Québec maintains this layer, with attribute information updated in 2012 and building footprints digitized from new orthophotography as of 2025. This dataset is provided under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Classify building types and usage using the `type_building` and `usage_` columns for urban density analysis.
• Calculate building footprint area and perimeter for property assessment using the `st_area (shape)` and `st_length (shape)` attributes.
• Assess fire safety infrastructure by analyzing the presence of `sprinklers` and distances to water sources like `distance_bf` (Fountain terminal).
• Model building height and volume for 3D city modeling or solar potential studies using the `height` column.
• Geocode and validate property addresses for civic applications using the `address` and `Number` fields.

Strengths

• Includes fire safety attributes updated following a 2012 Fire Department study.
• Building footprints are digitized from new orthophotography, with updates planned for 2025.
• Contains specific columns for building physical characteristics like `height` and `roof_type`.

Limitations

• The core attribute information is from 2012 and may not reflect recent construction or changes.
• Unknown total number of building records (rows) and spatial extent completeness.
• Some column descriptions are vague or machine-translated (e.g., `flow_lpm`, `gpm_speed`), potentially affecting interpretability.

Provenance

Source

Government and Municipalities of Québec | Gouvernement et municipalités du Québec.

Collection Method

Digitization from orthophotography, with schematic footprints added from residential building permits.

Time Range

Attribute information from 2012, with ongoing footprint updates.

Freshness

Updated via new orthophotography digitization, with a recent metadata update in April 2026.

Geography

Territory of the city of Shawinigan, Québec, Canada.