Canadian National Hydrology Features At 1:1 Million Scale

1 million area features represent Canadian lakes, intermittent waterbodies, islands, and wide rivers. The dataset is compiled at a 1:1,000,000 scale for positional integration with other national framework layers and includes connectivity attributes for use with drainage network data. It originates from the Government of Yukon's GeoYukon platform.

Use Cases

• Analyze hydrological connectivity by linking waterbody area features to flow lines in the Drainage Network Skeleton.
• Perform cartographic representation of Canadian hydrology using integrated area, linear, and point geospatial data.
• Map the distribution of lakes and intermittent waterbodies across Canada at a national scale.
• Identify islands within inland waters and their contained waterbodies for geographic completeness.

Strengths

• Contains 1 million area features representing major Canadian hydrological elements.
• Compiled at a standardized 1:1,000,000 scale for national framework integration.
• Includes value-added attributes like river flow direction and connectivity tagging.

Limitations

• Absolute positional accuracy is secondary to correct relative positioning with other framework layers.
• Oceanic islands are excluded, as they are part of the coastline component in a separate dataset.
• The Islands dataset component is not logically connected to the Drainage Network Skeleton for analytical use.

Provenance

Source

Government of Yukon, GeoYukon platform.

Collection Method

Derived from Vector Map level 0 (VMAP0) revision 4 hydrographic layers with revision editing.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Canada, at a national scale.