[Talk-ca] [Talk-us] "Highway X" and the like as names

Sun Jan 23 20:20:44 UTC 2022

The GTA addresses were added from a couple of sources but the main one
was/is LODE, which is municipal data aggregated by StatsCan under their own
licence and not based on their own internal data.  The accuracy of
municipal addresses at worst should be the centroid of the property
parcel.  The issue in this context is you likely won't have them in a rural
area of Alberta since it's usually bigger governments that have open data
rather than towns and townships.  You can get the file from here:
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/lode/databases/oda (scroll down the province
listing).

On a side note - LFS & the National Address Register are separate databases
- the NAR they collect from whatever programs they run that need an address
like LFS and Census.  The aggregated LFS data itself is open data and we
release the custom orders we get at work through our open data portal.  It
looks like they've released access to the NAR through an API but not in
bulk (ex: SHP, GeoJSON) format, which is unfortunate.  I hope they do
release the address registry in bulk at some point - they mentioned they
were going to include postal code(!) and the breadth will help fill major
gaps outside of urban areas that have poor address range accuracy.

-Kevin

On Sun, 23 Jan 2022 at 12:04, john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com> wrote:

> They have all the addresses except those on reservations for the labour
> force survey.  They actually send out people to check for new buildings in
> their area and that costs money.
>
> Getting the right sample is a major part of surveys so for commercial
> reasons you might not get your hands on the LFS data.
>
> Still they have something available as Ontario Metro did an import of
> addresses sometime ago.
>
> Cheerio John
>
> On Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 11:43 AM Kevin Farrugia, <kevinfarrugia at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Currently they have addresses through their LODE program available, but
>> it's an aggregation of currently open data sets from lower levels of
>> government, so it's not complete. They were/are looking at making their own
>> addresses public at some point since they have them for the Census, but not
>> sure what the status of that is...
>>
>> -Kevin
>>
>>
>> On Sun., Jan. 23, 2022, 11:30 a.m. john whelan, <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The other approach would be Stats Canada has an address for every house
>>> for one of its surveys.  Unemployment but they don't call it that.  I'm
>>> pretty certain they are available through Open Data and the license works.
>>>
>>> Cheerio John
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 9:37 AM John Whelan, <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think my acid test would be what address would I use to call
>>>> emergency services?  Remembering these can be federal, provincial or
>>>> municipal.
>>>>
>>>> Cheerio John
>>>>
>>>> Jherome Miguel wrote on 1/22/2022 10:51 PM:
>>>>
>>>> I may fall back on using "Highway X" or something similar when it's
>>>> predominantly or consistently used across the stretch of road within the
>>>> same municipality or another where the highway runs, but there are some
>>>> instances addresses within the same municipality or another along the same
>>>> numbered highway may use another road name. For example, one property will
>>>> use "Highway X" on their address while another property nearby or further
>>>> down the road (within the same municipality or another) uses "Range Road
>>>> XX" or something like that. Another issue is with the naming of
>>>> service/frontage roads ("service road" common usage in Alberta), but that's
>>>> another story and may be complex as they may have their own names (e.g.
>>>> Highway 16A service roads in Spruce Grove and Acheson, and Yellowhead
>>>> service roads in Edmonton, many of which are pre-existing roads or grid
>>>> roads).
>>>>
>>>> Also an additional thought, this issue may also apply to grid roads as
>>>> well, as they may get prominent names often posted in advance at highway
>>>> intersections, but in many cases addresses will be using the grid road
>>>> number (either based on city/town grid or Alberta/Dominion survey grid).
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Jan 22, 2022 at 8:02 PM john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> So in your example of a house address I personally would fall back on
>>>>> the official Canada Post mailing address and use that highway name for the
>>>>> name or is that too simple?
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheerio John
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 9:46 PM Jherome Miguel, <jheromemiguel at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I’m talking about predominant usage to record in the name=* tag,
>>>>>> which can be uncertain, and you might want a name that should be the most
>>>>>> useful for the most data users. In this situation, you got some name in
>>>>>> addition to "Highway X". Sometimes, those names are commonly used (e.g.
>>>>>> Trans-Canada, QE2, Yellowhead, Anthony Henday), and in others, its just the
>>>>>> number (as in my local examples; the road has name[s] but is more commonly
>>>>>> referred to by number). The name is on signs at intersections, interchanges
>>>>>> or on-/off-ramps or the trailblazer at about every 20 km, but locals will
>>>>>> use the highway number for directions or rural addressing. I did replace
>>>>>> cases of "Highway X" across Alberta, but the address signs may say
>>>>>> something as "1234 Highway X", and/or the locals will use the highway
>>>>>> number for wayfinding.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>>>
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