Appendices

Appendix 1: Bibliography

Listed below is a partial bibliography of published and unpublished work on defining built-up areas. The analyses and methods in the literature and case studies below apply to varying scales - some at the large scale of a country and others at the very local scale of zoning.

All weblinks cited below were confirmed as active on April 2, 2008.

Batty, Michael Yichun Xie & Zhanli Sun (1999); The Dynamics of Urban Sprawl; CASA Working Paper Number 15. Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London. 
http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/publications/workingPaperDetail.asp?ID=15

Batty, Michael, Elena Besussi, Nancy Chin (2003); Traffic, Urban Growth and Suburban Sprawl; CASA Working Paper Number 70. Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London. 
http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/publications/workingPaperDetail.asp?ID=70

Burchfield, Marcy, Henry G. Overman, Diego Puga, Matthew A. Turner (2003); Causes of Sprawl: A Portrait from Space; Working Paper, University of Toronto Department of Economics.

Federal Register (2002); Urban Area Criteria for Census 2000; Washington DC, Bureau of Census.

Chin, Nancy (2002); Unearthing the Roots of Urban Sprawl: A Critical Analysis of Form, Function and Methodology; CASA Working Paper Number 47. Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London. 
http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/publications/workingPaperDetail.asp?ID=47

Churchman, Arza (1999); Disentangling the Concept of Destiny; Journal of Planning Literature, Vol.13, No. 4, (May) pp.389-411

City of Toronto, (2000); Clean, Green and Healthy: A Plan for an Environmentally Sustainable Toronto; Final report of Environment Task Force. 
http://www.toronto.ca/council/etfepfin.pdf

DRCOG/APA Planning Commissioners Workshop (2002); Civitas.

Australian Department of Primary Industries and Energy / Department of Human Services and Health, (1994); Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas Classification 1991 Census Edition; Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.

United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, (2003); Measuring Rurality: New Definitions in 2003. 
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rurality/NewDefinitions/

Ewing, R., Pendall, R., & Chen, D. (2002); Measuring sprawl and its impact: the character & consequences of metropolitan expansion; Washington DC: Smart Growth America.

Hess, George R. et.al. (2001); Just What is Sprawl, Anyway?; North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.

Miron, John R (2003); Urban Sprawl in Canada and America: just how dissimilar?; University of Toronto at Scarborough. 
http://citieslab.utsc.utoronto.ca/Papers/UrbanSprawl.pdf

Mitchell, Bill (2002); Bibliography of Sources; taken from Compact Cities and Urban Intensification: Desirable, Acceptable, Achievable?

Moglen, G.E., S.A Gabriel and J.A. Faria (2003); A Framework for Quantitative Smart Growth; Land Development's Journal of the American Water Resources Association; Vol. 39 no. 4, pp.947-959. 
http://www.eng.umd.edu/~sgabriel/Research/publications/JAWRA-SmartGrowth.pdf

Northwest Environment Watch (2004); The Portland Exception. A Comparison of Sprawl, Smart Growth, and Rural Land Loss in 15 US Cities; Northwest Environment Watch, Seattle, Washington. 
http://www.sightline.org/

Oregon Health and Science University, (2004); Office of Rural Health; Definitions of Rural & Assessing Healthcare Needs.

Rural Doctors Workforce Agency, (2004); Rural, Remote, Metropolitan Areas Classification.

San Francisco League of Conservation Voters (2004); Definitions & Calculations: This View of Density. 
http://www.sflcv.org/density/

Statistics Canada (2001); Census Dictionary- Geography Section. 
www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/Products/Reference/dict/geotoc.htm

Torrens, Paul M. and Marina Alberti (2000); Measuring Sprawl- CASA Working Paper Number 27; Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London. 
http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/publications/workingPaperDetail.asp?ID=27

United States Census Bureau (2003); Differences Between the 1990 Census and Census 2000 Urbanized Area Criteria.

US Census Bureau, (2004); Census 2000 Urban and Rural Classification.

Waddell, Paul (2000); Monitoring and Simulating Land Capacity at the Parcel Level, in Monitoring Land Supply with Geographic Information Systems: Theory, Practice and Parcel-Based Approaches; Vernez-Moudon, A. and M. Hubner, eds., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York., (pp. 201-214).

Wassmer, Robert W. (2000); Urban Sprawl in a U.S. Metropolitan Area: Ways to Measure and a Comparison of the Sacramento Area to Similar Metropolitan Areas in California and the U.S.; Social Science Research Network.

Zhang, Wanquing, Angella Bowman & Keith Mueller; Rural / Urban Definitions: Alternatives and Numbers by State; Nebraska Centre for Rural Health Research.

Appendix 2: Overview and Description of Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and Ontario Parcel Alliance Datasets

For the purposes of this paper, the two datasets which make up the parcel land-use database are referred to as the OPA dataset for the geographic location and outline of each parcel, and the MPAC dataset for the land use and residential unit count information within each parcel.

Included in these two information sources are geospatial locations, land-use designations and the number of residential units on the property. In theory, the location of every parcel is known, as are its land uses and the number of residential units. Shortcomings in data quality mean that not all these attributes are always known or accurate for all of the approximately 2.4 million parcels within the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The datasets do not include a parcel fabric for roads and water bodies.

The OPA and MPAC datasets obtained by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal contained only land use, unit count, and parcel number information. The datasets used to develop this methodology and those applied in this analysis did not contain any confidential, personal and financial information. For a full list of attributes contained in the MPAC dataset obtained by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal and used for this analysis, please refer to Appendix 3.

Brief overview of MPAC dataset

Every municipality in Ontario is a member of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), a non-share capital, not-for-profit corporation whose main responsibility is to provide its customers – property owners, tenants, municipalities, government and business stakeholders – with property assessments. MPAC administers a uniform, province-wide property assessment system based on current value assessment in accordance with the provisions of the Assessment Act.

MPAC receives all the registered Land Transfer Tax Affidavits (LTTA) within the Province of Ontario. Upon receipt of this information, MPAC investigates and codes this information into its database.

MPAC data is classified into nine key property types:

• Commercial
• Industrial
• Residential
• Farm
• Multi-residential
• Managed Forest
• Pipeline
• Special and Exempt
• Vacant Land

Within each of these types, the following fields were used for compiling the database used to create the built boundary:

• Assessment Roll number
• Property code
• Property code description
• Location address including postal code
• Site Area
• Site Area Unit of measure (Acres or Square Feet)
• Realty Tax Class
• Realty Tax Qualifier
• Number of residential units for:
  • Multi-residential properties
  • Non-residential properties

Brief overview of OPA dataset

The Ontario Parcel Alliance (OPA) has been created jointly by Teranet Enterprises Inc., MPAC and the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The OPA data is a standardized, Ontario-wide, geospatial dataset of assessment, ownership and Crown parcels of land. The OPA database includes parcel boundaries, assessment roll numbers, and property identification numbers where applicable.

The OPA data consists of three parcel layers - assessment, ownership and Crown. Of these, the assessment and Crown layers were used in the creation of a built boundary.

Assessment parcels are areas defined by a boundary and an assessment roll number (ARN), for property assessment purposes as determined by MPAC. The assessment parcel is mapped for the entire province. Crown Land Parcels are those owned by the Crown, and are also mapped for the entire province, except in areas where more detailed sub-ownership mapping already exists.

Benefits and challenges in using MPAC and OPA data for determining a built boundary for the Greater Golden Horseshoe

While the MPAC and OPA datasets have been selected as the most appropriate and useful to identify a built boundary for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the data is not without its challenges.

The key reasons why the MPAC and OPA data are most appropriate are:

• Data is available in a consistent format for the entire geography of the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
• Data is updated regularly and is available annually at a minimum.
• Greater Golden Horseshoe upper-, single- and lower-tier municipalities have full access to these datasets.
• Data tracks residential units each year, which allows for measurement of the Growth Plan intensification target.

Challenges in using this data have included:

• Currency of MPAC data can vary across the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Municipalities report that the data can be as many as two years out of date and that there are errors. The primary reason for this delay is that the reporting processes can take time since there is often a need for individual validation of records. These issues are addressed in Step 4 of the methodology.
• There are some challenges in simply building a combined dataset that has the land use, the number of residential units and the parcel boundaries on it. Part of this is the historical way the files have been built since many uses are made of the same property and thus multiple files have been developed. In addition, linking files between the two datasets can be challenging. These issues are addressed in Step 1 of the methodology.
• There is no parcel or land-use information for roads and highways.
• Land use data on the parcel records may not fully reflect the actual use of the land. There are also often multiple uses on single parcels and though MPAC records list primary and secondary uses, these may not reflect all the actual uses on the parcel. An example of this can be commercial and industrial land where some owners may own more land than they have yet to develop.

The consultation and verification process and application of Step 4 is intended to identify and address such shortcomings in the datasets.

Implications with regard to sub-division developments

The use of parcel data according to their recorded land use by MPAC means that land that has been approved for development, such as registered sub-divisions, but is not yet built, will be considered unbuilt. Similar situations involve newly-built condominium structures. Parcels that are built-up prior to June 16, 2006, the effective date of the Growth Plan, that are not captured in the MPAC dataset and thus not included as part of this analysis, will be identified and accounted for in Step 4 of this methodology.

Appendix 3: Assignment of Summary Land-use Codes to Municipal Property Assessment Corporation Property Codes

Property Code	Number of Parcels	B-Built  UB-Unbuilt  GNA-Greenspace Not Available  V-Available	Description
000	10,778	UB	Not matched - unknown
100	129,361	UB	Vacant residential land not on water
101	1,871	UB	Second tier vacant lot
102	1,998	GNA	Land of a Conservation Authority
103	3,892	GNA	Municipal park (excludes Provincial & Fed parks)
105	5,604	UB	Vacant commercial land
106	6,363	UB	Vacant industrial land
107	102	GNA	Provincial Park
108	15	GNA	Federal park
109	180	UB	Recreational land not on water
110	4,907	UB	Vacant residential/recreational land on water
111	93	UB	Island under single ownership
112	717	UB	Multi-residential vacant land
113	35	UB	Condo development land res
114	4	UB	Condo development land non-res
115	37	B	Dev in progress existing structure
120	523	GNA	Water lot (entirely under water)
125	1,257	UB	Residential development land
127	330	B	Townhouse block freehold
130	2,415	B	Non-buildable land (walkways etc)
134	100	GNA	Land designated and zoned open space
140	29	GNA	Common land
169	173	UB	Vacant land condo res
200	19,644	UB	Farm property without any buildings (no structures may exist)
201	3,993	UB	Farm with residence (with or without secondary structures) but no farm buildings
210	4,093	UB	Farm without a residence but has outbuildings (farm and/or secondary structures)
211	27,977	UB	Farm with a residence (with or without secondary structures) and farm outbuildings.
220	214	UB	Farm without a residence but having a commercial / industrial operation
221	1,413	UB	Farm with a residence and having a commercial / industrial operation
222	103	UB	Farm with a winery
223	11	UB	Grain/feed seed operation
224	263	UB	Tobacco farm
225	1	UB	Ginseng farm
226	4	UB	Exotic farms
228	48	UB	Farm with gravel pit
229	1	UB	Farm with campground etc
230	158	UB	Intensive farm operation without a residence
231	587	UB	Intensive farm operation with a residence
232	136	UB	Large scale greenhouse op
233	25	UB	Large scale swine op
234	345	UB	Large scale poultry op
235	33	UB	Government Agriculture research
240	1,171	UB	Managed forest property vacant not on water
241	49	UB	Managed forest property vacant on water
242	176	UB	Managed forest property seasonal res not on water
243	42	UB	Managed forest property seasonal res on water
244	1,305	UB	Managed forest property residence not on water
245	30	UB	Managed forest property residence on water
260	2,578	UB	Vacant residential/commercial/industrial owned by a non-farmer with a portion being farmed.
261	16,365	UB	Land owned by a non-farmer improved with a nonfarm residence with a portion being farmed.
262	249	UB	Land owned by a farmer improved with a non-farm residence with a portion being farmed.
301	1,589,271	B	Single family detached (not on water)
302	2,343	B	More than one structure used for residential purposes with at least one of the structures occupied permanently
303	4,031	B	Residence with a commercial unit
304	1,665	B	Residence with a commercial/industrial use building
305	46,906	B	Link home
306	5	B	Boathouse with a residence above
307	4	B	Community lifestyle
309	81,745	B	Freehold townhouse/row house
311	206,851	B	Semi-detached residential use (includes true semi and single semi links)
313	13,380	B	Single family detached on lake or river
314	184	B	Clergy residence
322	3,311	B	Semi-detached with both units under one ownership
332	35,621	B	Residential property with 2 self-contained units (typically a duplex) (1)
333	11,129	B	Residential property with 3 self-contained units (1)
334	4,272	B	Residential property with 4 self-contained units (1)
335	1,357	B	Residential property with 5 self-contained units (1)
336	2,139	B	Residential property with 6 self-contained units (1)
340	7,972	B	Multi-residence with 7+ ex row
341	670	B	Multi-residence with 7+ with some commercial
350	358	B	Row Housing with 3-6 units under same owner
352	892	B	Row Housing with 7+ units under same owner
360	1,406	B	Rooming or boarding house
361	129	B	Bachelorette 7+
363	228	B	Housekeeping Cottages no American plan
364	2	B	Housekeeping Cottages <50% American plan
365	499	B	Group Home as defined in the Municipal Act
366	790	B	Student housing off-campus
369	49	UB	Vacant land condo res improved
370	5,103	B	Residential Condominium
371	1	B	Life Lease - No Redemption (no or limited redemption amounts)
372	61	B	Life Lease - Return on Invest (guaranteed return or market value based return on investment)
373	104	B	Cooperative Housing - Equity
374	643	B	Cooperative Housing - Non-equity
375	27	B	Co-ownership
378	1	B	Res leasehold condo corp
380	115	B	Res phased condo corp
381	170	B	Mobile Home - one or more homes on a parcel of land which is not a mobile home park operation.
382	100	B	Mobile Home Park - more than one mobile home on a parcel of land which is a mobile home operation.
383	748	B	Bed and Breakfast establishment (predominant use)
385	7	B	Time-share fee simple
391	19,345	B	Seasonal/Recreational Dwelling(s) - first tier on a lake or river
392	4,202	B	Seasonal/Recreational Dwelling(s) - second tier to water
395	7,971	B	Seasonal/Recreational Dwelling(s) - not associated with a lake or a river
400	1,656	B	Small Office Building
401	393	B	Small Medical/Dental Building single tenant
402	2,822	B	Large Office Building
403	377	B	Large Medical/Dental Building
405	2,643	B	Office Use Converted from House
406	853	B	Retail Use Converted from House
407	43	B	Lumber yard
408	199	B	Beer/LCBO
409	723	B	Retail one story > 10k sf
410	7,771	B	Retail one story < 10k sf
411	968	B	Restaurant - Conventional
412	356	B	Restaurant - Fast Food
413	78	B	Restaurant - Conventional Nat Chain
414	668	B	Restaurant - Fast Food nat Chain
415	137	B	Cinema/Movie House/Drive-in Theatre
416	9	B	Concert Hall/Live Theatre
417	25	B	Entertainment complex with cinema
419	3	B	Auto service 400 series highways
420	1,971	B	Automotive Fuel Station with or without service facilities
421	3,113	B	Speciality Automotive Shop/Auto Repair/Collision Service/Car or Truck Wash
422	791	B	Auto Dealership
423	237	B	Auto Dealership indep dealer or used vehicles
425	370	B	Neighbourhood shopping centre with anchor
426	26	B	Small box shopping centre
427	89	B	Big box shopping centre
428	83	B	Regional Shopping Centre
429	139	B	Community Shopping Centre
430	2,981	B	Neighbourhood Shopping Centre no anchor
431	16	B	Department/Discount Store
432	639	B	Banks and similar financial institutions < 7,500 sf
433	58	B	Banks and similar financial institutions > 7,500 sf
434	234	B	Freestanding supermarket
435	78	B	Large retail building centre
436	184	B	Freestanding large retail > 30,000 sf
438	156	B	Neighbourhood shopping centre with offices
441	344	B	Tavern small hotel
444	167	B	Full service hotel
445	141	B	Limited service hotel
447	2	B	Condo hotel unit
450	471	B	Motel (other than seasonal)
451	14	B	Seasonal Motel
460	20	B	Resort Hotel
461	1	B	Resort Lodge
462	45	B	Country inns and small inns
465	18	V	Child/Community camp/resort
470	120	B	Multi-type complex - defined as a large modern complex having multi-residential (seven units or more) and/or condominium together with co
471	19,615	B	Retail with residential unit(s) (above or behind)
472	623	B	Retail with office(s)
473	582	B	Retail with more than one non-retail use
475	195	B	Commercial condominium
476	6	B	Commercial condominium live/work
477	1,110	B	Retail with office < 10,000
478	209	B	Retail with office > 10,000
480	1,116	B	Surface parking lot ex fac
481	51	B	Parking garage - not associated.
482	95	B	Surface parking lot in conj
483	1	B	Parking garage - in conj
486	236	V	Campground
487	20	UB	Billboard
489	27	V	Driving range - not part of course
490	573	V	Golf course
491	32	V	Ski resort
492	111	B	Marina - on waterfront defined as a commercial facility for the maintenance
493	10	B	Marina - not on waterfront defined as a commercial facility for the maintenance
495	102	B	Communication tower
496	511	B	Communication buildings or communication structures
500	8	UB	Mine active
501	2	UB	Mine inactive
505	1	B	Saw/lumber mill
510	217	B	Heavy manufacturing ex auto
511	8	B	Pulp and Paper mill
512	61	B	Cement/asphalt manufacturing plant
513	116	B	Steel Mill
514	35	B	Automotive assembly/automotive parts manufacturing plant
515	4	B	Shipyard/drydock
516	7	B	Auto parts
517	17	B	Speciality steel
518	3	B	Smelter ore processing
520	14,386	B	Standard industrial properties not specifically identified by other Industrial
521	14	B	Distillery/brewery
522	45	B	Grain handling (including transfer elevators
523	33	B	Grain handling primary elevators
525	1	B	Process elevator
527	11	B	Abattoir/slaughter/rendering
528	5	B	Food processing
529	7	B	Freezer plant/cold storage
530	2,877	B	Warehousing
531	255	B	Mini-warehousing
532	1	B	Dry cleaning plant
535	1	B	Research and development facilities
540	4,055	B	Other industrial (all other types not specifically defined)
544	4	B	Truck terminal
545	16	B	Major distribution centre
550	2	B	Petro-chemical plant
551	4	B	Oil refinery
553	1	B	Bulk Oil/fuel distr
555	9	B	OPG hydraulic generating station
556	4	B	OPG nuclear generating station
558	395	B	Hydro One transformer station
560	678	B	MEU transformer station
561	2,250	B	Hydro One right-of-way
562	8	B	Private hydro right-of-way
563	16	B	Private hydraulic generating station
565	1	B	Private generating station (fossil fuel and Cogen)
566	20	B	Private transformer station
575	644	B	Industrial condominium
580	2,960	B	Industrial mall
588	83	B	Pipelines transmission
589	194	B	Compressor station distr gas
590	1,211	B	Water treatment pumping
591	1	B	Sewage/waste disposal (treatment)
592	9	B	Dump/transfer/incineration/land fill
593	782	B	Gravel pit
594	5	UB	Peat moss op
595	4	B	Heat or steam plant
596	6	B	Recycling facility
597	2,365	B	Railway right of way
598	253	B	Railway buildings
599	115	B	GO transit station/yard
601	214	B	Post secondary education - university
602	78	B	Multiple occupancy education institutional residence located on or off campus (e.g. Dormitories) Apartments or fraternity/sorority houses
605	3,474	B	School (elementary or secondary
608	153	B	Day care/nursery
610	144	B	Other educational institutions (e.g. schools for blind
611	259	B	Other institutional residences
621	157	B	Hospitals
623	10	B	Continuum of care seniors
624	24	B	Retirement/nursing homes
625	307	B	Nursing homes
626	344	B	Old age/retirement home
627	7	B	Other health care facility (e.g. Clarke Institute)
630	3	B	Federal Penal institution
631	23	B	Provincial Penal institution
632	7	B	Other Penal institution
700	649	B	Place of worship - with clergy res
701	4,002	B	Place of worship - without clergy res
702	1,016	B	Cemetery
703	2	B	Cemetery with non-internment
705	271	B	Funeral home
710	433	B	Recreational non-commercial sport club (ex golf and ski)
711	48	B	Bowling alley
713	3	B	Casino
715	14	B	Race track - auto
716	9	B	Race track horse with slots
718	75	B	Exhibition grounds/fair grounds
720	368	B	Commercial Sport complexes/pools/arenas/stadiums
721	68	B	Non-Commercial Sport complexes/pools/arenas/stadiums
722	1	B	Professional sports complexes
725	20	B	Amusement park
726	14	B	Amusement park large regional
730	131	B	Museum and art gallery (non-profit)
731	235	B	Library and literary institutions
733	9	B	Convention conference centre
734	38	B	Banquet hall
735	716	B	Assembly hall
736	874	B	Clubs private
739	18	B	Local gov't airport
740	9	B	Airport leasehold
741	4	B	Airport Authority
742	152	B	Public transportation facility
743	4	B	International bridge/tunnel
744	15	B	Private airport hangar
745	4	B	Recreational airport
746	49	B	Subway station
748	9	B	Transit garage
749	14	B	Public Transport - other
750	7	B	Scientific/pharmaceutical/medical research facility
755	1	B	Lighthouses
760	20	B	Military base or camp
761	20	B	Armoury
762	1	B	Military education facility
805	154	B	Post Office
806	5	B	Postal; mechanical sorting facility
810	459	B	Fire Hall
812	42	B	Ambulance Base
815	93	B	Police Station
828	12	B	Gov't research pred offices
832	1	B	Gov't canals & locks
840	12	B	Port authority - port activities
842	12	B	Port authority - other activities
-	2,414,229	-	-

Source: MPAC, May 2006

Appendix 4: Other Data Sources Evaluated for the Built Boundary Methodology

Various sources were examined for comprehensiveness, applicability to the policy application of a built boundary for the purposes of the Growth Plan, level of geographic detail, currency of the data, accuracy of the data, availability of the data and its expected availability over time.

Statistics Canada's quinquennial census data

This is the most exhaustive source of demographic information available for very local areas of geography. Statistics Canada does define the 'urban area' for every urbanized place in Canada. The geographic specificity of the data as stored and as published is too broad in areas that are on the fringe of the urban area. Fringe area boundaries encompass extensive areas of undeveloped land and thus this data is inappropriate for the level of detail required to measure the objectives of the Growth Plan.

Private sector annual updates of the census data

A number of companies in Canada prepare annual 'updates' of the Census on the same geographic basis as the Census is published. These data are not based on actual fieldwork but are based on models developed using data trends at larger levels of geography and thus do not necessarily reflect actual changes on the ground. They also have the same geographic challenges as Statistics Canada data.

Canada Post

Canada Post maintains a count of residential and business delivery points for every postal code in Canada and updates these counts on a monthly basis. A residential delivery point is very similar to the household concept used by the Census and is also very similar to a residential unit as used to measure intensification in the Growth Plan. However, the geography of postal codes on the fringes of urban areas and in rural areas is inexact and very large and thus cannot be used for defining a built boundary.

Utilities

Electric, gas and telephone utilities keep track of where their customers are located. Theoretically, this information could be assembled into a database that would permit an address-based dataset to be compiled that could be used to define built-up areas. Unfortunately, there is no such compilation and the prospects of being able to work with all the organizations involved to derive such a composite database, even within one utility sector, are unlikely. There would also be no guarantee that the information would be available annually. Geographic boundaries may also vary from utility to utility.

Aerial and satellite imagery

The automated and/or manual analysis of aerial and satellite imagery for defining urban areas has become a well-recognized and commonly accepted method for defining the urbanized extent of a city or a large region. The methods and data sources involved are complex. They are publicly available but are rarely undertaken over large areas. There are also some accuracy issues and a significant amount of ground validation is needed. The key shortcoming is that this approach has no direct ability to count one of the Growth Plan's key measures, that of residential units (since under any one rooftop visible on aerial photos could be very few or very many residential units). Also, while the approaches can differentiate between urban and non-urban uses, they have difficulty in differentiating different types of unbuilt land within existing urban uses (conservation areas from golf courses from parks, etc.) Such differentiation is important in setting where boundaries should actually be drawn.

Importantly, these images are the best indication of what is actually happening on the ground since they represent a real-life 'picture' at a point in time. They can also be repeated at regular intervals and can be expected to be available for the life of the Growth Plan. They will always be useful sources of information for refining a built boundary, but would not be used as the primary source for defining it.

Planning designations and related records

Most planning departments keep track of the use of land within their jurisdiction. They use a variety of data sources and organize and display the information according to their own particular needs. Land-use classifications can vary as can the determination of what the land is currently being used for as compared to what the land is zoned for. In many cases, actual geographic limits of a use are not pinpointed – only an approximation of the location and size. The currency and update schedules for these maps and data can vary. Also, these efforts focus on land and usually do not include a count of the number of residential units involved.

Some attempts have been made to assemble a composite picture of land-use planning designations across all the jurisdictions in the Greater Golden Horseshoe but none has yet been assembled that covers all municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has a process in place to assemble a composite map that shows where urban land use is permitted according to official plans. However, this project does not identify where development currently exists.

Building permits and housing starts and completions

Since new residential units and most sizeable conversions require building permits, a system that tracks where these permits are located and then monitors them through to completion (starts and completions) could be used to identify built-up areas. Following building permits through to construction is important since it should be noted that many permits are issued that are subsequently not used to build or to convert a residential unit. At this time, no such consistent, composite monitoring is done across the entire Greater Golden Horseshoe. Very few municipalities geocode their building permits – i.e. assign a latitude and longitude position for each permit. It also appears that even fewer municipalities then track by location the start and completion of the new building and/or conversion. No provincial or federal organization does this. The Canada Housing and Mortgage Corportaion and Statistics Canada collect summary statistical information from local authorities but it is at the scale of each municipality. Thus this approach cannot be used.

Appendix 5: Sources and Currency Dates of Data

Datasets	Attribute used/ Data	Source	Date
Primary Datasets	Land uses and residential unit counts	Municipal Property Assessment Corporation	Current to end of 2005 (Tax Roll 2006 file)
Primary Datasets	Parcel geography	Ontario Parcel Alliance (Land Information Ontario)	May 2006
Primary Datasets	Settlement Areas	Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing	Revised to reflect most current extents in consultation with municipalities in Winter 2008.
Secondary Datasets	Upper-, Lower- and Single-Tier boundaries	Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing	January 2006
Secondary Datasets	Ontario Indian Reserves 2006 Update	Land Information Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources	March 2006
Datasets used to aid refinement in Step 4	Ontario Road Network	Land Information Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources	June 2006
Datasets used to aid refinement in Step 4	Statistics Canada Hydrological Layer	Statistics Canada	2006
Datasets used to aid refinement in Step 4	Othophotos (MrSid format)	Ministry of Natural Resources	2002 for entire Greater Golden Horseshoe  2005 for the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton  2006 for the Grand River area

Please note that the refinement methodology described in Step 4 allows corrections for errors, omissions, and out-of-date elements in these datasets.

Related

Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2006

A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2019