Data Interest Group for Reference Services (DIGRS)

Question

I’ve got a researcher who wants to know how to determine what’s urban, what’s rural within the Gr. Sudbury CMA. Is this possible? The census geography is, well, rather complex!

Answer

I am forwarding an off-list reply to your question to the dlilist as I am sure that others will be interested in the suggestions.

If you run the Geosuite 2006 application, and go to chart search, select ‘CMA/CA and non CMA/CA’ box and
select ‘Sudbury’ from the resulting list, then click on the ‘UA/RA’ box you will get a listing of the communities (CSDs, sort of) that make up Greater Sudbury. The UARA type tells you whether each is urban, rural, etc. If you then want to get a list of the blocks that make up each one.

Another alternative is to use the PCCF. At: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/cc06/fsa_sep08.csv

I have a list of FSAs and the CMAs (SAC codes) that each belongs to, extracted from the PCCF. If an FSA has a ‘0′ as the second digit, eg ‘P0M’ then Canada Post considers it rural. If you sort the file in excel, the list of FSAs will indicate which CSDs in Greater Sudbury are urban and which are rural.

I also have a file at: http://prod.library.utoronto.ca:8090/datalib/codebooks/cstdli/pccf/pccf_08sep/postcode_by_ct_08sep.csv.Z

which shows CMA/CA code and census tracts names for each postal code. Find the Sudbury cts, and again the postal code FSA will tell you if its rural or urban.

Yet another option is to use the full PCCF, which you should be able to access at: http://dc1.chass.utoronto.ca/census/pccf.html and do the same thing at the postal code level.

Yet another option, which I find easier than the Geosuite product, is the to use the Geography attribute file for the 2006 census. This will give you Stats Can’s rural/urban classification, rather than Canada Posts. The UAtype variable in that will do the same thing as Geosuite, in a less cumbersome manner. You will find the user guide, and a set of SPSS syntax at: http://chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/cc06/georef06.htm#gaf

Tags: Rural/Urban CMA designation

Question

We are assisting a local non-profit heritage conservancy group with a GIS project. This group works closely with a number of researchers at Trent University and  hopes to eventually publish a map which would provide data about our local region. At the moment,  they are particularly interested in information about Number of Farms and Average age of Farmers (by county and district) over time. Though most data required is in the public domain; there are a few exceptions where the data  seems most readily available in ESTAT rather than our DSP collection or the STC web site.

Can we supply ESTAT Census of Agriculture data broken down by age and  county to a non-profit group?

For example:
ESTAT – 1996 Census of Agriculture – Characteristics of Farm Operators – 1996 Ont. ( 49 Counties, regional municipalities, etc) :

Average age of Operators by County and District.
Peterborough County: 51.7
Haliburton County: 51.4

If I need to redirect this question to ESTAT, please let me know.

Answer

Anyone can now access E-STAT since there is no more password required.  Staff from the local non-profit heritage conservancy group could pull out the data from E-STAT themselves. The password has been removed but no formal announcement has been done. I had mentioned it at the last Ontario DLI training as well as to the last EAC meeting.

This will make your life easier otherwise you would not have been able to provide that non-profit organization these data.

Question

Could you clarify just a bit more re: E-STAT.  Does this mean that we do not have to authenticate for off-campus users — at all?  We can leave it wide open?

Answer

I have to retract what I said yesterday for the use of ESTAT because the license that you accept  provides the authorization to use the data for educational purposes only.  Although there are no password, there are restrictions in terms of use when you accept the license.

On the other hand, I am checking what agreement DSP has with StatCan concerning the access to ESTAT.  Usually, when data is accessed through DSP, the objective is to service the general public.

No better luck on the DSP side. The license is the same and it is restricted to educational purposes only. Hopefully, in a not too far future, this product will be open to everyone. Sorry for the false feeling of joy I may have created.

Tags: DLI Access, E-STAT License

Question

A professor here is looking for monthly unemployment rates for census metropolitan areas back to 1990 that do not say “3 -month moving average” on the table ( for example CANSIM Table 2820090).” He just wants the monthly rates. Are any unemployment rates available without the “3-month moving average” at the census metropolitan area level and if not is there a reason why not? The professor is looking for statistics for Thunder Bay.


Answer

We received the following answer from the author division in response to your question below:

“Sorry but no the CMA data is not available monthly due to the sample size. The data would not be as reliable.”

Tags: Census metropolitan area, Unemployment rates

Question

As part of an assignment, students are asked to pretend they are ‘consultants’, and to generate maps using 2006 Census data for inclusion in a larger report.  They would like to have the option of working at the DA level, but could step back to CT’s if necessary.

Ultimately, this report will be posted to the school’s web site, or to our institutional repository.  In either case, the report would be broadly and publicly available.  No data is being posted – just images of maps.  Tables and charts may be included as well.

For the record, there is up-front interest in this report from local groups in our community, who will have access to the report through the publicly available web site mentioned above.

Does this meet DLI licensing requirements?  I’ve already flagged the need to cite Statistics Canada appropriately.

Answer

The students are authorised users and they may use the DLI Census data at the DA level for this project as they only plan on producing a few static maps that will accompany a report. The static maps may be included with the report in your training repository or posted on the school’s website and accessed by external users in the community.

For your reference, here are the licensing guidelines for displaying 2001 and 2006 Census data in map format on the Internet by DLI institutions: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/doc/sitemap-plandusite-eng.pdf (we also have a link to this document in the reference materials section of our website).

Tags: Licensing

Question

I have a student who is trying to locate a dataset that links Asian women and domestic violence. We’ve gotten close with the GSS and the VAWS, but the best we can do is visible minority categorized into broad groups (I think too broad to link his concepts). Just wanted to throw it out there in case anyone has come across a dataset that might help….I’m going to check ICPSR, but not sure how successful that will be!

Answer

I do not know of other Statistics Canada surveys that would provide these data. GSS cycle 18 – Victimization (2004) asked respondents to provide specific information about their visible minority status (see p.294 of the questionnaire: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/imdb-bmdi/instrument/4504_Q1_V4-eng.pdf) but, as you have correctly noted, this level of detail is not available in the public use microdata file (PUMF). If the student would like to look into obtaining this information as a fee based custom tabulation, I will be pleased to refer you to an Account-Executive in our Toronto office.

Tags: Domestic violence, General Social Survey (GSS), Visible Minorities

Question

(…) the area of the Saskatoon CMA from 1996-2001 went from 5322.09km in 96 to 5192.22km in 01. What caused this decline? We have thrown around many ideas and rationalisations, however we did not have a definitive answer.

Answer

I received the following information from our geography consultants in response to your question:

“The methodology for calculating land area underwent substantial change between the 1996 Census and the 2001 Census:

• for the 1996 Census, land area was manually calculated using a planimeter on paper topographic maps. In general, manual calculations are subject to a number of discrepancies, including propagation errors over time and logical inconsistencies.
• for the 2001 Census, land area was computer generated for the first time using the Geography Division’s new digital database (NGB).”

Tags: Census, Land Area Calculation

Question

I have what I think is a very simple question. I have a student doing an assignment – she already has population data for 2006 census and she needs the boundary files in either ArcGIS or MapInfo formats at the CT level for the CMA of St. John’s. Will the Road Network files do this or is there another product I should be providing?

Answer

I believe the RNF does not actually include the boundaries; therefore, if you go to the geography/2006/spatial-info-products/ directory/sub-directories, you’ll find options for downloading both arcinfo and mapinfo format.  Depending on whether or not you want shoreline, you’ll go choose cbf (with shoreline) or dbf (without shoreline).  In this case, I don’t think it makes a *huge* difference if you select dbf or cbf, although I tend to default to cbf unless I have reason not to do so (which is sometimes the case).  Within each of these sub-directories are national and provincial directories.  Choose national, and you’ll see a further sub-directory for CT geography.

Tags: Boundary Files

Question

According to the publication Literacy Profile of Ontario’s Immigrants (http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/training/literacy/immigrant/immige.pdf), the Ontario Immigrant Literacy Survey “was commissioned by the province of Ontario and carried out by Statistics Canada”. Is a microdata file available for the product, or is it available through the RDC program, or are summary data available?

It would seem that there was a pumf made of this data set! W Scott Murray of Special Surveys, is acknowledged as having provided these data toFerrar, Green and Riddle for their 2004/05 paper:
http://www.econ.ubc.ca/ine/papers/wp011.pdf

So, of course we want the pumf……….

Answer

I consulted our Special Surveys Division and we think that the authors of the publication are referring to the Ontario Adult Literacy Survey (OALS).

A detailed description of OALS is available in the Definitions, data sources and methods section of the StatCan website (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4433&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2) and in the OALS Survey Guide (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4433&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2). The timing, objectives and target population of OALS seem to match those of the Ontario Immigrant Literacy Survey (OILS) described in the Literacy Profile of Ontario’s Immigrants publication.

We have the OALS PUMF in the DLI collection: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/oals-eaao-eng.htm

Response

Wonderful! Same ‘book’, two different titles Of course, you are right. Just another example of when citations standards would have
been useful! The lack of a title page on the pdf version of the user guide
means anyone can make up their own title for it, I suppose.

Tags: Ontario Adult Literacy Survey (OALS), Ontario Immigrant Literacy Survey (OILS)

Question

I have a faculty member looking for data on how much Canadian firms spend on research.  She’s hoping to get the data by company size and sector.

There seemed to be data of interest from Research and Development in Canadian Industry (RDCI) (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4201&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2) through CANSIM 358-0024, various publications, and the Summary Table at http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/econ151a-eng.htm.

The publication at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=88-001-X200900410909&lang=eng seems to get close to what she seems to want, but she needs more granularity for the industry sectors.

Is there any chance of getting more current, detailed data through the DLI?  If not, is custom data an option, and could we get some idea of price based on number of industry sectors, company size breakdown, and geography (i.e., number of provinces).

If anyone has an idea of another place to get this data, we’d be interested.  She also seems to want the figures by company (within a sector).  I was able to search OSIRIS by country and industry sector (up to 6-digit NAICS) and get a list of companies.  I was then able to view R&D amounts for each company in the financials – one company at a time.  Although it was possible to export a dataset for broader financials, it didn’t seem possible to include the more detailed financials (i.e., R&D figures) in the export file.

Answer

Company-level R&D expenditures are available in the Financial Post Corporate database, as well as in the Compustat Canadian file.

Tags: Research and Development in Canadian Industry

Question

Am I correct in saying that the Digital Boundary Files (DBFs) are not available via the DLI website and that their only mode of access (from Stats Can DLI) is via the DLI’s ftp site?

Answer

You are correct.  Geography products that are part of the DLI collection (including boundary files) are not available through the DLI website. They are however available through the DLI FTP site.

Some boundary files, which are freely available to all users, can also be downloaded from the StatCan website: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/geo/bound-limit-eng.cfm The other boundary files which are listed as being for sale ($) on that web page are available on the DLI FTP site.

Tags: Digital Boundary Files