Summary

Description

A joint venture involving the National Atlas programs in Canada (Natural Resources Canada), Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática), and the United States (U.S. Geological Survey), as well as the North American Commission for Environmental Co-operation, has led to the release (June 2004) of several new products: an updated paper map of North America, and its associated geospatial data sets and their metadata. These data sets are available online from each of the partner countries both for visualization and download. The North American Atlas data are standardized geospatial data sets at 1:10,000,000 scale. A variety of basic data layers (e.g. roads, railroads, populated places, political boundaries, hydrography, bathymetry, sea ice and glaciers) have been integrated so that their relative positions are correct. This collection of data sets forms a base with which other North American thematic data may be integrated. Any data outside of Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America included in the North American Atlas data sets is strictly to complete the context of the data. The North American Atlas - Roads data set shows the roads of North America at 1:10,000,000 scale. The roads included in this data set are either those that connect major centres of population or selected frontier roads. Roads under construction are not shown. There are three road classes: Major roads, which are divided, multi-lane, limited access highways; Secondary roads, which are all roads that do not meet the definition of major roads; and Ferries, which are major ferry links which run either year round or through periods when ice conditions permit. This data set was produced using digital files supplied by Natural Resources Canada, Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática, and the U.S. Geological Survey.