Animal Density Maps for Canada

Click on the links at right to load separate layers into Google Earth.  After one layer has been opened in Google Earth, additional layers can be added.  See the How To section below for Google Earth. 

You will need Google Earth installed on your machine to run these maps.  If you don't have Google Earth installed, you can download the program from:   Google Earth  

The animal density maps illustrate the number of farms per 1000 square kilometer for each of the Consolidated Census Sub-Divisions (CCSDs) in  Canada where there is agricultural production.

Non-Google Earth Map Versions:  You can also open web based maps of swine and poultry densities in Canada which do not require Google Earth to view.    These styles of maps are in development so still require some work to make them more functional:

 a.  Google Maps Versions:   These map are zoomable, but not clickable (i.e. one cannot view the attributes of map features).

• Launch Swine Density Map

• Launch Poultry Density Map

b.  HTML Image Mapper Version:  This map has some useful interactivity as well as a link button for Google Earth which allows you to launch a Google Earth Version of the same map.

• Launch Swine Density Map

• Launch Poultry Density Maps

Method of Use: 

How To  (for Google Earth):

1. View the Map Legend associated with each map layer:     In the Places window at the left hand side of the application, left click the check box beside the Legend tab for the map layer of interest. 
2. View the attributes of each CCSD (Name, No. of Farms, Estimated No. of Animals):   Zoom into the geographic region of interest, and left click on a CCSD area.
3. Turn Layers On and Off:  Left click the check box beside the Name of the layer.

4. Find a Location:  

   Method 1:  Cntrl F, and type in the place name of interest in the FIND box which appears at the bottom of the PLACES window.   Double click on the hyperlinked name of the place you want to zoom to.  This method searches only the loaded map layers. 

   Method 2:  Type in the name of the place in the SEARCH window.  This is the generic search method in Google Earth, and will find places in the Google Earth database of places.     

5. View the Google  Imagery underneath a layer:  The easiest way is to simply turn the layer off.  A second method is to left click the name of a layer to highlight it, and then use the slider at the bottom of the PLACES window to change the transparency of the layer.
6. Remove/Clear out Layers from Google Earth:  Right click either My Places, or Temporary Places, and click on Delete Contents.  Individual layers can be removed by clicking on the layer name, right clicking, and then Delete Contents.

Data Sources and Map Preparation:

Data for these maps were derived from the 2006 Census of Agriculture, and were prepared by Dr. Chris Green, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Note:  For many CCSDs, the number of animals had to be estimated since animal counts were suppressed by Stats Canada in order to maintain producer confidentiality.  In CCSDs where animal numbers were suppressed, animal counts were estimated by multiplying the average number of animals per farm (at the provincial level) by the number of farms in each CCSD.    CCSDs with estimated animal counts have a value of 1 in the Impute field (in the pop up attribute balloon for each CCSD)

Load Map Layers into Google Earth

1.  Swine

2.  Cattle (all)    

2b.  Dairy only