Open Ontario imagery

View spatial imagery of Ontario captured by satellite or airplane.

Background

Every five years, the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry coordinates projects to photograph high resolution imagery of settled areas of the province.

Project participants include:

  • other Ontario ministries
  • municipalities
  • federal agencies
  • conservation authorities
  • non-government organizations (NGOs)
  • private companies

Each agency participates by sharing in the cost of taking the photographs through a funding model. To maintain the funding model integrity, the imagery is available to the public via purchase for a period of six years after acquisition. Six years after the acquisition, the orthophotography is reclassified as open.

Technical information

This record includes all collections of digital orthophotography which are at least six years old. Collections are differentiated by year of acquisition and region of the province covered.

Orthophotographs are primarily taken during the spring in leaf-off conditions. All orthophotography is available as GeoTIFFs with the following bands of spectral information:

  • red
  • green
  • blue
  • near-infrared

Pixel size is consistent within collections but varies between collections, ranging from a minimum of 16 cm to a maximum of 50 cm.

Open imagery access restrictions

Starting in April 2022, the access restrictions to the data become open after six years, and the data will be made available under the Open Government License. This only applies to orthophotography collections where Ontario owns the intellectual property rights.

Open Government licenced orthophotography collection release schedule

2022 release:

  • Central Ontario Orthophotography (COOP) 2016
  • Algonquin 2015
  • Digital Raster Acquisition Project East (DRAPE) 2008
  • Digital Raster Acquisition Project East (DRAPE) 2014
  • South Central Ontario Orthophotography Project (SCOOP) 2013
  • Simcoe Muskoka Dufferin 2008
  • Southwest Ontario Orthophotography Project (SWOOP) 2006
  • Southwest Ontario Orthophotography Project (SWOOP) 2010
  • Southwest Ontario Orthophotography Project (SWOOP) 2015

2023 release:

  • Northwest Ontario Orthophotography Project (NWOOP) 2017

2024 release:

  • South Central Ontario Orthophotography Project (SCOOP) 2018

2025 release:

  • Digital Raster Acquisition Project East (DRAPE) 2019-2020

2026 release:

  • Southwest Ontario Orthophotography Project (SWOOP) 2020

2027 release:

  • Central Ontario Orthophotography Project (COOP) 2021
Ministry contact: Land Information Ontario Imagery Program

Additional information

Tags
Geographic coverage
Ontario
Maintainer
Land Information Ontario Imagery Program
Maintainer branch
Mapping and Information Resources Branch
Last Validated Date
August 5, 2022
Update frequency
Yearly
Access instructions

Ordering instructions, metadata and web service connections to available orthophotography are available online at the Ontario GeoHub:

Imagery dating back to the 1940s is available from the Archives of Ontario.

Open Ontario imagery

Learn more about accessing data using different formats.

Date range: May 6 - June 10, 2016

  • Other
    Central Ontario 2016 Orthophotography English

    Central Ontario Orthophotography (COOP) was acquired in the spring of 2016...

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  • Other
    Projet d’orthophotographie du Centre de l’Ontario 2016 French

    Le Projet d’orthophotographie du Centre de l’Ontario (Projet OCO) a été...

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Date range: May 6 - 14, 2015

  • Other
    Algonquin 2015 Orthophotography English

    Algonquin Orthophotography was acquired in the spring of 2015 under the best...

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  • Other
    Projet d’orthophotographie d’Algonquin 2015 French

    Le Projet d’orthophotographie d’Algonquin a été effectué au printemps 2015...

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Date range: April 12 - May 23, 2015

  • Other
    Southwestern Ontario Orthophotography (SWOOP) 2015 English

    This imagery was acquired in the spring of 2015 under the best conditions...

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  • Other
    Projet d’orthophotographie du Sud-Ouest de l’Ontario (Projet OSOO) 2015 French

    L’imagerie a été saisie au printemps 2015 dans les meilleures conditions...

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Date range: April 28 - June 7, 2014

  • Other
    Digital Raster Acquisition Project Eastern Ontario (DRAPE) 2014 English

    Digital Raster Acquisition Project Eastern Ontario (DRAPE) was acquired in...

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  • Other
    Projet d’acquisition d’images numériques pour l’Est (PAINE) 2014 French

    Le Projet d’acquisition d’images numériques pour l’Est (PAINE) a été effectué...

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Date range: April 26 - May 8, 2013

  • Other
    South Central Ontario Orthophotography (SCOOP) 2013 English

    South Central Ontario Orthophotography Project (SCOOP) was acquired in the...

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  • Other
    Projet d’orthophotographie du Centre-Sud de l’Ontario (POCSO) 2013 French

    Le Projet d’orthophotographie du Centre-Sud de l’Ontario (POCSO) a été...

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Date range: March 18 - April 29, 2010

  • Other
    Southwestern Ontario Orthophotography (SWOOP) 2010 English

    This aerial project provides a spatial context to features existing on the...

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  • Other
    Projet d’orthophotographie du Sud-Ouest de l’Ontario (Projet OSOO) 2010 French

    Ce projet d’imagerie aérienne fournit un contexte spatial aux...

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Date range: April 18, 2008 - November 17, 2009

  • Other
    Digital Raster Acquisition Project Eastern Ontario (DRAPE) 2008 English

    The Digital Raster Acquisition Project Eastern Ontario project (DRAPE 2008)...

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  • Other
    Projet d’acquisition d’images numériques pour l’Est (PAINE) 2008 French

    Le Projet d’acquisition d’images numériques pour l’Est (PAINE) 2008 est un...

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Date range: April 15 - 19, 2008

  • Other
    County of Simcoe, Muskoka and Dufferin (SMD) 2008 Orthophotography English

    The County of Simcoe, Muskoka and Dufferin Orthophotography was collected by...

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  • Other
    Projet d’orthophotographie de Simcoe, Muskoka et Dufferin 2008 French

    Le Projet d’orthophotographie de Simcoe, Muskoka et Dufferin a été effectué...

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Date range: April 11, 2006 - April 29, 2007

  • Other
    Southwestern Ontario Orthophotography (SWOOP) 2006 English

    SWOOP 2006 was initiated by Land Information Ontario (LIO) and other partner...

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  • Other
    Projet d’orthophotographie du Sud-Ouest de l’Ontario (Projet OSOO) 2006 French

    Information sur les terres de l’Ontario (ITO) et d’autres organismes...

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