Actual users of the National Topographic Data Base (NTDB) should plan to make the transition towards CanVec product. CanVec is the new flagship product replacing the NTDB and is the new digital cartographical reference product generated by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). As of August 2009, NTDB product is no longer subject to discrepancies treatment process and the collection is static now. All future 1:50,000 vector data update will be distributed under CanVec product only.

The document Transition Guide NTDB to CanVec, Edition 1.0.1 (PDF version, 177 KB) describes major differences existing between the two products.

Product Specifications

NTDB Standards and Specifications, edition 3.1 (PDF version, 661 KB)

This document describes NTDB organization, data set, theme, entity and entity occurrence, and spatial relations.

NTDB Data Dictionary, edition 3.1 (PDF version, 3 033 KB)

This document contains all of the entities that appear in the NTDB, together with their relations and other pertinent information.

Appendices, edition 3.1 (version PDF, 472 KB)

This document contains the three following appendices:

1. Table of Entities, Combinations of Attribute Values, NTDB Codes, and Themes
2. Bilingual List of Entities and Combinations of Attribute Values
3. Table of Correspondence for Entities, Attributes, and Codes between NTDB edition 2 and 3

Data Format

Conversion of NTDB Edition 3 Data into SHAPE Format (PDF version, 459 KB)

The document describes files; directories; point, linear, and surficial entities; NTDB codes and list of attribute names; and Shape files. It also contains four appendices with one indicating how to import SHAPE files into ArcView/ArcExplorer.