Chinook Maps

Chinook Maps

A Canadian map and navigation app, built entirely from Canadian government open data. The map, the search and the driving directions all work with no signal, because much of this country has none.

What is built

Three regions have been compiled so far. The numbers are from the actual build, not estimates, and the last column is the one that matters most.

RegionJunctionsRoad linksDirection known Turn restrictions
Calgary98,091245,723 92.6%1,738
Toronto58,290161,991 100%0
Montréal49,174129,293 52.7%0

Turn restrictions are derived from published regulatory signage, and only two Canadian cities publish an inventory that can be decoded — Calgary and Montréal. So Toronto renders and searches but cannot yet route legally, and Montréal’s coverage drops off the island where the federal file is the only source. Saying so is the point: a map that hides what it does not know is worse than one that admits it.

Where the map comes from

PublisherWhat it providesLicence
Government of Canada Roads, hydrography, railways, place names and addresses — from the National Road Network, CanVec, the Canadian Geographical Names Database and the Open Database of Addresses Open Government Licence — Canada
City of Calgary Street centrelines, traffic signage, buildings, pathways, parks, land use, transit and community boundaries Open Government Licence — City of Calgary
City of Toronto Street centrelines Open Government Licence — Toronto
Ville de Montréal Géobase street segments CC BY 4.0

No OpenStreetMap data is used anywhere in this project. Neither publisher endorses this application.

For businesses

List your business on Chinook Maps, free. Listings appear in the app’s search in their own labelled section, below the government place names and addresses — never mixed in with them, and never ahead of them. Every listing is checked by a person before it goes live.

The app

Not on Google Play yet. When it is, the link will be here.

PlatformAndroid 8.0 and later
Download~13 MB, plus a region
Region pack82.7 MB, Calgary
AccountsOptional
Works offlineMap, search, routing
PriceFree, no ads, no purchases

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