Represent is the open database of Canadian elected officials and electoral districts. It provides a REST API to boundary, representative, and postcode resources.
This repository stores the digital boundary files for the database. The represent-canada repository is what's running at represent.opennorth.ca.
Open North has permission to redistribute all datasets in this repository. Please read the overall license and the LICENSE.txt file in each directory to know your rights. In some cases, you will not have permission to redistribute the dataset.
All datasets are from government sources, with one exception: the postal codeOM dataset in the postcodes/fed directory is from Geocoder.ca. (Canada Post has sued Geocoder.ca for distributing this file.) The definition.py files will have more details on sources and any modifications made to the files. Postal CodeOM is an official mark of Canada Post Corporation.
We do not have permission to redistribute every dataset available through the Represent API. For example, we do not have permission from the Government of Ontario to distribute its boundary file and postal codeOM concordance file (no longer available). You must download these files separately from Elections Ontario. You may then use the definition.py file we provide to load it into the database.
# Invoke must not be installed globally.
pip uninstall invoke
# Create a virtual environment.
mkvirtualenv representdata
# Install the requirements.
pip install -r requirements.txt
Load the virtual environment:
workon representdata
Check that all definition.py files are valid:
invoke definitions
Check that the source, data and license URLs work:
invoke urls
Check that all data directories contain a LICENSE.txt:
invoke licenses
Update any out-of-date shapefiles:
invoke shapefiles
Fix file permissions:
invoke permissions
Check if the data request process spreadsheet is out-of-date:
invoke spreadsheet
Generate TopoJSON for inspection on GitHub:
invoke topojson
Please use GitHub Issues for bug reports. You may also contact represent@opennorth.ca.
We would like to express our gratitude to Kent Mewhort at the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), whose legal research (PDF) made it possible for this repository to be made public.