DOI: 10.5285/062ae7b9-e68b-4a34-808a-2731b15b9dfd
title: Mapped winter road connections to remote First Nations communities in Canada 2022-2023, using open data sources and satellite imagery

description: This dataset consists of shapefile outlines of winter roads and ice roads in Canada, verified for the 2022-2023 winter road season. It focuses on the public winter roads leading to remote First Nations communities which have no permanent land access. The line data also includes private winter roads, community-built winter roads where information is available, and feeder roads connecting to the permanent road network. First Nations communities connected solely by winter roads are included as point locations. Their local roads were likewise verified, updated, or newly digitised if not included in Canada's National Road Network (NRN) data.

Features were traced by hand and information was extracted from Canada's NRN open datasets and then modified using Esri Imagery Basemap, Planet Labs and provincial, municipal and federal information. This dataset aims to provide a temporally and spatially consistent record of varying provincial datasets to support respective infrastructure departments and environmental research of surface and climatic conditions surrounding winter roads.

The dataset was produced and funded through a NERC QUADRAT DTP studentship (NE/S007377/1).
description: The line data is based on Canada's National Road Network (NRN) open data sets, was imported into ArcGIS Pro and modified using satellite imagery, provincial, municipal, and federal information. Using Esri Imagery Basemap and Planet Labs, Inc. daily images only from the 2022-2023 winter, the data was verified for a single season. Where current right-of-ways varied greatly from the NRN data, the routes were newly digitised from satellite imagery, and the original lines were extracted to a separate layer named 'inactive' (included for comparison). Separate shape files exist for each respective province/territory since most winter roads fall under provincial jurisdiction. The NRN attribute tables were kept for compatibility with the original dataset, extended by a field for the winter road length in km. For NRN attribute details, please see https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/92-500-g/92-500-g2022001-eng.htm, which are largely based on ISO 14825. 

All current winter road lines were split into their over-land and over-ice segments. Ice crossings that connect permanent infrastructure and are relevant to remote First Nations were extracted into separate shape files. Point locations of remote First Nations communities were extracted by province/territory from the open dataset available from Indigenous Services Canada.
description: ArcGIS 2.9.5, NRN provincial datasets downloaded in July 2022 from https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/3d282116-e556-400c-9306-ca1a3cada77f , First Nations point locations downloaded in August 2022 from https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/b6567c5c-8339-4055-99fa-63f92114d9e4
description: Accuracy based on the original NRN and Indigenous Services Canada datasets, manual tracing on Esri Imagery Basemaps if dated 2020 or more recent, and selected Planet Labs, Inc. daily imagery from January through September 2023 (access granted under their Education and Research Program).