2. Overview

2006 Population Ecumene Census Division Cartographic Boundary File
Reference date

2006 Population Ecumene Census Division Cartographic Boundary File

The 2006 Population Ecumene Census Division Cartographic Boundary File delineates Canada's population ecumene. Ecumene, a word derived from the Greek root oixos meaning inhabited and nenon meaning space, is a term used by geographers to indicate inhabited land. It generally refers to land where people have made their permanent home, and to all work areas that are considered occupied and used for agricultural or any other economic purposes.

The use of a population ecumene facilitates the display of data. By effectively masking non-ecumene areas of Canada, it restricts the display of population characteristics to those areas where population is sufficiently concentrated.

The population ecumene is constructed by selecting dissemination blocks that have a minimum population density of 0.4 persons per square kilometre (about one person per square mile). To enable the population ecumene to be used for small-scale thematic mapping, the detailed ecumene limits are generalized so that, where appropriate, small, separate ecumene pockets are aggregated to form larger areas. There is at least one ecumene pocket (polygon) in every census division.

The 2006 Population Ecumene Census Division Cartographic Boundary File is available in ArcInfo^® shapefile format, Geography Markup Language (GML) format and MapInfo^® tab file format. The file may be downloaded free of charge from the Statistics Canada website (www.statcan.ca). See technical specifications for more details on record layouts and file formats.

Figure 2.1 shows how a map of Canada appears when the population change between 2001 and 2006 is displayed only within the population ecumene.

Figure 2.1
Canadian population change between 2001 and 2006, mapped by the population ecumene

Figure 2.1
This graphic is a thematic map of Canada displaying Canadian population change between 2001 and 2006, mapped by the population ecumene

Reference date

The geographic reference date is a date determined by Statistics Canada to finalize the geographic framework for which census data are collected, tabulated and reported. The reference date for the geographic area boundaries in digital and cartographic boundary files is January 1, 2006.