Did you know that the library houses over 15,000 maps and 150,000 historical air photos? The cartographic collection focuses on materials that support teaching, learning, and research at UNBC.

Also, be aware that the library offers the UNBC community access to geospatial data, such as data from DMTI Spatial and the Integrated Cadastral Information Society.

Maps and air photos are located on the second floor of the Library. If you are interested in spatial data, check out the Data & Statistics link on the Library home page.

The collection includes:

  • National Topographic System (NTS) map sheets: full coverage of British Columbia at 1:50,000 and full coverage of Canada at 1:250,000.
  • Canada Land Inventory maps detailing land capability for waterfowl, ungulates, recreation and forestry, as well as soil capability for agriculture. Organized by NTS number.
  • Other maps and oversize atlases.

Note: To find other maps, or to find other atlases in the General Collection (Stacks), search the library catalogue, adding the term “maps” or “atlases” (restricted to the subject field) to a Keyword Search (e.g., “arctic and s:maps”). Note, however, that it is worth checking the map cabinets, as only a small fraction of the maps in the collection appear in the library catalogue.

National Topographic System maps have an NTS number indicating their geographic location. Many other maps, the Canada Land Inventory series for example, follow this same numbering convention. To find a topographic map for an area of interest, you will need to determine the appropriate NTS number.