SCORE DETAILS
The Active Living Environment score measures how well your neighbourhood is designed to promote an active lifestyle. There are more opportunities to be active in neighbourhoods where:
- There are many people living nearby to support local businesses and public transportation.
- It is easy to walk or cycle along and cross streets.
- The number of bus stops, parks, schools, stores, restaurants and other interesting places within walking distance.
The score is highest in urban areas and city centres, and low in suburban areas, smaller towns and rural areas.
The score uses data from the Canadian Active Living Environment index, which was developed by researchers at McGill University in Montreal. You can find more technical details here:
The Access to Natural Areas score measures how much green vegetation, and how many lakes, rivers, streams or ponds are in a I km square around your neighbourhood.
The score is highest in rural areas where there a few buildings and roads, and can also be high close to large lakes and the ocean. Low values are common anywhere there are roads, buildings, and parking lots, even if there are trees and gardens in the neighbourhood.
The score is based on LandSat satellite images that have been classified into different types of land use using Google Earth Engine by researchers at CANUE. You can find more technical details here:
https://canue.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CANUE-Browser-Metadata-Local-Climate-Zones.pdf
The Unusual Heat score measures how many summer days over the past 10 years have had maximum temperatures in the top 5 percent of maximum temperatures recorded in the last 30 years in your neighbourhood.
The score is not always worse in places that are normally hot in the summer, like Montreal, Winnipeg, or Regina, or always better in cooler places on the coasts like Victoria, Vancouver, or Halifax.
The lowest Unusual Heat scores are in most areas of British Columbia, northern Alberta, New Brunswick, northern Nova Scotia and coastal areas of Newfoundland and Labrador. These areas have had more unusual heat days in the last 10 years than other areas in Canada.
The score is based on data from long-term weather stations operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada, and interpolated to neighbourhood locations by experts at the Canadian Forest Service at Natural Resources Canada. CANUE researchers used the data to find the days with the highest temperatures and calculate the Unusual Heat score.
You can find more technical details here:
https://canue.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CANUE-Browser-Metadata-Weather-NRCAN-Annual-1.pdf
The Smoke Pollution score measures how many fine particles are in the air in your neighbourhood. Fine particles come mainly from burning gas, oil, wood and other debris, and contain hundreds of chemical compounds and soot. The particles are so small they can only be seen with a microscope, and they can be carried long distances by the wind. The smoke pollution in your neighbourhood might come from local sources (your neighbour’s fireplace), regional sources (forest fires, agricultural burning) or even industrial activities in other countries.
The worst Smoke Pollution scores are in the industrial area around Windsor Ontario, in the Greater Toronto/Hamilton Area, in Montreal and along the St. Lawrence River, and in Edmonton and Fort McMurray in Alberta.
The score is based on MODIS, MISR and SeaWIFS satellite data and air pollution models developed by researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
You can find more technical details here:
https://canue.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CANUE-Browser-Metadata-PM25-DALb-Annual.pdf
The Traffic Pollution score measures how much nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is in the air in your neighbourhood. NO2 is an air pollutant that comes mainly from vehicle traffic exhaust in urban areas, but also from industrial sources and power generation in more rural areas.
The lowest Traffic Pollution scores are anywhere close to busy roads. All city centres have worse traffic pollution than the surrounding suburban and rural areas.
The score is based on data from special monitoring stations set out to measure levels of NO2 near and far from roads, parking lots, and industrial zones. Researchers at the University of British Columbia, and Oregon State University used the monitor data to make a model of NO2 levels for all neighbourhoods in Canada.
You can find more technical details here:
https://canue.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CANUE-Browser-Metadata-NO2-LUR-Annual.pdf