Citing Geospatial Data
When citing a shapefile, GeoTIFF, web service, or any other geospatial layer, follow the ACMLA Recommended Best Practices, which call for seven core elements: creator, dataset title, scale or geographic extent, publisher, year, file format, and a persistent URL or DOI. Below are some helpful citation guides and examples:
- Brock University: How to Reference Maps & Data
- University of Waterloo Guide for Citing Geospatial Resources
- Statistics Canada Citation Guide: Maps and Geospatial Products
Citing Paper and Scanned Maps
For print or scanned sheet maps such as National Topographic System maps, historical fire-insurance plans, or georeferenced air photos, list the sheet title, edition or flight number, scale, publishing agency, year, and the holding institution.
Licensing
Most datasets in the GMDC inventory and Scholars GeoPortal are covered by TMU’s academic site licences, allowing teaching, research, and publication as long as you credit the source and do not redistribute the raw files. Some open data layers carry Creative Commons or Open Government licences which may prohibit commercial use and impose secure storage and deletion clauses when your project ends, so always review the licence text linked on each record.