This collection is a legacy product that is no longer supported. It may not meet current government standards.

A joint venture involving the National Atlas programs in Canada (Natural Resources Canada), Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía), and the United States (U.S. Geological Survey), as well as the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, has led to the release (June 2004) of several new products: an updated paper map of North America, and its associated geospatial data sets and their metadata.  These data sets are available online from each of the partner countries for download.

The North American Atlas data are standardized geospatial data sets at 1:10,000,000 scale.  A variety of basic data layers (e.g. roads, railroads, populated places, political boundaries, hydrography, bathymetry, sea ice and glaciers) have been integrated so that their relative positions are correct.  This collection of data sets forms a base with which other North American thematic data may be integrated.  Any data outside of Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America included in the North American Atlas data sets is strictly to complete the context of the data.

The North American Atlas – Sea Ice data set shows the approximate extent of marine areas in the Arctic covered by permanent polar ice.  The data originated from the Canadian Ice Service and was used in the 1:6,000,000 National Atlas of Canada Reference Map Series.  It is represented by polygons showing the average minimum ice limit over a 30 year period, 1969-1999. 

This is a revised version of the 2004 data set.

• Boundaries
• Canada
• Coasts
• Demographic data
• Ice
• Ice caps
• Ice fields
• International boundary
• North America
• Northern Hemisphere
• Oceans
• Seas
• Water
• Western Hemisphere

Please see, https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada 

The North American Atlas data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national and continental level.  The data should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:10,000,000-scale data.  No responsibility is assumed by Natural Resources Canada, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, National Atlas of the United States, or the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in the use of these data.

Source: https://natural-resources.canada.ca/science-and-data/science-and-research/earth-sciences/geography/topographic-information/download-directory-documentation/17215

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is an international organization created by Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).  The CEC was established to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law.  The Agreement complements the environmental provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  Further information on the CEC is available from http://www.cec.org/ or from

Commission for Environmental Cooperation

393, rue St-Jacques Ouest

Bureau 200

Montréal (Québec)

H2Y 1N9 Canada

Telephone: 1 514 350 4300

Facsimile: 1 514 350 4314

Electronic mail: info@cec.org

This data set is available in several formats, including Shapefile, kml, layer package, and MXD.  Included with each download are a readme file along with other files appropriate to the particular format, such as .avl and .lyr files.  The data set is also available as a GeoPDF. 

of Canada, INEGI, and National Atlas of the United States), and Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection (CEC).  The following parameters are used for the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection:

Longitude_of_Projection_Center: -100.00

Latitude_of_Projection_Center: 45.00

False_Easting (metres): 0.0

False_Northing (metres): 0.0

Semi-major_Axis: 6370997.0

Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 1.0

Ellipsoid_Name: Sphere

Units: metres

The North American Environmental Atlas maintains this Sea Ice data and all other base data sets in a geodatabase in a Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection.