The Conservation Ontario (CO) Floodplain Mapping Metadata application is designed to collect metadata (basic information about, in this case, mapping data) from each of Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities (CAs) as new flood studies occur and mapping is updated.

Originally created as a survey in 2007, re-collected in spreadsheet form in 2009 and updated in 2015, the information contained in the underlying database was used by CO to develop a business case for strategic reinvestment in Ontario’s flood management programs, services and structures – especially where they impact our member CAs.

Although updates were very carefully collected in 2015, more than seven years passed without Conservation Ontario having the resources to collect an update.  In 2023, through the generous support in the form of time and in-kind effort by the conservation authorities and financial support from Natural Resources Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, this online application has been developed to ensure conservation authorities have a place to continually document basic metadata about any ongoing flood studies as they occur.  The back-end of the resulting database provides Conservation Ontario access to the information necessary to update their business case while the public portion of the site including the Flood Study Map and Historical Flood Event mapping applications allow greater transparency and the possibility of data discovery by the general public.

Questions about the site and the evolving metadata initiative can be directed to Conservation Ontario’s Manager of Data & Analytics through the CO website.