As part of an ongoing upgrading process, the city unveiled a new aerial image of the city on its website Tuesday.
In July, pictures were taken from four miles above the city, translating to a 1:40,000 scale.
Bill Lautenbach is the city?s director of planning services. He said the city?s aerial image hasn?t been updated in almost 30 years.
A current, digital image will become part of the city?s new Geographical Information System.
?It?s an important part of the base to have digital-format imaging,? he said. ?It gives us a snapshot in time of the city that can quickly orient anyone to a particular neighbourhood.?
The map is cut up into 180 five-by-five kilometre blocks. Each file is compressed from its original 300 megabytes (way too big for conventional computer systems to realistically manage) to 10 MB.
A colour image will be made available first. Citizens will be able to zoom right in on the image, and by clicking on a given building, call up all the relevant municipal information related to it such as lot size, zoning and ownership.
Once a black and white image is produced, according to a city official, a homeowner will be able to count the panels on their back deck.
The map is already in use by Official Plan consultants, Geographic Information, Surveys and Mapping department staff and various engineering consultants.
