Tiled maps

Canadian Geographic Education’s tiled maps are free, downloadable pdfs that are designed to encourage students to explore Canada piece by piece. Have your students piece together each map to gain a larger perspective of their environment.

In partnership with the S.M. Blair Foundation, Canadian Geographic Education is proud to offer the following instructional booklets to get you started with tiled maps in the classroom.

Introduction
Primary
Junior
Intermediate
Senior

Each tiled map below comes with a one-page activity sheet providing information to teachers on the various ways this resource can be integrated in their classroom.

The following maps are available for download:

• Arctic Circumpolar Map: This 36-page tiled map provides students with a different perspective of the Earth – a view from the North Pole and allows students to explore Canada’s Arctic from a political, environmental, cultural and geographical perspective.
  
  
• Canada: This 36-page tiled map shows present-day Canada’s vast landscape, its 13 provinces territories, surrounding oceans and lakes and many important places that exist within its borders.
  
  
• Canada from Space: This tiled map was made using images taken by Canada’s RADARSAT-2 Earth observation satellite and is the first map of its kind. It can be used to understand marine surveillance methods, ice monitoring projects, disaster management strategies, environmental change, resource management and mapping in Canada.
  
  
• Canada and the First World War: This 24-page map outlines Canada at the time of the First World War (1914-1918). Ten associated learning activities allow students to discover major transportation routes, military training facilities, internment camps and how Canada looked at the time.
  
  
• Canada's provinces and territories: Each of Canada's 13 provinces and territories can now be individually explored through a 4-page tiled map available for free download.
  
  
• Drawn to Victory: Maps are considered one of the most important tools used throughout the First World War. This historical map from the First World War highlights the landscape in southeast Belgium. It is the result of numerous aerial photographs taken between 1916 and 1917.
  
  
• First World War: The First World War (FWW) affected the lives of millions of Canadians and 100 years later the changes it wrought across Canada are still being felt. Canadian Geographic (Can Geo) Education, with the support of Parks Canada, has created this educational package to help your students understand the impact and influence of the FWW on Canada.
  
  
• Floods in Canada: Floods are one of the most common and costly disasters in Canada, yet many Canadians are not aware of the history of floods in Canada or the regions which are at risk of flooding. This unique map highlights different parts of the country that have flooded in the past, and can be used to make predictions about which areas may flood in the future. Use this map to help students understand the important connections between physical geography, human land use and flooding across the country, in the context of climate change and more frequent and more severe floods in the future.
  
  
• Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada: This map offers a unique perspective on our country’s geography that is vital to understanding the history and diverse cultures of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Setting aside the political boundaries of provinces and territories, this map instead focuses on historical treaties and land claims, the distribution of Indigenous language families, the locations of reserves and band councils, the formers sites of residential schools, and more.
  
  
• Lake Winnipeg Watershed Tiled Map: Lake Winnipeg is known as the sixth Great Lake in North America, with a drainage basin of nearly 1,000,000km2. As the second-largest watershed in Canada, covering parts of four provinces and four U.S. states, it is home to more than seven million people. You can start to explore the Watershed through this tiled map, made possible through a grant from the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.
  
  
• Mapping Democracy — CPAC Route 338: Canadian Geographic Education and the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) have come together in a unique opportunity to engage students in democratic literacy with these tiled maps of Canada's urban areas. Each map encourages students of all ages to examine Canada piece-by-piece and explore the diverse geography that comprises this great nation.
  
  
• Unmasking Influenza: The Spanish Influenza of 1918 resulted in the deaths of an estimated 50 million people worldwide, and is considered one of the most devastating pandemics in recorded world history. This tiled map is Canadian Geographic Education’s first global projection and focuses on medical geography or, more specifically, how geography plays a role in the spread, outbreak and eradication of deadly viruses and diseases.
  
  
• Vimy Barrage Tiled Map: The creeping barrage was a key military strategy in the First World War. It was used successfully by the Canadians at Vimy Ridge, where the men had been extensively trained to move forward 90 metres every three minutes, keeping the infantry behind the advancing artillery barrage.
  
  
• Wild Migrations Map: This colourful map of North America, which features the migratory routes of 20 different North American species at risk, can now be downloaded, printed on 25-pages and used in your classroom. Teachers can access the 10 curriculum-linked activities to use with the map and help students explore species migration, learn how animals are classified as at risk and be inspired to take action.