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Location data glossary.

Plain-language definitions of the terms behind property and location data — from Forward Sortation Areas to GeoJSON.

API Key

A secret token that authenticates requests to an API and identifies the caller.

Automated Valuation Model (AVM)

A statistical model that estimates a property's value automatically from data, without a physical appraisal.

Bounding Box

The smallest rectangle that fully contains a geographic area, defined by its min/max coordinates.

Building Permit

An official municipal authorization to construct, renovate or demolish — and a leading signal of change in a market.

Census Demographics

Population characteristics derived from the census — age, income, tenure, education and more.

Centroid

The geometric centre point of a boundary — its average position.

Enriched Address

An address that has been standardized and joined to additional data — its boundaries, demographics, permits and more.

Forward Sortation Area (FSA)

The first three characters of a Canadian postal code, identifying a geographic area used for mail sorting and demographic reporting.

Geocoding

Converting a street address into geographic coordinates (and the reverse — coordinates into an address or place).

GeoJSON

An open standard format for encoding geographic data structures using JSON.

MLS / CREA

The Multiple Listing Service and the Canadian Real Estate Association standard that structures Canadian property listings.

MultiPolygon

A geometry type representing an area made up of one or more separate polygons.

NAICS Code

The North American Industry Classification System code that categorizes a business by its industry.

Neighbourhood Boundary

The polygon that defines the extent of a neighbourhood, used for search, mapping and analysis.

Point of Interest (POI)

A specific location worth noting on a map — a business, landmark, amenity or service.

Postal Code

The six-character Canadian code (e.g. M5V 2T6) that identifies a delivery area, beginning with a three-character FSA.

Rate Limiting

Capping how many requests a client can make in a time window, to protect an API's availability.

Reverse Geocoding

Turning a latitude/longitude coordinate into the address or place that contains it.

School Catchment Area

The geographic zone that determines which public school an address is assigned to.

Spatial Join

Combining datasets based on their geographic relationship — for example, which points fall inside which boundary.

SRID 4326 (WGS 84)

The standard spatial reference system for latitude/longitude coordinates used by GPS and web maps.

Trade Area

The geographic zone a business draws customers from — used for site selection and market analysis.

The data behind the definitions.

Everything here is available through the Neighbourly API — boundaries, demographics, permits, schools and more.

Explore NeighbourlyData layers