Help: Licensed data
What this page does
This page is for companies that want the data itself. Each city publishes its own columns and codes; we load them every week and deliver parcels, permits, zoning and licences in one documented schema, with every city's licence terms carried along. It lists which cities and layers we cover, when each was last refreshed, the columns, the prices and the licence in plain words.
How to use it
- Check the Coverage table for your cities and layers and their last refresh date.
- Read the Schema to see every column and what it means.
- To try the data, press Ask for a sample and email us. Downloadable samples and the API are not available yet.
- Read The licence, in plain words before you buy: attribution passes through, there is no personal information, and the data is not a consent list for email.
Alberta and B.C. parcels, permits and zoning, in one schema.
Each city publishes its own columns, codes and formats. We load them every week, match permits to addresses, normalize contractor names and trades, and deliver one documented schema per layer, with the licence terms already sorted.
Coverage and refresh
| Jurisdiction | Layers | Refresh | Last refreshed | Development permits | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary | Building permits, assessment (civic addresses, assessed value, land-use designation), communities, business licence names* | Permits weekly; others monthly | 2026-10-31 | Being worked on | Open Government Licence – City of Calgary |
| Edmonton | Building permits, assessment (civic addresses, assessed value, zoning), neighbourhoods | Permits weekly; others monthly | 2026-10-31 | Yes, latest dated 2026-10-29 | Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton |
| Vancouver | Building permits, assessment (civic addresses, assessed value, zoning district), local areas, business licence names* | Permits weekly; others monthly | 2026-11-01 | Being worked on | Open Government Licence – Vancouver |
| Red Deer | Building permits, address points, zoning, business licence names*, neighbourhoods | Permits weekly; others monthly | 2026-11-05 | Being worked on | Open Government Licence – The City of Red Deer |
Airdrie, Grande Prairie and Strathcona County are being added city by city. * Only business names are used to recognise companies; phone numbers and emails in the cities' licence data are never copied. Calgary's open data reaches us about a week after a permit is issued. The City of Edmonton does not publish contractor names. Vancouver's open data reaches us about a week after a permit is issued. The City of Vancouver publishes permits when they are issued and does not show whether the work was completed, so every Vancouver permit shows as Issued with its issue date.
Schema: building permits
One row per permit, every city in the same columns. Each layer has its own page like this.
permit_id text city prefix + city permit number city text calgary | edmonton | vancouver | reddeer | … issued_date date as published by the city status text issued | in_review | refused | closed permit_class text building | development | trade work_description text the city's text; withheld names masked trade text[] roofing, hvac, electrical, … (classified) value_cad numeric null where the city publishes none contractor_name text normalized company name, or null contractor_id text stable id across cities applicant_type text company | individual (name withheld) parcel_id text city parcel or address-point id match_type text roll | address | nearest | none geom Point, 4326 municipal address point source_licence text attribution sentence for this row loaded_at timestamptz when this row was last refreshed
Samples
Downloadable samples and the WFS and GeoJSON API are not available yet. For a sample of building permits in these columns, write to [email protected].
Every delivery includes LICENCE.txt with each city's attribution sentence.
Prices
One city, one layer
Up to $1,200 for the largest layers. Weekly or monthly refresh for the year.
Alberta bundle
Every Alberta jurisdiction we cover, every layer, one licence.
Enterprise
Custom layers, history back-files, delivery to your bucket, a signed agreement. Write to [email protected].
Canadian dollars; no GST is charged. Pay by card, or by invoice for contracts.
The licence, in plain words
- You may use, combine, analyse and build the data into your own products, including products you sell.
- Attribution passes through: wherever you show or pass on the data, carry each city's attribution sentence. Every row has it in source_licence, and LICENCE.txt lists them all.
- No personal information: individual applicants are withheld, no owner names exist in the data, and phone numbers and emails are removed.
- Not a consent list; recipients are responsible for CASL. Contractor names are not permission to send commercial email.
- Do not say or imply that any municipality endorses your product. Permit Gopher is not a municipal service.
- Each city's licence page is snapshotted, with its version and date, at every load; the version in force on the date of access applies.