At the lab, we have generated various map series that display locational information for a number of 'creative' industries and occupations in the city using Statistics Canada data. The maps show where different industries tend to cluster in the city and are used by researchers to help identify specific employment districts.

Statistics Canada data includes both place of work (POW) and place of residence (POR) data. This allows us to map both where creative people work and live. The mapping was done using National Occupation Classification Statistics (NOCS) codes (website here).  

We have used several different mapping techniques including density mapping and location quotients. Density maps show employment numbers per unit area. As you might expect, these values are higher in the city’s downtown due to overall employment concentration in the city core. However, within the downtown area there emerge specific clustering patterns in areas like Queen west, Liberty Village and at Bloor and Yonge streets, depending on the industry or occupation being mapped.

The above maps are known as choropleth maps. Choropleth is the cartographic term for a map which visually represents data using a colour gradation. The difference in the colour gradation represents variation in the value of a specific attribute across space- in this case employment figures across census tracts.

The lab has also done some mapping combining the Statistics Canada census data with locational point data obtained from a data vendor. This can be used to display a layer of proportional symbols representing firm employee numbers over top of the occupational choropleth map.

Location quotient maps are another type of choropleth map that use a colour grade to indicate the ranking of a census tract in comparison to the overall average of the city for a specific attribute. This is achieved by taking an employment figure for a specific occupation- say number of fashion designers- and dividing it against the total employment figure for that census tract. The result is a value representing the percentage of fashion designers in that census tract. This value is then divided by the total percentage of fashion designers across the entire city, which gives us our location quotient (LQ). An LQ value of less than 1 will indicate a lower than average concentration of fashion designers, an LQ of 1 indicates an average concentration, and any value above 1indicates an above average concentration of fashion designers.

These two maps were produced for an Artscape mapping project to locate creative clusters within Toronto. Creative occupations are classified here as including many different occupations such as visual and performing artists, architects, various designers (fashion, graphic etc.), writers and editors, musicians, photographers, and producers and directors.

Listed below are place of work and place of residence location quotient maps for individual 'creative' occupations

University of Toronto
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Toronto, ON. M5G 3G3
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