Land & Risk Map · Vancouver first

Know the dirt
before you buy the house.

I spent 11 years in construction reading ground and buildings before I ever sold a home. This map puts what the City and the Province publish about a lot in one place, so you know what to ask before subjects come off.

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Layers

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General information from public sources, not a professional report. Read the note under the map.

Click the map, then scroll to zoom

Read thisGeneral information from public sources. This is not an engineer's, geotechnical, surveyor's or legal report. Boundaries and layers are approximate, and regional maps can be off: the older peat map by about 100 metres. Confirm with the City and your own professionals before relying on it.

Police mapWant crime information? See the Vancouver Police Department's own map. Their map's locations are offset, and they say not to rely on it for the safety of a specific location.

Layer by layer

What each layer shows, and what to ask.

Zoning and what can be built

City of Vancouver Open Data, zoning districts and labels. Updated June 29, 2026.

The legal zone for each part of Vancouver, from the City. R1-1 is where the multiplex rules live, and the unit count turns on lot area and frontage together. A standard 33 by 122 foot East Van lot is a 4-unit site, not a 6-unit one. That single fact reframes a lot of conversations.

Ask
  • Has the City confirmed the unit count for this lot and this frontage?
  • On an RT lot, what does Planning say? Do not take a unit count from a map.
  • If it is near a SkyTrain station, what does an application need? Transit-oriented tiers are minimums an application can reach, not an automatic rezoning.

Contours (1 m)

City of Vancouver Open Data, elevation contour lines, 1 metre. Contours processed July 28, 2023.

The City's 1 metre elevation lines, once you zoom in to the street. Lines close together mean a steep slope, and the slope across a lot drives what a build costs: retaining walls, excavation, and where the water goes.

Ask
  • How much does the grade change across this lot, front to back?
  • What does a surveyor's topographic plan show? These lines are a City model, not a survey.

Peat and soil

Geological Survey of Canada, GeoMap Vancouver (Open File 3511); BC soil survey. Older regional maps, soil survey mostly 1980s.

Where regional maps show peat. Peat compresses and settles, so foundations, driveways and services move with it, and new construction usually needs piles or preloading. The older Geological Survey map is good to about 100 metres, and the provincial soil survey has nothing inside Vancouver, because the city was built over before the survey.

Ask
  • Is there a geotechnical report for this lot or the one beside it?
  • What foundations did the neighbours need, and have they moved?
  • What will a geotechnical report cost before subjects come off?

Flood plain

City of Vancouver Open Data, designated floodplain; Province of BC, Mapped Floodplains (Historical). City updated August 27, 2026. Province sheets are decades old.

The City's designated flood plain along the Fraser and False Creek, the Still Creek flood plain, the wave effect zone and today's Fraser storm scenario. Outside Vancouver, the Province's older mapping, digitized from paper sheets. Lots here can carry flood construction levels on new builds and different insurance terms.

Ask
  • What flood construction level applies to this lot?
  • What will my insurer say about it, in writing, before subjects come off?

Earthquake shaking

Earthquakes Canada, NBC 2020 Seismic Hazard Tool values, saved on a grid. Saved November 1, 2026.

The peak ground acceleration the National Building Code designs for, on reference ground, on a grid about 5 km wide. It shows how shaking varies across the region. It says nothing about the soil under a lot or the building on it, so it is not a rating. No map on this page can tell you a home is safe or earthquake-proof, and a code value is not a prediction.

Ask
  • What does the geotechnical report say about Site Class and liquefaction?
  • What do the structural drawings show, and which code edition applied at the permit application?
  • What is the earthquake deductible, and who pays it? Strata policies often carry 10 to 20% of the building value.
  • After a big one: stairs, water, power. A building can be sound and still closed for weeks.

Tsunami planning

Method: a UBC GEOB 270 student lab, land under 15 m. Line: City of Vancouver 1 m contours. Contours processed July 28, 2023.

The City's 15 metre contour line, drawn because a UBC geography lab used land under 15 m as its planning scenario, with the highest risk inside 1 km of the coast. It is a student exercise, not an official hazard map. Vancouver Island shelters most of Metro Vancouver from open-ocean tsunamis.

Ask
  • What does the City's and the Province's emergency planning say for this area?
  • How far is the walk to higher ground?

Schools and transit

BC Ministry of Education school locations; TransLink GTFS static. Schools pulled October 18, 2026. Transit built October 27, 2026.

Where schools and rapid transit are. Being close to a school does not put you in its catchment: catchments are set by street address and they change. Distance to a station also matters for the transit-oriented area tiers.

Ask
  • Which school does this exact address map to? Ask the district.
  • Is the program you want, such as French immersion, taking students?

Found something on a lot you care about?

Tell me the address and what you want to do with it. I will tell you what I would check next. Homes for sale and sold prices are on this map and in the app, with MLS® data, on a free account.

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Sources and terms

Where this comes from.

  • City of Vancouver Open Data: zoning, floodplain, contours, parcels, stations, heritageOpen Government Licence – VancouverContains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver
  • Province of BC: ParcelMap BC parcel fabric, Mapped Floodplains (Historical), soil survey, school locations, Freshwater Atlas coastline, Address GeocoderOpen Government Licence – British ColumbiaContains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia
  • Earthquakes Canada: NBC 2020 Seismic Hazard Tool valuesOpen Government Licence – CanadaContains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada
  • Geological Survey of Canada: GeoMap Vancouver, Open File 3511Licence being confirmed with Natural Resources CanadaGeological Survey of Canada
  • Statistics Canada: Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population (signed-in Demographics layer)Statistics Canada Open LicenceAdapted from Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population, 2021. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • TransLink: GTFS staticTransLink data termsRoute and arrival data used in this product or service is provided by permission of TransLink. TransLink assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or currency of the Data used in this product or service.
  • Street map: OpenStreetMap data, drawn by Kyle Mark from a Protomaps extractOpen Database License (ODbL)Protomaps © OpenStreetMap contributors
  • Satellite imagery: Esri World Imagery (and the street map's fallback, Esri World Topographic)Esri termsImagery: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics. Topographic: Esri, HERE, Garmin, © OpenStreetMap contributors

Kyle Mark is a REALTOR® with eXp Realty. The public layers on this map carry no MLS® data. MLS® dots show only on a free, verified account. It is not an appraisal.

Kyle Mark Personal Real Estate Corporation, eXp Realty