Download Table below...
Previous Digital Geology and Mineral Potential Maps 1999.

Digital regional compilations of the geology of B.C. at 1:250,000-scale were made by staff of the BC Geological Survey in 1992-96 in support of the Mineral Potential Project. These were released as Open Files (see References) and digital downloads from the BC Geological Survey website.  They were also used as the geology base for the MapPlace (http://www.mapplace.ca).

Digital Geology Coverage

However, numerous errors and inconsistencies were noted within these data sets. The Digital Geology Map of British Columbia Project was designed to address these problems and, in the process, try to produce a seamless digital map of the Province with consistent geological tagging. Where feasible, updates to the geology have also been incorporated during the editing process. However, some “scratch lines” remain in the data reflecting problems due to unresolved differences in geological designations in original sources.

Release of the recompilation is based on the same tiles as the Cordilleran GIS Map Library (Journeay and Williams, 1995) which conforms to the International Map of the World standard used for indexing 1:1,000,000-scale topographic maps.  This differs from the numbering convention used for the National Topographic System maps. NTS sheets contained within each tile are listed in the table below. Preliminary versions of the tiled data were released in 2003, with updates in 2004. This new province-wide version, and associated tiled data, supersedes the earlier files.

All data sets are in shape file format that should be readily usable by most GIS software. They are presented as either decimal degrees (suffix _ll) or BC Albers (suffix _alb). Tiled data are also available in UTM (suffix _utm) projections.  All projections use NAD83 as the datum.  The data sets are intended to be used at 1:250,000-scale and their use at greater scales is not recommended.

This data is also available in a cartographically correct rendition of the geology of British Columbia, in PDF format: Geoscience Map 2005-3: Geology of British Columbia; compiled by N.W.D. Massey, D.G. MacIntyre, P.J. Desjardins and R.T. Cooney; cartography by Clover Point Cartographics Ltd.; Scale 1:1 000 000, 3 sheets.

NOTE: All GeoFile documents referenced on this page are only available as downloadable documents via this web site.  No hardcopy data will be available.  A DVD containing all data sets is also available as Open File 2005-2 for purchase from Crown Publications.  The shape files include .AVL files suitable for symbolization by ArcView 3.x users.  A style sheet (BCDigitalMap.style) for ArcMap 8.x users is also available for download.  Map colours (themed on KEYCODE) to the BC Geology data in Manifold is available in this XML file: BC_Geology_Themes.xml; this file is also available with RGB Values: BC_Geology_RGB.xml

B.C. Digital Geology Map

(.SHP file format, zipped):

There are three downloadable versions of each preliminary tile - decimal degrees (ll); BC Albers (alb) and UTM at the 1:250,000 scale:
Download Documentation or view Readme file.

All publications of the BC Geological Survey are available for purchase through Crown Publications Inc. (and its agents).

For questions or more information on geology and minerals in British Columbia contact BCGS Mailbox or call toll free (BC Residents only).