Building Distance Calculator
Distance to nearest buildings and structures
Measure distances from any point in Alberta to the nearest buildings and structures. Combines four building footprint datasets: OpenStreetMap (~1.3M buildings), Statistics Canada Open Database of Buildings (~2M), Microsoft ML-generated footprints (~1.77M), and AMDSP address points (~454K), covering urban and rural areas. Query any individual dataset or all combined.
Tool screenshot coming soon
Key Features
- •Distance and bearing calculation to nearest buildings across Alberta
- •Four independent data sources with different strengths and coverage areas
- •Data source selector: OpenStreetMap, Stats Canada, Microsoft ML, AMDSP, or all combined
- •Configurable search radius from 0.1 km to 5 km
- •Building type filtering for datasets that include classification
- •Flow direction modeling for upstream/downstream building classification
- •Interactive map visualization with distance arrows and building footprint highlighting
- •Full building layer toggle to display all structures within search radius
- •CSV and PDF export of results
How It Works
Select a location
Click on the map to set your analysis point. Buildings within your search radius are identified from the selected dataset.
Choose data source
Select which building dataset to query: OpenStreetMap (best metadata), Stats Canada (official survey), Microsoft ML (best rural coverage), AMDSP addresses, or all combined.
Set parameters
Configure search radius and number of features. Optionally enable flow direction analysis.
Review results
Results show each building with its distance, bearing, source dataset, and any available metadata (type, address, area).
Data Sources
~1.3 million building footprints with community-contributed metadata
~2 million buildings from the Statistics Canada Open Database of Buildings
~1.77 million machine-learning-derived footprints from satellite imagery
~454K address points from Alberta Municipal Data Sharing Partnership
Common Use Cases
- 1Identifying occupied dwellings within regulatory setback distances of contaminated sites
- 2Documenting nearest residential receptors for human health risk assessments
- 3Mapping building density around a site for development impact studies
- 4Cross-referencing building locations across multiple datasets for comprehensive receptor surveys