ARCHIVED — Hexagon Model Methodology
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Archived Content
Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page.
Description on the hexagon model
The actual core of the broadband costing model relies on a population mapping model correlated directly to the 2006 Census block units and Dissemination Block Area (DBAs) from Statistics Canada.
There are approximately 500,000 Dissemination Block Areas (DBAs) in Canada, each of which has available data on both population and number of dwellings. Due to the simplicity of modeling, each of the DBAs was converted to a single point at its geographic center called a centroid. Note: the areas over 50 km2 were cut against water boundaries to capture only the land before the geographic center was calculated. This method of converting areas to points is illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Dissemination Block Area
Red dots at the center of each Dissemination Block Area; the black outline sets the population model; Ottawa can be seen to the right.
Since there are approximately 500,000 DBAs and they are not uniform in size or shape, a raster grid for the model was created. The spectrum-grid cell hexagon (based on the CanHex model from Statistics Canada) was chosen to satisfy these criteria. The grid cell hexagons are almost exactly three kilometres in radius and are consistent throughout Canada. The only unusual splitting of these hexagons occurs at the borders of the provinces so as to observe data integrity at the provincial level. Hexagons that did not contain at least one DBA point were discarded. Figure 2 illustrates the hexagon model.
This approach yields precisely 49,999 DBA point associated hexagons in Canada.
Figure 2: DBA centroids
Each hexagon has one or more DBA centroids.
Hexagonal map for gap analysis
The broadband maps show unserved hexagons across Canada using thematics based on the number of unserved populations. Each hexagon has its own unique ID (e.g., 35452) created by Broadband Canada.
Illustrating the unserved or underserved gaps in an applicant’s project area is an important eligibility criteria on which an application is assessed. Broadband Canada uses a hexagon grid, overlaid on maps, as the measuring unit for this purpose.
Each of the six sides of the hexagon represents a length of three kilometers. Therefore, the area of each hexagon is approximately 25km2. Applicants are required to identify the hexagon in the proposed project scope area and confirm whether they are served or not, according to the instructions below.
Note that the application must include a gap analysis based on this hexagon map.
Figure 3: Hexagonal map
Hexagonal map with unserved population
