Extreme Heat Vulnerability Mapping

Hello, North Shore Extreme Heat Forum participants, and welcome to the Story Map for the project's online maps! The maps included in this Story Map help you explore the many different factors that influence how extreme heat events, identify groups that are especially vulnerable to the impacts of extreme heat, and highlight those neighbourhoods where exposure and vulnerability most strongly overlap.

For those who might not have encountered a Story Map before, the format allows us to share important information and context alongside the many maps produced for the project. This includes which factors were considered during the vulnerability assessment, where data was sourced from, and how to interpret some of the study's key findings. After the study, all of the geospatial layers generated for the project will be provided to our municipal and First Nations partners.

If this is your first time using a Story Map, we suggest scrolling down to experience and explore its content in order. This will ensure you don't miss any information that will help you understand some of the later components. Once more familiar with the story and its components, you can use the navigation bar at the top of the screen to move quickly between sections of interest or return to previous sections.

Many of the maps include quick links to areas of interest. Simply tap the 'Entire North Shore Region' button to return to the regional map once you done examining a highlighted area. Each map also has an 'Expand' icon in the top-right corner you can use to expand the map allowing you to explore a map in your own way. Click that icon again to return to the Story Map.

Our team would love to hear your feedback on the maps, mapping process, or extreme heat risk analysis currently underway for the North Shore region. Simply scroll to the end of the Story Map to find a feedback email you can use to connect with us.

Please Note: As these maps are still a work in progress, we ask that you not share this site with anyone outside your group. An updated Story Map is being developed to provide a more streamlined experience for the general public.

There is a strong spatial component to extreme heat exposure and vulnerability across the North Shore region. Many different factors influence individual and household vulnerability to extreme heat events and we showed how several different elements combine to drive vulnerability for the region across four major themes.

Knowing where vulnerable populations are concentrated and what factors contribute to neighbourhood-scale risk can help policymakers and planners identify potential programs, partners, and protocols to help reduce vulnerability and increase extreme heat resilience throughout the North Shore. Areas of higher resilience may offer lessons and best practices. Emergency managers and planners can use this information to develop extreme heat management strategies, pre-position goods and people, and identify where their services will likely be in most significant demand in future extreme heat events.

The complete risk assessment being completed as part of this project dives deeper into these questions, provides additional context related to health and disability, identifies potential gaps, and explores cooperative strategies our municipal and First Nations partners can employ to help build a more resilient North Shore.

Thank-you to all who have participated in our outreach and engagement meetings throughout the project. We look forward to sharing the final results and datasets with you soon!