How the Toronto Healthcare Explorer works
ANER (AQIMERYL Neighbourhood Evidence Repository) is the name for our developing internal organization of public data sources, Toronto geographic reference layers, indicator definitions and analytical outputs. ANER is currently under development and does not represent independently collected, complete or fully validated proprietary data. The provenance and quality of each reported finding must be documented separately.
This page explains the public datasets, joining method, and the important difference between mapped facilities and actual access to care.
What it includes
- Toronto neighbourhood boundaries: 158 official neighbourhood polygons used to group records geographically.
- 2021 census neighbourhood indicators: population, age composition and low-income measures.
- Ontario Ministry of Health service-location records: categories such as Family Health Teams, Community Health Centres, and hospitals.
How the geography is joined
Service-location coordinates are matched to neighbourhood boundaries by point-in-polygon analysis. Neighbourhood identifiers—not approximate spelling matches—are used when joining the census indicators. An assigned record is not necessarily a distinct physical clinic or provider.
Understanding the counts
Filtering service types changes the number of records visible. Records may share coordinates, and some providers may operate outside a neighbourhood while serving its residents. Where rates are shown, these refer to selected mapped records relative to population—not physician capacity.
What the data cannot tell us
The map does not establish whether a family doctor is accepting patients, whether care is timely or affordable, the number of clinical staff, or how far people travel to obtain care. A neighbourhood with zero records in selected categories may still have accessible healthcare services.
Observation dates and changes
Census values are from 2021. Healthcare locations come from a 2026 source snapshot; source update dates and collection dates are not interchangeable. The tool is not a live provider directory. Source updates, errors, and changes in boundaries require revalidation.
Data permissions
The application draws on public Toronto census and boundary data and provincial service-location data. Reuse must follow each publisher’s licence, attribution and accuracy terms. Patient-identifiable data is not required for this demonstration.
Recommended use
Use the map to select a research question. Then validate the interpretation with local health organizations, current service directories, relevant administrative datasets, and community knowledge before decisions are made.
Share your proposed planning or research question and the evidence you already have.
Discuss a planning question