We all know Canada is huge. But when you render its population as 3D spikes rising from the surface, the answer becomes visceral. Almost everyone lives in a narrow strip hugging the US border.
I built this map using R and rayshader. Each spike represents population density in a given hexagonal cell. Taller and darker = more people.
What Stands Out
- The Golden Horseshoe (Toronto area) towers over everything. Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians lives here.
- Montreal dominates Quebec as a clear second peak.
- Vancouver is squeezed between the Pacific and the mountains.
- Calgary–Edmonton forms a visible dual-spike corridor in Alberta.
- Everything north of ~55°N is essentially flat. Millions of square kilometers, almost nobody.
~90% of Canadians live within 200 km of the US border.
How It's Made
Data: Kontur Population Dataset H3 hexagonal grid with population counts.
This map is part of a larger project (Public Tender Search Engine) Wyszukiwarka przetargów , where we use data visualization and geospatial analysis to explore public procurement and demographic data across countries.

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