TELOTIA

Pharmacy atlas

Québec

Where should we investigate next?

Straight-line · independent of zoom
Map layers Dots + population

Dots: residents per nearby pharmacy.
Filters apply to the selected result type.

Pharmacy locations
Map key Fixed scales
Coverage summary All Québec · 15 km
Counts refer to pharmacy locations, not pharmacists. Proximity is not staffing, capacity, opening hours or driving access.

What this map can tell us

Compare the geographic availability of listed pharmacy locations. Use it to choose places to investigate—not to conclude that a community has a staffing shortage or is unserved.

Layers, filters and two different counts

Map layers control visibility independently: dots and population shading can appear together. Click a dot or a shaded census area to inspect it. The Pharmacies / Census areas selector in Browse & filter chooses the search results, filters and summary denominator; it does not switch layers. Filters apply only to that record type, never to the underlying proximity calculations.

Shared fieldwork notes

Saved entries and notes belong to this site's shared workspace, not to this browser or Google Drive. Authorized site visitors can read and update them. Saves record the signed-in contributor and time; conflicting edits are rejected so you can compare before retrying. Archive hides an entry without deleting it. Export makes a Markdown copy. Use this for research questions and visit planning only, never patient information or clinical records.

Resident coverage: for each census dissemination area (DA), count listed locations within 5, 15 or 30 km of its population-weighted representative point. Its 2021 population contributes once to the 0, 1 or 2+ category at the selected radius. The area colour shows that single representative-point estimate; it does not mean access is identical throughout the polygon.

Continuous colour: nearby-pharmacy count runs from 0 to 800 on a fixed logarithmic colour scale, preserving visible differences at the low end. Population density is a separate measure: 2021 residents divided by the area's official land area in km². Its fixed logarithmic scale runs from 0 to 50,000+ people/km², with values above the upper limit sharing the darkest colour. Tooltips and details retain exact values. The coverage summary always uses resident population, not the amount of shaded land.

Pharmacy locations view: the share of residents aged 65+ is shown beneath the dots by default. Choose density, the 75+ or 85+ share, or median age under Colour areas by, or switch off the background. Pharmacy search and filters affect the dots and pharmacy summary, not the population background. The map can be panned freely to centre border cities such as Montréal; neighbouring territory remains masked. Use All Québec to return to the provincial view.

Dot colour: known 2021 residents within the selected 5/15/30 km radius, divided by all Québec site candidates within the same radius, including the selected pharmacy. It is a neighbourhood ratio, not an allocation of patients, customers per pharmacy, staffing or demand. The warm linear scale is fixed at 0–10,000+ residents/site, with values above 10,000 sharing the darkest colour; exact values remain in details. It does not rescale when you search, filter or zoom. A radius with no matched population is grey, not proof that nobody lives nearby. Cross-border pharmacies and unpublished population are not counted.

Boundary display: official Statistics Canada 2021 cartographic boundaries are generalized for interactive display. All 13,756 areas with usable population have a matching polygon. Of the 50 areas without population, 49 have polygons and appear grey; area 24690104 is entirely coastal water and is excluded from the official cartographic file. Population density also stays unavailable where official land area is zero. Display geometry does not change any coverage calculation.

Pharmacy locations: count other distinct site candidates within the selected radius of a pharmacy. Neighbourhood population totals overlap across pharmacies and must not be added together.

Snapshots & sources

Interpretation limits

Age: all age-share layers use the same fixed linear 0–100% blue scale. Median age uses 0–100 years. Shares divide published rounded age counts by their own rounded age total, not GeoSuite's exact population count. The 75+ count is the sum of 75–79, 80–84 and 85+. The age bands may not add exactly to the published total because of random rounding. Missing, suppressed and invalid ratios remain unavailable, not zero.

Nearby pharmacy age profiles sum only complete published age breakdowns whose DA representative points fall inside the radius. Details disclose coverage against the known nearby GeoSuite population and the number of excluded areas. They do not estimate unpublished age counts; medians are never averaged across areas. This approximation is especially coarse for large rural DAs. Age is demographic context, not evidence of medication use, transferable work, a shortage or a commercial opportunity.

Québec-only display: a mask based on the official 2021 province boundary hides neighbouring territory. Geometry is drawn as zoom-specific tiles for smooth exploration; small shapes simplify at distant zoom levels and regain detail as you zoom in. This changes only the display, not the source geography or calculations. Clicking a pharmacy dot opens its details without replacing the resident view.

Pharmacist teams: this dataset lists pharmacy locations, not verified staff rosters. The OPQ directory helps verify individual members, but a reported professional address is not proof of permanent employment, scheduled presence or a complete pharmacy team. No personal addresses or inferred employee lists are included.

Distances use the Haversine formula, not a road network. Water, bridges, terrain, road access, travel time, opening hours, services, staffing and workload are not measured. Pharmacies outside Québec are not included; border communities may therefore look less connected. A missing location or outdated record can change the result. Economic regions are the 2021 statistical geography, not a claim about current administrative boundaries.

Region and search filters select the displayed census areas; counts still include all Québec site candidates, including those across a region boundary. In the pharmacy view, municipality filters select focal pharmacies, not their pool of alternatives.

Map tiles are supplied by OpenStreetMap. Only the basemap needs that external service; search and filtering run locally on the bundled public data. Tiles may be unavailable independently of the research data.