The Drone Site Selection Tool is an interactive map designed to help drone pilots determine areas where drone flight is prohibited, restricted or potentially hazardous. Drones are prohibited at areas that are highlighted in red. You will require permission from the appropriate authority to fly a drone in areas highlighted in orange. Areas filled with yellow require additional caution due to other air traffic.
If you fly a drone in Canada you must follow the rules that help keep people and aircraft safe. All drones over 250 grams must be registered with Transport Canada, and flown by a pilot with a drone pilot certificate.
Use the icons in the sidebar of the map to perform the following functions:
The map uses colour to identify areas that require additional caution, or are prohibited from drone flights. Areas filled with red are prohibited. Areas filled with yellow require additional caution due to other air traffic. Areas filled with orange require permission from an appropriate stakeholder such as Nav Canada, Parks Canada, National Defence, other agencies, or an airport operator. Clicking on any shape will present an information window providing further details.
In Canada, there are several categories of drone operation . Each one has a different set of rules drone pilots must follow. The weight of your drone, distance from bystanders and airspace rules define your category. Find your drone category Opens in new window.
*Standard 901.87 specifies the RPAS manufacturer declarations required for Small and Medium BVLOS operations relative to population density.
Select the highest ARC that your RPAS can operate. Standard 922.10 Opens in new window specifies the performance requirements for DAA systems based on Risk Ratio. Standard 923 specifies the performance requirements for visual observers.
You can centre the map via searching for a city, geolocation, or you can enter the location manually.
The cursor position box below indicates the latitude and longitude (in decimal degrees) of the cursor's position. This may prove useful in describing the geographical boundaries of the intended operation. Please note that the cursor must be over the map in order to update (i.e. not over the sidebar).
By checking, or un-checking the checkboxes below you can toggle the various Map controls visible on the map canvas.
The Zoom control adds +/- icons that can be used to modify the zoom level.
The Fullscreen control introduces an icon that may be used to expand the map to occupy your full screen.
The Map type control introduces a drop down menu where you can select whether the map is a roadmap (with toggleable terrain), or satellite imagery.
Users should start by selecting the appropriate category of your drone operations (e.g. Basic or Advanced). Select the appropriate category by using the 'operation details' tab that opens when you click on the Drone icon.
Next, either manually centre the map using standard zoom/pan controls, or use the Search icon to search for a location, or centre the map by using your device's geolocation.
The map uses colour to identify areas that require additional caution, or are prohibited from drone flights. Areas filled with red are prohibited for the currently selected operation details. Areas filled with yellow require additional caution due to other air traffic. Areas filled with orange require permission from an appropriate stakeholder such as Nav Canada, Parks Canada, National Defence, another user agency, or an airport operator. Clicking on any shape will present an information window providing further details. Using the layers icon it is possible to add Provincial park or additional airspace information to the map. The Provincial park data is known to be incomplete at this time, and is provided for information only.
The Globe Icon contains several controls that can be toggled on or off. The Zoom control adds +/- icons that can be used to modify the zoom level. The Map type control introduces a drop down menu where you can select whether the map is a roadmap (with toggleable terrain), satellite imagery, or alternate map styles. The Fullscreen control introduces an icon that may be used to expand the map to occupy your full screen.
The tools icon contains tools that can be toggled to assist in the design of your RPAS operation.
By selecting the 'show measure tool' checkbox you can right click on the map to insert a measurement marker. Note: Currently you can only set the initial marker position outside a filled shape. Once 2 markers have been created a line will be drawn between them and the distance (in meters) will be displayed at the top centre of the map. The markers can be dragged and may be used to validate your operation's distances from built up areas or structures, etc. Un-checking the checkbox will remove the markers from the map.
More tools will be added in future releases.
The cog icon allows users to save the current map settings as default (including map centre, zoom, and style), or to restore the NRC default settings. The settings are saved in your browser's local storage, and will be retained any time you visit the site from the same device. Deleting your browser cache will result in NRC defaults being applied.
Here is a list of commonly asked questions.
Not necessarily. The Drone Site Selection Tool shows the known locations of airports/heliports and airspace on its map. The legality of a particular operation may be influenced by the laws of several jurisdictions, including municipal, provincial, property access rights, and privacy etc...
The operation of a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) in accordance with this web-tool does not imply the operator is compliant with Transport Canada's regulatory requirements. The responsibility for ensuring compliance with the appropriate regulations lies with the RPAS pilot, Special Flight Operations Certificate holder, visual observers or other operators as applicable. Any questions regarding compliance with the regulations should be addressed to: Transport Canada RPAS Task Force.
No. International flight is not permitted. A future release of the tool will crop all the shapes to ensure they remain within Canadian airspace.
The airport/heliport data comes from Nav Canada's database, and is updated on a 56-day cycle. The airspace data is parsed from the Designated Airspace Handbook. The national park data was extracted from the Canada Lands Survey web services
Provincial park data was obtained from various public sources. The ARC boundaries for BVLOS map layers were provided by Transport Canada. Population density information was derived from the 2021 census.
The airspace data displayed comes from the Designated Airspace Handbook. Not all airspace as defined in the DAH have altitudes explicitly assigned to them, and instead may refer to an altitude above the aerodrome elevation (AAE). For example, most control zones extend to an altitude of 3000 feet above the aerodrome elevation. The Drone site selection tool shows these altitudes as Above Ground Level (AGL), whereas the Nav Canada charts show these altitudes as height above Mean Sea Level (MSL).
This can happen with airports that do not have accurate survey data available in the database. The Drone site selection tool uses surveyed runway end points to establish its shapes, where possible. In the absence of surveyed data, the tool uses a 'best guess' by using the reported aerodrome centre coordinate, runway length, and the runway direction from the runway number (corrected for magnetic variation). This can introduce up to a 10 degree error in runway heading, as well as minor issues regarding the runway location. Please do not report these errors to the developers, as it is the underlying database that requires improvement. Instead, it is recommended to contact the aerodrome operator to suggest that improved survey points should be added to the Canada Flight Supplement.
Sorry, but not at this time. The licensing terms for the Nav Canada data used to derive the map shapes prohibit re-distribution of the underlying data at this time.
Sorry, but not at this time. While a native OS application would allow for improved user interface it would introduce too many code branches for us to maintain (i.e. one for each OS, iOS, Android, and Desktop HTML5, and in French and English).
There are several possible reasons why geolocation might not work as expected. Not all browsers are capable of supporting geolocation. You also need to have location services enabled on your device, and browser security settings. Using geolocation from a laptop or desktop can produce innacurate results because of the IP address locating technique that's used.
The contrast of the map can be adjusted by changing the map style via the globe icon. The opacity of the filled shapes can be adjusted by using the slider located in the layers menu.
Micro-drones are drones weighing less than 250 g. The weight of the remote control is not factored in to the weight calculation, but the weight of anything attached or carried, such as optional cameras, lens filter, pegs, propeller guards, stickers or lights will be considered part of the weight. The micro RPA could thus reach 250 g or more and be made in the category of small RPA from 250 g to 25 Kg and have to comply with subpart 1 of part IX, requiring, among other things, an RPA registration and a RPA pilot certification.
As a good practice, you should always:
Follow these guidelines to avoid flying in a negligent or reckless manner and being subject to fines. Enjoy a safe flight and minimize the risk of incidents. Remember: if you feel that your flight is risky, don’t do it.
For more info on micro drones visit the Transport Canada website Opens in new window and consult the RPA chapter of the Transport Canada Aeronautical Information Manual Opens in new window.
901.47(1) of the Canadian Aviation Regulations states:
"No pilot shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft at or near an aerodrome that is listed in the Canada Flight Supplement or the Water Aerodrome Supplement in a manner that could interfere with an aircraft operating in the established traffic pattern."
901.47(2) of the Canadian Aviation Regulations states:
"Subject to section 901.73, no pilot shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft at a distance of less than: (a) three nautical miles from the centre of an airport; and (b) one nautical mile from the centre of a heliport.”
There are different restrictions associated with aerodromes vs airports and heliports. For BASIC operations airports and heliports (which have a certificate in accordance with Part III of the Canadian Aviation Regulations) are drawn in red, whereas all other aerodromes are drawn in yellow.
Save the current map settings (zoom, centre, map type, etc) as defaults so they are restored when you return to this page:
Restore the original NRC map defaults:
Select from various tools to help you plan your mission.
By selecting the 'Show Measurement Tool' checkbox you can drag measurement markers. The distance will be displayed at the top centre of the map. The markers can be dragged and may be used to validate your operation's distances from built-up areas or structures, etc. Un-checking the checkbox will remove the markers from the map.
This area displays the coordinates of any operation that has been defined and displayed on the map.
The table shows the map layers that are currently rendered in draw order with the top most layer at the bottom of the table. You can click and drag to re-arrange the draw order. The checkboxes allow you to toggle the layer's visibility.
Use the controls below to toggle the visibility of the airspace above 400 ft AGL. Note that the Airspace layer radio button will hide all airspace shapes.
Airspace above 400ft can be filtered by airspace class.
Airspace above 400ft can be filtered by airspace type.
Use the select boxes below to further refine airspace visibility by altitude.
To report problems with the Drone site selection tool please send a direct email to the developers.
Please note that NRC staff are unable to provide guidance regarding the legality of your proposed operation. For more information on drone safety rules in Canada, visit Drone Safety Opens in new window.
For questions and concerns about Drone regulations in Canada, please contact Transport Canada.
Your operation bounds have changed! Click on the Check Ops Area button below to generate a new report.