Interactive map lets northerners view region's infrastructure

A new onlinemap is offering a snapshot of northern Ontario's railways, roads, and even rest stops.

The Northern Ontario Infrastructure Mapshows passenger rail and bus routes, major highways, border crossings, airports, and more.Users can click on the interactivemap to compare each route along with nearby cities, towns, and First Nations reserves.

• View the Northern Ontario Infrastructure Map

The publicly availablemap, commissioned by the Northern Policy Institute, also showsthe Ring of Fire and the far north's ice roads.

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The aim is to more clearly illustrateinfrastructure that is often discussed, but sometimes not understood,according toMikeCommito, research coordinator withthe Northern Policy Institute.

"You can see where the ice roads areand how far they go," he said, "but then you can see really how far a lot of these communities are up north, and the challenges they face due to the fact of where they're located."

Commito said the hope is by presenting the north's infrastructure in an easy tounderstandform, it can beused as reference for everyone from the public to policy makers.

"Certainly infrastructure is tied to all sorts of other issues like accessibility with education [and]health care services,"Commitosaid."For peoplethat are in remote communities, how do they get to these service hubs to do a lot of these things that many of us here in Sudbury would take for granted?"

Commito said the institute plans to update and add to the map as more information becomes available. You can emailmap updates to the institute atmappingthenorth@northernpolicy.ca.