Natural Resources Canada, a department of the Canadian government, has recently published an interactive CD-ROM entitled “Atlas of Canadian Dimension Stone / Atlas de la pierre de taille canadienne.” The atlas contains information on over 120 companies that quarry and process rough dimension stone throughout Canada. In addition, images and technical details on 130 different commercial varieties of granite, marble, limestone, sandstone and slate are cataloged. The atlas is available in both English and French, and it contains lists of operating companies, the coordinates of offices and fabrication plants, lists of commercial stones, thumbnail images of stones arranged by stone type, larger-format pages for each commercial stone and an interactive map interface that shows the location of most quarries and fabrication plants across the country. Also included in the CD-ROM is a glossary of geological and stone industry terms, a bibliography of reports concerning natural stone in Canada and links to government and industry Web sites.
The database is designed to assist architects, designers and other construction industry professionals in selecting Canadian natural stone for their building projects.