Location of Your House

Your house appears on many maps.

Where does the name of my street come from?

HRM has a list of all streets, their first and last numbers, and a list of the 33 different street types in the city (street, avenue, lane, etc.).

To find out if your street name honours a place or person, see: Shelagh Mackenzie, Halifax Street Names: An Illustrated Guide. Another source is Elena Cremonse, "Halifax Municipal Archives: How Streets Get Their Names."

To find out if the name of your street was changed since your house was built, see HRM's list of street changes. To see if the number of your house was changed (especially after the city of Halifax switched to four-digit numbers in the early 1960s), see HRM's list of address changes. This is part of the provincial civic addressing system. If you do any research on the history of your house, you'll need to know whether its address changed.

Where is my house located in larger geographies?

The short film Powers of Ten zooms in and out from our normal human frame of reference. Your house is nested in larger surroundings, both political and geographical:

Municipality: Halifax Regional Municipality
County: Halifax
Province: Nova Scotia
Country: Canada
Continent: North America
Tectonic plate: North American Plate

Your house is also located in Mi'kmaw places:

Settlement: Kjipuktuk (Halifax harbour); Kuowaqe'jk (Citadel Hill); Kuowa'qamikt (Halifax peninsula)
District: Sipekne'katik
Continent: Turtle Island

In which government districts is my house located?

For electing political representatives, your house is located in three different districts:

municipal district within Halifax Regional Municipality
provincial district within Nova Scotia
federal district within Canada

Where is my house located for the Canadian census?

The Canadian government census assembles statistics from across the country. Your house is in:

a Halifax census tract in this map
the larger Halifax County metropolitan census area, analyzed in this profile of people

Where is my house located for municipal development?

Your house is governed by HRM's planning regulations for the Regional Centre Plan Area. Its maps show allowable land uses, maximum building heights, etc.

If you own a heritage property or live in a heritage conservation district such as Schmidtville or the Old South Suburb, check the by-laws for maintaining and altering your property. Grants may be available to assist with expenses.

In which environmental region is my house located?

Halifax is located in the North American eco-region, which is divided into smaller parts:

Of the 15 Level 1 areas, Halifax is in: 5. Northern Forest
Of the 50 Level 2 areas, Halifax is in: 5.3 Atlantic Highlands
Of the 182 Level 3 areas, Halifax is in: 5.3.1 Northern Appalachian and Atlantic Maritime Highlands

Halifax is in Plant Hardiness Zone 6b, which is suitable for growing certain types of plants.

How is my house located in relation to the sun?

To find the angle of the sun in relation to your house throughout the year, you can check the Sun Direction website from Tunisia.

How high is my house above sea level?

This interactive map will tell you. You can also check the Canada Flood Map. Zoom into Halifax and set the water level at different elevations to see when sea level rise would turn your house into a coastal property.

In which neighbourhood is my house located?

"Neighbourhood" is defined in different ways that suggest different sizes:

people living near a certain place
a district in which inhabitants share the same character or circumstances
people who live close together
a residential area in a planned town, including shops, a school, and other community amenities

Halifax's neighbourhoods are equally flexible. A 2011 map by former HRM councillor Waye Mason invited community members to contribute. A Halifax hoodmap takes a more irreverent approach. If you walk a dog and encounter people along the way, your neighbourhood may be larger than for someone who looks out their front window at the houses across the street.

Some Halifax neighbourhoods have an online presence on Facebook: