Featured Data Product

Download Building Footprints.  Zero Cleaning Required.

View and download building footprints. Over 134 million building outlines in Canada and the US.

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Why access building footprints in Equator?

Did you know?

Equator turns massive datasets like building outlines into site-ready data, instantly. This is why Equator is the go-to choice for engineers, designers, and architects.

Fast and Easy

Find, view, and download building outlines in less than a minute.

CAD-Ready Formats

Export building footprints into .DXF or .DWG file formats, in the coordinate system you need.

Combine with Other Data

In addition to building footprints, find LiDAR, contours, and parcels in Equator.

How it Works

Step 1: Setup A Site

Search for your location in the search bar. Then, click on the “New Site” Button in the bottom menu. 

Building Footprints Site Setup

Step 2: Select Buildings

Go to the Data menu (left side bar). Then, scroll the list of data products to find Building Outlines.

Building Footprints Select

Step 3: Download Data

Go to the Layer menu (left side bar). Then, click on the blue download button beside the layer of interest. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from downloading open data myself?

Most public datasets are enormous, often hundreds of gigabytes, and cover entire countries or states. Engineers and planners on forums often mention spending hours clipping, reprojecting, and cleaning them before they’re usable. Equator automates that process: you draw a site boundary, and Equator instantly deliver clean, correctly projected building outlines that are ready to use.

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Where does the building outline data come from?

Building Footprints in Equator is compiled from large, authoritative public datasets (e.g. Microsoft’s U.S. Building Footprints and Statistics Canada’s Open Database of Buildings.  These datasets are maintained and updated regularly, and Equator handles all the heavy lifting to make them accessible and project-ready.

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Are building footprints available for the entire United States and Canada?

Yes. Coverage is available across nearly all of the U.S. and most of Canada. Some remote regions may have lower detail or older data, but coverage is continuously improving as new imagery and municipal datasets are released.

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Building Footprints Coverage in Canada and the US

How current and accurate is the data?

Accuracy varies by region, but most footprints are derived from high-resolution aerial or satellite imagery and are typically within 1–2 meters of ground truth. Updates are usually released annually or semi-annually.

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Can I use building footprint data in CAD or BIM software?

Yes. You can export footprints directly in formats like DWG, DXF, or SHP, which import easily into AutoCAD, Civil 3D, ArcGIS, QGIS, InfraWorks, and other common engineering and design tools. They can also be used as layers in BIM workflows (e.g., Revit) for context modeling.

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Building Footprints in AutoCAD Civil3D

Absolutely. Many users combine building footprints with other site layers, like property boundaries, contour lines, or point clouds, for a complete site model. This helps with tasks like setback calculations, stormwater modeling, or visualizing existing conditions in 3D.

You can choose from common coordinate systems (e.g., EPSG:3857, NAD83, UTM zones) at export. Equator automatically handles reprojection so your data aligns with other layers in your project.

Most of the building footprint data Equator serves comes from open data sources and is free to use for commercial and non-commercial projects. Source attribution details are always included so you can meet any licensing requirements. 

Yes. Many governments and organizations publish open datasets, such as Microsoft’s U.S. Building Footprints or Statistics Canada’s Open Database of Buildings. However, these datasets are usually very large and require processing before they’re usable, which is why many professionals prefer tools like Equator that deliver site-specific data instantly.

Download the building footprint layer in a compatible format like SHP or GeoJSON and then use the “Add Data” or “Add Vector Layer” option in your GIS software. If you’re exporting directly from Equator, the file will already be clipped and projected correctly for quick import.

If you’re tired of downloading 20-GB shapefiles and spending half a day clipping, cleaning, and reprojecting them, you’re not alone. That’s one of the most common frustrations with building footprint data.

The easiest solution is to use a platform that does the heavy lifting for you. Tools like Equator pull from the same massive public datasets (like Microsoft’s U.S. Building Footprints or Statistics Canada’s Open Database of Buildings), but they let you draw a site boundary or search by address and instantly deliver just the footprints you need…already clipped, projected, and ready to drop into CAD, GIS, or BIM software.

That means you skip the hours of manual cleanup and go straight to analysis or design. Most users get site-specific building outline data in under a minute, instead of wrangling raw national datasets themselves.

The easiest way is to avoid downloading the full dataset. With Equator, you can draw a boundary or upload a site area and instantly get only the building footprints you need, already clipped and ready for CAD or GIS. This saves hours of manual filtering and cleanup.

Use a platform that handles the heavy lifting for you. With Equator, you can simply draw a boundary or enter an address and instantly download clean, site-specific building polygons. No coding, data cleaning, or GIS scripting required.