How we update rink information

Rink listings

We list 3,035 outdoor rinks. 1,251 come from open data published by 20 municipalities, such as rink inventories from Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. We check these datasets before each season and refresh them at least monthly.

The rest are community-mapped locations from OpenStreetMap. They’re marked “Community-mapped location” and aren’t verified with an operator. Indoor arenas are left out, and so are lakes and rivers that nobody maintains.

Rink status

We only show a status when an operator publishes one. Toronto, for example, publishes a live feed, which we check every 30 to 60 minutes during the season. Each status shows its source and when it was reported.

• Reported open / Reported closed: what the operator last said, with the time they said it.
• Service alert: the operator has posted a notice, such as maintenance.
• Status not confirmed: we have no current report. That doesn’t mean the rink is closed or open.
• Current status not confirmed: the last report is older than its freshness window, which is 48 hours for refrigerated rinks and 24 hours for natural ice, or our last check of the feed failed. The old report is shown separately.
• Closed for the season: the operator has said the season is over.

Toronto’s feed only lists rinks with an active notice. If a Toronto rink isn’t in the feed, we say the status isn’t confirmed rather than assuming it’s open. We never use weather or temperature to decide whether a rink is open.

Facilities

Each facility shows Yes, No or Not confirmed. If a source doesn’t say whether there are rentals or washrooms, we show “Not confirmed”, not “No”. Filters only match details a source has confirmed.

Weather

Forecasts come from MET Norway’s Locationforecast service. When you visit a rink page, we reuse its saved forecast for up to 12 hours before requesting an update. Nearby rinks share a forecast, and locations nobody visits do not trigger scheduled weather requests. Forecasts are modelled for the area around the rink, rounded to about a kilometre, and aren’t measured at the rink. We show when the forecast was refreshed. If an update fails, a forecast more than 12 hours old is labelled as possibly out of date; after 24 hours we stop showing the numbers. Failed requests are not retried until the next twelve-hour interval.

Weather is shown for planning only. It doesn’t tell you whether a rink is open or the ice is safe.

Safety

Conditions can change. Check the operator’s latest information before travelling, and follow any posted restrictions. Rink Finder doesn’t assess ice safety.

Corrections

If something is wrong, report a correction. We review every report before changing a listing, and we never publish submissions directly.