Step 1 — Collecting Gas Price Data

Our backend server checks available sources on a rotating collection schedule. It reads community-reported Canadian fuel-price feeds, validates the station, fuel grade, price and report timestamp, then matches the observation to our station catalogue.

The primary feed supplies reports across Toronto and the wider Ontario markets we cover. We keep the source’s report time separate from our own database-update time. This matters: a successful collection run does not necessarily mean somebody reported a new pump price at every station.

Each batch stores usable observations for the stations that source supplies. If a source returns no data, existing observations keep their original report times. Reports older than 36 hours are shown as last known prices and excluded from current-price rankings. A collection attempt does not make an old report current.

Step 2 — Our Database

Station records are stored with their address, geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude), brand, and any reported price in cents per litre. When the feed returns an existing station with a new price, we update only the price and timestamp — we don't create duplicate records.

The catalogue also contains map records for stations that do not have a recent price. Those records remain useful for location and navigation, but they appear without a current price and do not enter the “cheapest today” ranking. We do not invent or interpolate a live pump price when a report is missing.

Step 3 — Serving the Data

Choose the view that fits the trip you are planning:

Toronto's cheapest reported prices — current reports ranked by freshness, then price.
Nearby stations — search with your location or postal code and compare price with distance.
Toronto station directory — browse station addresses and open a detail page for available fuel grades and price history.

Distance is measured in a straight line. It does not include the road route, highway ramps or traffic, so check directions before making a detour.

Step 4 — The Map

The interactive map is powered by Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript mapping library, using OpenStreetMap tiles. OpenStreetMap is a community-maintained, royalty-free map dataset. No Google Maps API key or payment is required to display the map.

When stations are loaded, we place a marker pin at each station's GPS coordinates. Clicking a pin shows a small popup with the station name, current price, address, and a link to open directions in Google Maps.

If you share your location, a separate red dot marks where you are on the map, and the view automatically zooms to show the stations nearest to you.

Step 5 — Your Location

The "Nearest to Me" feature uses the browser's built-in navigator.geolocation API. This is a standard web API that asks your device's operating system for your GPS or Wi-Fi-based position. The browser shows you a permission prompt before sharing any location data. You can decline and use the postal-code search instead.

Once you allow access, your latitude and longitude are sent to our API server only to query nearby stations. Our application does not save these coordinates in its database or send them as analytics events.

These coordinates travel over HTTPS (encrypted) and are used only to filter the station list in memory on our server. The nearby-search API route is excluded from our origin access log.

If you decline location access, you can still search by entering a Toronto postal code. We use a rough lookup table to convert the postal code prefix into approximate coordinates — accurate enough to find nearby stations, but not precise enough to identify your exact address.

Price Accuracy

We display community-reported station observations. We have not measured a typical difference between those reports and the price at the pump, so we do not claim a fixed accuracy range. Prices can change multiple times a day and a report can be incomplete or mistaken.

Always glance at the physical pump price before you start filling up. The time on each station card is the source report time when one is available; a stale label warns when that observation has aged beyond the current-price window.

For more on accuracy and our data disclaimer, see the Disclaimer page.