The concept was developed by Canadian geographer Louis-Edmond Hamelin in the 1960s based on previous work done in the Soviet Union.
Using the VAPO, most of Canada outside the Southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, the Prairies, the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, and most of the Maritimes exhibits some degree of nordicity.
The rest of the archipelago and tundra zone as well as parts of the boreal forest were included in the Far North.
The Canadian government uses a set system for measuring nordicity, which is used for determining a number of regulations in fields such as environmental protection, infrastructure, and many others.
The idea of nordicity and the changing conceptions of what is the north has also recently become a subject for historians.