GIS Resources
Free Data Sources
These sites had free data that I have
used in the past.
If a link is no longer good or if the data is no longer available for free,
please let me know.
NOAA -The GLOBE Project - This site has awesome DEM files spanning the entire globe. The files are huge (100mb each uncompressed) but it is well worth it in my opinion. There are 16 tiles and the resolution is 1km. Pretty good for free data.
- MapDawg - Links to various sites with free data.
- C.A.S.T. - This is a huge listing of sites with mostly American data.
- Data Depot - A fairly good source of data for many different countries.
- GeoGratis - A fantastic site for Canadian data. This site is maintained by Natural Resources Canada and has probably the best base map files of Canada available for free on the web (used for the National Atlas of Canada 5th edition). It is also a fantastic source of free Landsat 7 imagery of Canada.
- GeoBase - Another great site for Canadian data. It's relatively new (started in 2001) but holds a great amount of Canadian reference data and elevation rasters. It compliments Geogratis nicely. Check it out.
- GIS Linx - A listing of various data sources.
- GTOPO30 - This is a global DEM with 30 arc second (approx. 1km) pixel size. It was one of the sources used to develop the GLOBE data.
- TIGER - These are American vector files created by the US Census Bureau. They contain roads, rivers, boundaries... general base map stuff. There is extensive documentation on these files at this site. This data is also available at the ESRI website. It has had some value added work done to it and is called ESRI Mapdata. It is free if you download it but it can be expensive to purchase it on CD.
- USGS - Lots of data on various topics is available. Mostly American course.
- Yukon Territory Dept. of Renewable Resources - they provide a 90m DEM of the Yukon. They are one of the very few Canadian government departments (federal or provincial) to make public a portion of their geomatics data. Eureka!
- National Atlas of the United States - This is a huge database with files on everything from cancer mortality, zebra mussel distribution and census boundaries. Purely American.
- Geography Network - They provide links to many different sites with some interesting data.
- Data Sources on the Internet - This site is hosted by NASA and has a large listing of data that is available on the internet. Some of this data is has a global coverage, most of it covers only the United States.
- USGS DEMs - Another USGS site providing data for free. Note the positional error mentioned on the site.
- Directionsmag.com - They have a nice listing of free data including topics like weather, demography and elevation data. Data can be listed by the format it is available in.
- Geostats - A source for detailed statistical data on American counties and cities (1988 and 1994).
- Free GIS Data in Canada - Please go to this site and fill out the petition for cheaper GIS data from the Canadian Government. The reason some much of my links are to American data sites is because Canadian data is too expensive for most organizations to buy.
- Province of Manitoba Land Initiative - This site allows access to a good source of GIS data for the province of Manitoba, including Lidar of the Red River valley. This Lidar is what I used for my Red River Valley Flood Simulation, shown in the 'Interesting' section of this site.
- SRTM global elevation data - NASA provides this data set for free. It is really useful when you don't have any elevation data and don't have the money to buy any. The 90m data is free and the 30m data is available for a price.
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