GEOSPATIAL DATA REPORT : Finding and Using GIS Data

http://na.unep.net/datasets/datalist.php

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / Global Resource Information Database (GRID) Spatial Data Clearinghouse offers a variety of global and international spatial datasets.

Datasets available are:

• Africa Population Distribution Database – years 1960, 70, 80, 90 & 2000
• Asia Population Distribution Database – year 1995
• Asia Administrative Boundaries – years vary
• Asia Towns/Cities point data with population – 1995 estimated & other pop years vary
• Latin America & Caribbean Population Distribution Database – years 1960, 70, 80, 90 & 2000
• Latin America & Caribbean Soil & Terrain Database
• Global Population Distribution Database – 1990
• Brazil Datasets – Soils & Vegetation

http://www.maplibrary.org/stacks/gadm/

“GADM is a database of the location of the world’s administrative areas. Administrative areas in this database are countries and lower level subdivisions such as provinces, departments, districts etc. GADM has been developed as part of the BioGeoMancer project. It was partly funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation. The work was done at the Univeristy of California, Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and the International Rice Research Institute by Robert Hijmans, Nell Garcia, Julian Kapoor, Arnel Rala, Aileen Maunahan, and John Wieczorek.” – accessed on 5/27/09 – read more on the website above.

http://www.measuredhs.com/

[Note: Registration & approval is required to access the primary/raw datasets, including surveys and GPS data. The primary datasets are available for valid purposes only. Secondary/summary data are available through STATcompiler. Image left from its report, GISs enhance Health Data]

The MEASURE DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) project funded by USAID collects and disseminates demographic, health and nutrition data from developing countries. The raw data may contain geographic information collected with GPS. The geographic coordinates tell the location of surveyed communities and/or health facilities.

List of countries (in categories) was updated on 1/17/09.

http://eusoils.jrc.it/esdb_archive/EuDASM/indexes/access.htm

Various sets of historical soil maps are available for downloading from the European Digital Archive of Soil Maps (EuDASM) hosted by the Institute of Environment and Sustainability (IES) in the European Commission. The map were scanned in high resolution but are not georeferenced.

Map images are grouped by region:

• Africa
• Asia
• Canada
• Caribbean Islands
• Europe
• Latin America
• United States

http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/adds/mapdata.php

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) is an information system designed to identify problems in the food supply system that potentially lead to famine, flood, or other food-insecure conditions, in sub-Saharan Africa. Administrative boundaries are the main available data. Other additional data layers availabilities vary for countries. Please visit http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/adds/index.php for more information.

http://www.sahims.net/gis/GIS%20input/GIS_Library_Regional.asp

SAHIMS GIS Data server offers easily accessible standardized data provided by various United Nationas, NGOs and other governmental agencies.