GEOSPATIAL DATA REPORT : Finding and Using GIS Data

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp2009/tgrshp2009.html
(or directly from http://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/)

2009 version just came out on 10/1/09! Previous versions are also linked from this site.

The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are extracts containing selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census Bureau’s MAF/TIGER® database. Unlike the previous Cartographic Boundary Files site, this site includes block boundary files as well as hydrography, transportation/streets and landmark data files. Users can also download multiple TIGER/Line Shapefiles at a time via this FTP site.

Again, these files contain no demographic information but are designed to be used with decennial census population and housing data as well as other related federal datasets.

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://www.wri.org/publication/content/9291

Download GIS dataset on poverty and ecosystem services from the World Resources Institute (WRI) website. I believe these are the files used to produce this beautiful Atlas of Kenya (also available from the WRI website – here, download the PPT atlas!)

GIS Data categories are the followings:

• Population and poverty
• Agriculture
• Land cover and land form
• Base data
• Elevation
• Rainfall
• Biodiversity and wildlife
• Tourism
• Water, irrigation and hydropower
• Other data

http://www.hivspatialdata.net/

The HIV Spatial Data Repository provides geographically-linked HIV-related data for mapping in GIS. Data are provided in a form that allows GIS users to integrate their own GIS data to produce new analyses and mapping of HIV data.

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://www.africover.org/system/africover_data.php

Africover lets a user access metadata and geospatial data produced by the Africover project and the participating countries. The Multipurpose Africover Databases on Environmental Resources (MADE) includes a main geographic information layer (i.e. land cover) and several additional layers that vary for each country (e.g. roads, rivers and water bodies, etc.)

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.depha.org/

DEPHA maintains an archive of GIS data for public distribution. The data has been compiled from a wide variety of sources. Click on “GIS Data” on the left for more information about this website, and to access data files. See also this DEPHA GeoPotal.

http://www.iscgm.org/

My favorite “yet-complete-but-they-are-getting-there” global dataset (scale 1:1000K.) The ISCGM Global Mapping Project supports development of global scale geographic information through international cooperation. To access data files, click on “Download” on the left – Registration (free) is required to download data. This map shows the progress & participants of the project. (This blog’s countries listing is updated on 1/17/09.)

Eight major data categories are:

• Admin. Boundaries
• Drainages
• Elevation
• Land Cover
• Land Use
• Population Centers
• Transportation
• Vegetation