Below are a number of free data sources from a variety of government bodies, organisations, businesses and individuals that you may find useful. The links are arranged geographically:
• Global data
• Data for the Americas
• Data for the Asia-Pacific region
• Data for Europe
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this list, We take no responsibility for the correctness of this list, nor of the accuracy of the data at each source. We recommend that you consider the reputation of the provider and examine the data to satisfy your own requirements before use.
Free GIS data for the Americas
Canadian road network data (2005) from Statistics Canada
URL: http://geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss/2006Dissemination/Data/FRR_RNF_e.cfm
Note: Data for 2005.
Central American land cover & vegetation data from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, Columbia University
URL: http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/mexico.html
Data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency
URL: http://www.epa.gov/envirofw/geo_data.html
GeoBase Canadian data
URL: http://www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/data/index.html
GeoGratis Canadian data
URL: http://geogratis.ca/geogratis/en/collection/search.do
Integrated models of US coastal relief data from the National Geophysical Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, United States
URL: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/coastal/coastal.html
Note: Digital elevation models (DEMs) of the US coastline.
Medium resolution digital vector US shoreline data from the National Geophysical Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, United States
URL: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/shorelines/noaamrdvs.html
Mexican population data (1990) from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, Columbia University
URL: http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/mexico.html
Note: Data for 1990.
North American magnetic anomaly data from the United States Geological Survey
URL: http://tin.er.usgs.gov/magnetic
Puerto Rican geological data from the United States Geological Survey
URL: http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geology/pr
Remote sensing phenology data for the US from the United States Geological Survey
URL: http://phenology.cr.usgs.gov/get_data.php
Species distribution grid data for the Americas from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, Columbia University
URL: http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/species
Note: 1-kilometre (30 arc-second) resolution grids of the distribution of species.
TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) shapefiles for the United States from the US Census Bureau
URL: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger
Note: US census data. Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States animal distribution data from Natureserve
URL: http://www.natureserve.org/getData/animalData.jsp
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States cartographic boundary data from the US Census Bureau
URL: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/bdy_files.html
Note: Cartographic boundaries, including city boundaries, counties, school districts, voting districts, zip code areas and congressional districts; primarily from the 2000 census. Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States census grid data (2000) from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, Columbia University
URL: http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/usgrid
Note: Raster gridded datasets for census variables across the US for data for 2000. Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States conterminous geological data from the United States Geological Survey
URL: http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geology/us
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States Department of Agriculture Geospatial Data Gateway
URL: http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States fire detection data from the USDA Forest Service
URL: http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/gisdata.php
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States geological map data from the United States Geological Survey
URL: http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geology/state
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States Geological Survey National Map website
URL: http://nationalmap.gov
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States hydrography data from the United States Geological Survey
URL: http://nhd.usgs.gov/index.html
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States land cover trends from the United States Geological Survey
URL: http://landcovertrends.usgs.gov/download/overview.html
Note: Data for 1972-2000.
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States national atlas
URL: http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States Pacific coast land cover data from the National Geophysical data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, United States
URL: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/lca/pacificcoast.html
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States terrestrial ecological systems data from Natureserve
URL: http://www.natureserve.org/getData/USecologyData.jsp
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas
United States wind data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, United States
URL: http://www.nrel.gov/gis/data_wind.html
Free GIS Data Sources for Americas