On Finding Spatial Data
The challenges in searching for spatial data are similar to finding data generally - mainly, the personalized nature of data needs in terms of topic, temporal/geographic coverage, scale, and other attributes. To get started, you can reference our finding spatial data workshop. Play this interactive game to assess the data you find. (You can also follow this "Garbage in, Garbage out" data checklist for an in-depth review)
For Smith and MacLeish Field Station data, check out the SAL's Open Data Portal. For Massachusetts, MssGIS. Globally, open data of the world.
Imagery
| Source | Description | Access | Geographic/Temporal Coverage |
| USGS Earth Explorer | Longest collection of satellite/UAV imagery, air photos, from Landsat and other sensors (MODIS, ASTER, VIIRS) | Free | Mostly US/1970s-present |
| LandViewer | Free; high-resolution for purchase | Miscellaneous global | |
| ESA Copernicus Open Access Hub | From active Sentinels;
|
Free | |
| NASA Earthdata Search | NASA earth observation data including atmosphere, environment, ocean, land, ice, and topography | Free | Global |
| Remote Pixel | Datasets from Landsat 8, Sentinel 2, and CBERS-4 | Free Landsat; need AWS account for Sentinel and CBERS | |
| INPE Image Catalog | Collection from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research | Free; FTP download link sent via email | South & Central America, Africa |
| DigitalGlobe's Open Data Program | High resolution commercial imagery for disaster response | Need to apply | Global |
| Planet's Education & Research | High resolution commercial imagery available based on research proposal | Need to apply | Global |
| NOS Multilens Airphoto Collection | 1930s-1960s multilens photos of US coastlines | Free | |
| Training datasets for computer vision & deep learning | Aerial and satellite imagery with annotations for instance segmentation, object detection, semantic segmentation, scene classification, and other | Free | |
| Geonadir | FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) drone data for at risk ecosystems; features SAL's Belize projects | Free | Global |
Global Vector Data – Land
| Source | Description |
| Esri's Living Atlas of the World | Curated authoritative datasets from Esri |
| DIVA-GIS | Free spatial data for countries |
| OpenStreetMap | Free crowdsourced vector data of the world |
| UN Environmental Programme Data Explorer | Authoritative statistics and spatial datasets used by UNEP for themes such as population, freshwater, forests, emissions, climate, health, GDP |
| Georeferencing of Ethnic Groups | Polygons of global ethnic groups |
| Natural Earth | Vector and raster data for cartography |
| CShapes | Historical state boundaries post-WWII |
| SEDAC | US human-environmental interaction data |
| Global Administrative Boundaries | Administrative boundaries for countries and subdivisions |
| World Resources Institute | GIS data for human and environmental dimensions such as poverty, tourism, agriculture, land...etc. |
| Atlas of Urban Expansion | Geographic and quantitative changes related to urban expansion, such as city boundaries and land cover |
| Worldpop | Population distribution and composition for Central, South America, Africa, and Asia |
| Open Data for Resilience Index | Managed by the Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI); data that address vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change |
| Road Networks | |
| OpenHistoricalMap | Global historical map data |
| The Paleobiology Database | Public paleontological data that includes spatial data |
Global Vector Data – Sea
| Source | Description |
| OpenSeaMap | OpenStreetMap for the oceans |
| Marine Regions | Global marine database |
| Global Fishing Watch | Global datasets of AIS-based fishing activity |
US
| Source | Description |
| Data.gov | The US government's open data |
| National Map Viewer | |
| US Census Bureau | |
| IPUMS NHGIS | National historical census and boundaries data (1790-present) |
| By federal agencies |
Historical Map Collection
| Source | Description |
| Digitized & Described Indigenous Heritage Content | We Are Here: Sharing Stories contains Indigenous-related (First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation) collection items in Library and Archives Canada's holdings |
| Online Guide to US Map Collections | Crowdsourced directory of map collections of various sizes |
| Old Maps Online | Portal for historical maps from five US and European map libraries, including the David Rumsey Map Collection (Stanford University), the British Library |
| David Rumsey Map Collection | More than 150,000 rare 16th c. - 21st c. cartographic products including maps, atlases, globes...etc. at the Stanford Library |
| Library of Congress | |
| Norman B. Leventhal Map Collection | Collection at the Boston Public Library |
| topoView | Current and historical topographic maps from USGS |
| Sanborn fire insurance maps 1867-1970 | |
| MapFly | University of Padua's geothematic and historical map collections |