GIS Data Sources

Virginia

• Virginia GIS Clearinghouse: https://vgin.maps.arcgis.com/home/
  • Official clearinghouse for state agency data
• Virginia Economic Development Partnership GIS Department: http://gis.vedp.org/Default.aspx
  • Useful statewide data sets

United States & North America

• U.S. Federal Data Catalog: http://data.gov
  • Master catalog of publically accessible data including geospatial data
• New U.S. Federal Geospatial Platform: http://www.geoplatform.gov/home/
  • Interactive platform for finding and mapping geospatial data.  Includes maps, apps, and data
• U.S. National Map: http://nationalmap.gov/
  • An integrated mapping system of the best federal, state, and local geospatial data for “framework” layers (e.g. transportation, political boundaries, etc.)
• U.S. National Atlas: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/
  • 1:1,000,000 scale data, maps, and apps for the U.S.
• North American Atlas: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/mapping/a_naa.html
  • An effort to expand the U.S. National Atlas to all of North America
• Historical U.S.G.S. topographic maps: http://nationalmap.gov/historical/index.html
  • High resolution scans of old topo maps from late-nineteenth century to present
• U.S. National Historical GIS: https://www.nhgis.org/
  • U.S. census data from 1790 – present
• The Newberry Library’s Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (U.S.): http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/
  • Detailed county boundary changes from the 17th Century through 2000
• Library of Congress digital map collection: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/ListSome.php?category=Maps
  • A searchable database of digital scans of maps in the Library’s collection

Global

• United Nations Data: http://data.un.org/
  • Portal to U.N. data
• Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN): http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/sets/browse
  • A collection of interesting global datasets.

• Global Change Master Directory: http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  • A NASA funded site for global earth science data
• ESRI’s ArcGIS Online: http://www.arcgis.com/about/
  • With a free account you can access an extensive collection of data, maps, and apps. 
• David Rumsey Map Collection: http://www.davidrumsey.com/
  • High resolution scans of a private map collection and useful tools for exploring the collection

Image Data Archives

• Reverb: http://reverb.echo.nasa.gov/reverb/
  • This site contains many types of data, including Aster, AVHRR, MODIS, Landsat, and radar data including archives of ASAR, ERS-1/2, JERS-1, and Radarsat data.
• . USGS EarthExplorer: http://earthexplorer.cr.usgs.gov
  • This is the best and easiest place to find Landsat data.  The side also has other types of data, including AVHRR, EO-1, and SIR-C.
• SPOT Catalog: http://spotcatalog.spotimage.com
  • This site allows you to search for SPOT and KOMPSAT-2 imagery.
• GeoEye Geofuse: http://geofuse.geoeye.com/maps/
  • This site allows you to search for GeoEye-1, Ikonos, and OrbView-2 data.
• DigitalGlobe Imagefinder: http://browse.digitalglobe.com/imagefinde
  • Allows you to search for QuickBird, WoldView-1, and WorldView-2 images.
• USDA Geospatial Gateway: http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/
  • Allows you to search and download NAIP imagery.  Note that in Virginia you should select the name of the county surrounding a city (e.g., Rockingham) rather than the name of the city itself (e.g., Harrisonburg).
• MDA Price List: http://gs.mdacorporation.com/SatelliteData/SatelliteData.aspx
  • A pricelist for new acquisitions from multiple satellites, including many radar satellites and RapidEye.  To view the price list, click on the link for ‘Satellite Data’ and the click the link for the satellite that is of interest.

Quicklinks

Finding Geospatial Data

JMU-ESRI Site License Information

• Center for Instructional Tecnology: Geospatial
  http://cit.jmu.edu/media/geospatial