We have been writing this geospatial data column for 7 years now, beginning when our book The GIS Guide to Public Domain Data, was published. Over those years, in addition to keeping issues such as data quality, copyright, privacy, and fee vs. free at the forefront of the conversation, we have tested and reviewed many geospatial data portals. Some of these portals promise more than they deliver, some have been frustrating, but many have been extremely valuable in GIS work. Back in 2017 we listed 10 of those that we have found most useful, rich with content, easy to use, and with metadata that is available and understandable. A few are no longer functioning, and a few have emerged that merit inclusion in the top 10 list. In creating such a list, we realize that “most useful” really depends on the application that one is using GIS for, but the list below should be useful for GIS users across many disciplines. Some allow for data to be streamed from web servers into your GIS software, and all allow data to be downloaded.

A few others “almost make the top 10” : The National Map from the USGS, data.gov from the US Government (though I am still frustrated that they removed the zebra mussels data that I used to access all the time), environmental and population data from TerraPopulus, Diva-GIS’s data layers for each country, the UNEP Environmental Data Explorer, the NEO site at NASA Earth Observations, and OpenStreetMap (which besides roads, also includes buildings, land use, railroads, and, waterways)

For more details on any of these resources, search the Spatial Reserves blog for our reviews, remain diligent about being critical of the data you are considering using, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

Working with Lidar data obtained from the USGS National Map data portal.

–Joseph Kerski