Free & Low Cost Map Data Sources

As discussed in the Northwest MapInfo User Group, November 9, 2004

 

Suggested by Josh LaVerne:

US data in great variety (free):

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html

 

Many GIS-related links (incl to our NW MapInfo User Group):

http://research.umbc.edu/~roswell/mipage.html

 

Suggested by Chris Lacy:

DNR data

http://www3.wadnr.gov/dnrapp6/dataweb/dmmatrix.html

 

Geo Community website

http://data.geocomm.com/catalog/

 

Portland Metro area data

http://www.metro-region.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=509

 

Oregon Department of Forestry

http://159.121.125.11/gis/data.html

 

New Zealand data

http://www.intramap.co.nz/atlas/nzfs/maftable_full.html

 

Spencer B. Gross

http://www.sbgmaps.com/

 

Washington dem data

http://gis.ess.washington.edu/data/raster/tenmeter/byquad/index.html

 

U of W data

http://wagda.lib.washington.edu/

 

Oregon spatial data clearinghouse

http://www.gis.state.or.us/data/

 

Washington spatial data clearinghouse

http://wa-node.gis.washington.edu/

 

Puget Sound LIDAR consortium

http://duff.geology.washington.edu/data/raster/lidar/

 

Suggested by Tom Curley:

10m Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data (free):

http://wagda.lib.washington.edu/data/washdata.html

(you may need VerticalMapper to use this data)

You can also find early-mid 1990's b&w 1m DOQQ's here.

 

Transportation, hydrography, watersheds, public lands, townships, shoreline, tideland ownership ... (free):

http://www3.wadnr.gov/dnrapp6/dataweb/dmmatrix.html

(DNR-based data, mostly 1:24,000 or smaller)

 

24k and 100k USGS DLG (USGS quad maps), (free):

http://www.or.blm.gov/gis/resources/library.asp

(these are in MrSID format, edgematched blocks - excellent!)

 

Nautical: soundings, bathymetric data, historical maps, etc. (free):

http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/hsd/hydrog.htm

(huge, deep site in which it's common to get lost)

 

Utilities for MapInfo (free):

http://www.directionsmag.com/files/

(many utilities have been integrated into the latest versions of MI Pro)

 

US data in great variety (free):

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html

(could spend an afternoon here)

 

WA statewide data from Dept. of Ecology (free):

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/services/gis/data/data.htm

(environmentally-based data - good!)

 

WA statewide data from Dept. of Health (free):

http://ww4.doh.wa.gov/scripts/esrimap.dll?Name=gisview&Cmd=Map

(lots of great data here - surprising)

 

WA statewide roads data from WADot (free):

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/geodatacatalog/default.htm

(should go to your county for the best local, small-roads data)

 

WA statewide Dept. of Revenue Sales tax data (free) from WA Dept. of Revenue:

http://gis.dor.wa.gov/gis_download.asp

 

GeoCommunity data (some free, some pay - just for your information):

http://data.geocomm.com/

(county level or smaller, data can be had from DoH or DoE sites less confusingly)

 

Federal data from the National GeoSpatial OneStop (free):

http://www.geodata.gov/gos

(could spend an afternoon here, but the scale may be too coarse for your work)

 

WA county website link:

http://www.wowworks.com/wowcity/wacounty.htm

(to potentially find the county URL, and thus the data you need)

 

TerraServer, interesting but not really that useful (free, or pay):

http://terraserver-usa.com/

 

FGDC Federal Geographic Data Clearinghouse:

http://clearinghouse3.fgdc.gov/

(a great idea, but lost in process and thus barely and rarely usable in the real world)

 

Survey control data (free, but arcane):

http://www.surveycontrol.state.wa.us/

 

Suggested by Jeff Norville (via email):

 

Utah Water Rights (includes topos, aerials, location utils)

http://www.waterrights.utah.gov/gisinfo/default.htm

 

Oregon Geospatial Data Clearinghouse

http://www.gis.state.or.us/data/

 

OR Township/Range/Section Data

http://www.gis.state.or.us/data/metadata/k100/township_range.html