Finding Geospatial Data

A closer look at several useful sources of free geospatial data

René Duplain (rene.duplain@uottawa.ca), Data Analyst, GSGPierre Leblanc (pierre.leblanc@uottawa.ca), Cartographic and GIS Support Specialist, GSG

Introductions

Workshop outline

● Intro to geospatial data● Explore various data portalso Scholars GeoPortal Hands-on Tutorialo Geogratis Videoo Open Data Ottawao GSG Libguideo Other sources● Mapping geospatial data with sample datasets● Complete evaluation form

Intro to geospatial data

Common questions:●What is geospatial data?●What are the most useful sources of free geospatial data available?●How do I navigate these portals?●What is metadata and why is it important? ●Where do I start my data search for my next project?

Geospatial data can take many forms...

Excel table

Shapefile

DBF

JPG

BMP

Google Earth KML

AutoCAD

File Geodatabase

MicroStation Design

DEMERDAS

IMAGINE

Adobe Geospatial

PDF

GEORSS

Esri Grid

TIFF

GIF

SRTM

XML

… and more!

Geospatial Data

Our definition

● “Geospatial data identifies and describes the geographic location of features and boundaries. Spatial data is usually stored as coordinates and topology and can be mapped. There are two types of geospatial data: vector and raster.”

- https://biblio.uottawa.ca/en/find/geospatial-data-and-maps

Vector data

http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/content.php?pid=245987&sid=2176375

http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisserver/9.3/java/geodatabases/feat_c-1166806282.gif

Raster data

http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/content.php?pid=245987&sid=2176375

http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/content.php?pid=245987&sid=2176375

http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/content.php?pid=245987&sid=2176375

http://docs.qgis.org/2.2/en/_images/raster_dataset.png

“Layering” data

http://www.tualatinoregon.gov/maps/other-gis-resources

Scholars GeoPortal

http://geo1.scholarsportal.info/

Scholars GeoPortal - Tutorial

Geogratis

http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/geogratis/Home?lang=en

Open Data Ottawa

http://ottawa.ca/en/mobile-apps-and-open-data/open-data-ottawa

GSG Website

http://biblio.uottawa.ca/en/gsg-centre

Other useful sites

● geoOttawao http://maps.ottawa.ca/geoottawa/

● Open Datao http://open.canada.ca/en/maps/open-data-canada

● USGS Earth Explorero http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

● Natural Earth Datao http://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/

● OpenStreetMapo http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Downloading_data

● SEDACo http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/

Mapping geospatial data

● Download data: http://gsg.uottawa.ca/geo/workshops/finding_geospatial_data/

Questions?

• Please complete evaluation form