Free GIS data - World wide (Robin Wilson)
- "A categorised list of links to over 300 sites providing freely available geographic datasets"
- "a list of GIS data sources that provide information sets that can be used in GIS and spatial databases"
- "Point of access to a growing range of data produced by the institutions and other bodies of the European Union" (e.g. Eurostat, Joint Research Centre, European Environment Agency)
- "The land-use harmonization strategy estimates the fractional land-use patterns, underlying land-use transitions, and key agricultural management information, annually for the time period 850-2100 at 0.25 x 0.25 resolution"
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
- "Explore the world’s largest civilian collection of images of the Earth’s surface. Find satellite images and data, aerial photography, elevation and land cover datasets, digitized maps[...]"
- Here you can find various spatial data including LIDAR data.
- "Natural Earth is a public domain map dataset available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and 1:110 million scales. Featuring tightly integrated vector and raster data, with Natural Earth you can make a variety of visually pleasing, well-crafted maps with cartography or GIS software."
- For EU administrative boundaries check the NUTS datasets at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gisco/geodata/reference-data/administrative-units-statistical-units/ (one can get finer resolution than from Natural Earth, e.g. 1:1 mil)
- for detailed administrative borders; is an alternative to Natural Earth
- WorldClim is a set of global climate layers (climate grids) with a spatial resolution of about 1 square kilometer.
- Check also Chelsa datasets for historical climatic data at http://chelsa-climate.org/about/ (monthly coverage 1979 – 2013); Also check CRU TS dataset at https://crudata.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/hrg/
- "The Global Potential Evapo-Transpiration (Global-PET) and Global Aridity Index (Global-Aridity) dataset provides high-resolution global raster climate data related to evapo-transpiration processes and rainfall deficit for potential vegetative growth."
- "SAGE aims to improve our understanding of the global environment, and how it is being affected by human activities. To achieve this goal, we have been developing maps, computer models and datasets to describe the behavior of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems, hydrological systems, and climate."
- "The DDC provides climate, socio-economic and environmental data, both from the past and also in scenarios projected into the future."
- A collection of digital maps
- The database BiolFlor contains almost 3660 species and more than 60 traits
- "This server has data extracts from the OpenStreetMap project which are normally updated every day."
- "access to data layers from the Esri Data and Maps DVD"
- a collection of various GIS databases in Canada
- "Find geographic data and products such as the TIGER/Line Shapefiles, KMLs, TIGERweb, cartographic boundary files, geographic relationship files, and reference and thematic maps."
- How to use the US Census data guides
- a collection of data within the Maryland state
- one can get as well free LIDAR DEM and DSM data at 1 m resolution
- International Monetary Fund eLibrary data
- Top 6 Free LiDAR Data Sources from GIS Geography
A list of free GIS data sources posted by GISGeography blog (some were already mentioned above)
A list of various data sources by Revo-Joe at inside-R
- "This list of public data sources are collected and tidied from blogs, answers, and user responses"
Marine Regions at marineregions.org
Ecological Databases from the wiki page of International Network of Next-Generation Ecologists
Global forest canopy height - Simard, M., Pinto, N., Fisher, J. B., and Baccini, A. (2011). Mapping forest canopy height globally with spaceborne lidar. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 116(G4)G04021
Digital Elevation Models (DEM)
- High resolution digital elevation models (DEM) for EU from EUROSTAT (tile or bulk download)
- Tile or bulk download of SRTM 90m Digital Elevation Database v4.1 at Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI)
- SRTM from usgs.gov at https://dds.cr.usgs.gov/srtm/
- 30-Meter SRTM Elevation Data Downloader - Derek Watkins
- Free Global DEM Data Sources
- some examples:
- CRU-TS v3.10.01 Historic Climate Database for GIS
- Global Aridity and PET Database
- SRTM 90m Digital Elevation Database v4.1
- Global High-Resolution Soil-Water Balance
- "a global 3D soil information system at 1 km resolution"; SoilGrids1km are available for download at http://soilgrids.org
- "Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more."
Maps on the global human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) in the year 2000:
- ΔNPPLC: Land-use-induced reductions in NPP as apercentage of NPP0.
- HANPP %: Total HANPP as a percentage of NPP0.
- NPP0: net primary production of the potential vegetation in [gC/m²/yr]
- NPPact: net primary production of the actual vegetation in [gC/m²/yr]
- NPPt: NPP remaining in ecosystems after harvest in [gC/m²/yr]
- HANPP: human appropriation of NPP in [gC/m²/yr]
Datasets and derived material the NASA GISS websites
UN Environment Live – "is a free, dynamic, open access, on-line platform for sharing data and knowledge to keep the environment under review."