FreeGIS Database

You can select one of the categories in the box below. Then you will be presented a list of entries that have the selected category dedicated to them.

• Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution Shoreline Database (GSHHS)
  Homepage: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/shorelines/gshhs.html
  Last update: 2006-05-17 16:09:49
  
  GSHHS is a high-resolution shoreline data set amalgamated from two data bases in the public domain. The data have undergone extensive processing and are free of internal inconsistencies such as erratic points and crossing segments. The shorelines are constructed entirely from hierarchically arranged closed polygons. The data can be used to simplify data searches and data selections, or to study the statistical characteristics of shorelines and land-masses. It comes with access software and routines to facilitate decimation based on a standard line-reduction algorithm.
• Global Land One-kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE)
  Homepage: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/report/
  Last update: 2005-02-11 09:06:58
  
  GLOBE is an internationally designed, developed, and independently peer-reviewed global digital elevation model (DEM), at a latitude-longitude grid spacing of 30 arc-seconds. The ongoing project makes use of several data sources to attain high data quality. Important parts were taken from GTOPO30, but there are also additional contributions not part of GTOPO30. GLOBE provides data sets of two levels of quality: G.O.O.D. (Globally Only Open-access Data, unrestricted use) and B.A.D. (Best Available Data, restricted use for some regions). More information on these issues and the data set in general can be obtained from Online Documentation v1.0.
• Global 30 Arc Second Elevation Data Set (GTOPO30)
  Homepage: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/landdaac/gtopo30/gtopo30.html
  Last update: 2002-07-26 15:19:25
  
  GTOPO30 is a global digital elevation model (DEM) with a horizontal grid spacing of 30 arc seconds (approximately 1 kilometer). GTOPO30 was derived from several raster and vector sources of topographic information. The data are hosted by the USGS.
• US Census 2000 TIGER/Line
  Homepage: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tigerua/ua_tgr2k.html
  Last update: 2002-08-27 11:45:29
  
  The TIGER/Line files are a digital database of geographic features, such as roads, railroads, rivers, lakes, political boundaries, census statistical boundaries, etc. covering the entire United States. The data base contains information about these features such as their location in latitude and longitude, the name, the type of feature, address ranges for most streets, the geographic relationship to other features, and other related information. They are the public product created from the Census Bureaus TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) data base of geographic information. TIGER was developed at the Census Bureau to support the mapping and related geographic activities required by the decennial census and sample survey programs.
• OpenStreetMap
  Homepage: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org
  Last update: 2007-09-13 22:49:41
  
  OpenStreetMap is a project aimed squarely at creating and providing free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them.
• U.S. Street Map of Bruce Perens
  Homepage: ftp://ftp.perens.com/pub/US-map/index.html
  Last update: 2001-07-20 14:00:00
  
  Bruce Perens maintains this free street map of which portions are based on the TIGER/Line(R) 1997 data. Please do not quickly download the data just for looking at them! You should carefully read about how Bruce proposes to approach this huge dataset.
• Free Geospatial Data in Canada
  Homepage: http://www.freeourdata.org.uk/why-free.php
  Last update: 2007-11-13 07:41:43
  
  This site is dedicated to the issue of public access to government geospatial data across Canada. It is a place to discuss, issues, educate, coordinate and encourage change. Promotes the idea of free distribution of canadian governmental geographic data. Free in this case basically means at no charge though more comments are being made on the importance of "liberty" as well as "no charge".
• TIGER/Line 1997
  Homepage: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/GovData/info/tiger.html
  Last update: 2001-07-20 14:00:00
  
  The TIGER/Line files were created from the Census Bureau TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) data base of selected geographic and cartographic information. TIGER was developed at the Census Bureau to support the mapping and related geographic activities required by the decennial census and sample survey programs.
• Frida
  Homepage: http://frida.intevation.org/
  Last update: 2007-09-04 20:32:35
  
  This project developed a Free Dataset offering detailed geographic vector information for Osnabrück, Germany.
• DCW (Digital Charts of the World) im Manifold-Format
  
  Last update: 2007-12-30 12:36:06
  
  The company Manifold offers the DCW data as free downloadable data files which are only readable with proprietary Microsoft/Manifold programs.

  An alternative (but unclear regarding licensing) is: http://www.maproom.psu.edu/dcw/

• EarthExplorer
  Homepage: http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/
  Last update: 2007-09-13 23:21:47
  
  The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers numerous geographic data sets mainly for the area of the United States.
• Strat-Map
  Homepage: http://www.tnris.org/StratMap.aspx/
  Last update: 2007-09-13 23:26:51
  
  Strat-Map is the Strategic Mapping Initiative in Texas. StratMaps biggest advantage is that it promotes cooperation among users of geographic data. People interested in creating data, work together by cost sharing. The data are in the public domain so that everyone has access to the same material. This greatly reduces confusion and encourages groups to work together instead of constantly gathering (and recreating) data on their own.
• Yukon Renewable Resources 90 meter Digital Elevation Models
  Homepage: http://www.geomaticsyukon.ca/data_download.html
  Last update: 2007-12-30 11:18:49
  
  Digital elevation model of the Yukon Territory (Canada) with a resolution of 90m per pixel. The data are build from several sources of partly higher resolution. Also other thematic datasets are available.
• Yukon 180 Meter Digital Elevation Model
  Homepage: http://www.uttara.ca/patawi/GIS/yt180mdem.html
  Last update: 2007-12-30 11:23:19
  
  A moderate quality Digital Elevation Model covering the Yukon Territory, Canada with 180 meter pixels.
• National Atlas of the United States
  Homepage: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html
  Last update: 2001-07-20 14:00:00
  
  Most of the map layers were compiled at a scale of 1:2,000,000. Most map layers cover the full geographic extent of the United States of America, although some cover the conterminous United States only. All data can be either be downloaded or ordered on CD. The data is in SDTS, E00, Shape and TIFF formats.
• SRTM30_PLUS
  Homepage: http://topex.ucsd.edu/WWW_html/srtm30_plus.html
  Last update: 2005-08-09 11:14:13
  
  This data consists of 33 files of global topography in the same format as the SRTM30 products distributed by the USGS EROS data center. The grid resolution is 30 second which is roughly one kilometer. Land data are based on the 1-km averages of topography derived from the USGS SRTM30 grided DEM data product created with data from the NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. GTOPO30 data are used for high latitudes where SRTM data are not available. Ocean data are based on the Smith and Sandwell global 2-minute grid between latitudes +/- 72 degrees. Higher resolution grids have been added from the LDEO Ridge Multibeam Synthesis Project and the NGDC Coastal Relief Model. Arctic bathymetry is from the International Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (IBCAO) [Jakobsson et al., 2003]. All data are derived from public domain sources and these data are also in the public domain. Also available via bittorrent at http://uo.space.frot.org/?GeodataTorrents or WCS and WMS at http://maps.gdal.org/cgi-bin/mapserv_dem?
• Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)
  Homepage: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/cbanddataproducts.html
  Last update: 2005-12-09 11:38:26
  
  Global digital elevation data information, mainly as raw images. Improved versions are available here: ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm/version2/ and here: http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html
• GEOnet Names Server (GNS)
  Homepage: http://www.nima.mil/gns/html/
  Last update: 2003-09-10 10:58:29
  
  • The GEOnet Names Server (GNS) provides access to the National Imagery and Mapping Agencys (NIMA) and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (US BGN) database of foreign geographic feature names. The database is the official repository of foreign place-name decisions approved by the US BGN. Approximately 20,000 of the databases features are updated monthly.
  • Geographic Area of Coverage: Worldwide excluding the United States and Antarctica. For names in the U.S. and Antarctica, visit the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) web site.
  • The GNS contains 3.95 million features with 5.42 million names (approximate).
  • The coordinate system for data served by GNS is WGS84.
  • The online database is updated on a bi-weekly schedule.
• 2002 National Transportation Atlas Data
  Homepage: http://www.bts.gov/gis/download_sites/ntad02/newusdownloadform.html
  Last update: 2003-11-04 15:54:08
  
  Shapefile download site of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). There are various data set for the US offered for download. You should definitely look at the metadata first in order to learn about the use policy. Some of the datasets are public domain, some are non-free.
• Census 2000 TIGER/Line Data
  Homepage: http://www.esri.com/data/download/census2000_tigerline/index.html
  Last update: 2003-11-04 16:26:04
  
  Users can download Census 2000 TIGER/Line Data in shapefile format for an area of interest that is selected through a web mapping application.
• Wikipedia-World
  Homepage: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProjekt_Georeferenzierung/Wikipedia-World/en
  Last update: 2007-11-29 22:07:13
  
  A dataset of named places downloadable as SQL or CSV.
• CCM
  Homepage: http://agrienv.jrc.it/activities/catchments/ccm.html
  Last update: 2007-12-30 11:50:53
  
  River and Catchment Database for Europe: CCM stands for Catchment Characterisation and Modelling. Available themes: riversegments, catchments, sea outlets, wet.
• David Rumsey Map Collection
  Homepage: http://www.davidrumsey.com/
  Last update: 2008-01-18 23:26:26
  
  The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has over 17,400 maps online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North American and South American maps and other cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented. Collection categories include antique atlas, globe, school geography, maritime chart, state, county, city, pocket, wall, childrens, and manuscript maps. Some examples are United States map, maps New York, California map, Arizona map, America map, New York City map, Chicago map, and Colorado map. The collection can be used to study history, genealogy and family history.
• Visible Earth Project
  Homepage: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
  Last update: 2002-04-11 09:53:54
  
  The purpose of NASAs Visible Earth is to provide a consistently updated, central point of access to the superset of NASAs Earth science-related images, animations, and data visualizations. Amoung these are for example the Blue Marble (highres true-color image of the earth) or city lights.
• ESRI World Basemap Data
  Homepage: http://www.esri.com/data/download/basemap/index.html
  Last update: 2008-03-07 21:38:14
  
  Users can download World Basemap Data in shapefile format for an area of interest that is selected through a web mapping application