Free GIS Maps & Shapefiles

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Free Satellite Imagery and Aerial Photos - Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle GeoTiff (DOQQ) and Landsat Images.

Download 2007 Tiger/Line Shapefiles - Census has made our jobs easier. Free Tiger files now available for download in shapefile format.

National Weather Data Available in GIS formats - The National Weather Service produces several data sets that are available in formats available to import into Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This page lists many of these data sets.

U.S. Census Cartographic Boundary Files include: Alaska Native Regional Corporations, American Indian Areas/Alaska Native Areas/Hawaiian Home Lands, American Indian Tribal Subdivisions, Census Block Groups, Census Divisions, Census Regions, Census Tracts, Congressional Districts, Consolidated Cities, County and County Equivalent Areas, County Subdivisions, Incorporated Places/Census Designated Places, Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas, New England County Metropolitan Areas, New England City and Town Areas, Oregon Urban Growth Areas, Public Use Microdata Areas - 1 Percent, Public Use Microdata Areas - 5 Percent, School Districts - Elementary, School Districts - Secondary, School Districts - Unified, State and State Equivalent Areas, State Legislative Districts - Lower/House, State Legislative Districts - Upper/Senate, Subbarrios (Puerto Rico Only), Traffic Analysis Zones, Tribal Block Groups, Tribal Census Tracts, Urban Areas, Voting Districts, 3-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) and 5-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs).

EPA Geospatial Data Download files - To improve public health and the environment, the EPA collects information about facilities or sites subject to environmental regulation. The EPA Geospatial Data Access Project provides a downloadable extensible markup language (XML) file, Shapefile and Feature Class of these facilities or sites. Within the file is key facility information, along with associated environmental interests for use in mapping and reporting applications. The EPA Geospatial Data Download files includes:

• Superfund National Priorities List (NPL)
• RCRAInfo - Treatment, Storage, Disposal facilities
• Toxic Release Inventory System - All reported years
• NEPT - National Environmental Performance Track
• Permit Compliance System (PCS) - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Majors
• RCRAInfo - Large Quantity Generators (LQG)
• Air Facility System (AFS) - Major discharges of air pollutants

I'm now creating maps for Google Earth and Google Maps. Each of these includes links to metadata and you can also download the original GIS shapefile that I used to create the Google KMZ file. The first Google Earth map is of California Watersheds. Check back often - many more to come.

Land Resources of Russia - The majority of the spatial datasets are in vector format and are stored as Arc/Info .e00 export files (uncompressed). These are most easily imported into ESRI's Arc/Info GIS, however, the majority of other GIS packages provide for the import of Arc/Info data. Arc/Info export format was chosen as this system is widely used both in Russia and around the globe. In addition, ESRI has produced a GIS package titled Arc Explorer, that is available to download free of charge from the ESRI website. This package provides basic GIS functionality allowing for database queries, mapping etc. In addition, they provide an import utility to convert Arc Info .e00 export files to shapefiles for viewing in ArcView and Arc Explorer.

Spatial data from the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy - Regional spatial data (suitable for geothermal exploration at scales of 1:250,000 and higher) is listed here, organized by topic. The data is in several ESRI formats, including shapefile, ESRI integer and real number grid format, and georeferenced TIFF image.

USGS free maps - These data files are for use in geographical information systems(GIS) for analysis and integration with other geospatial data. They are not directly viewable using WWW browser or image viewing tools. The USGS offers free software for viewing some digital cartographic products, including DLG-O, DEM, DLG/SDTS and DRG data. They are tools for data preview, and are not substitutes for commercial geographic information system software.

Use GEO-DATA Explorer (GEODE) to access, view, and download information from geo-spatial databases containing a broad spectrum of data produced by the USGS and other government agencies.

FCC - Federal Communications Commission Mapping Resources.

Maps of Ecuador - In this page you will find some GIS data of Ecuador, compiled and constructed by IRD/MS with Savane GIS : Provinces, Cities, Volcanos, Landscape, Erosion, DEM for all Ecuador with different resolutions (30 m, 50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 450 m) and Digital Landscapes of Ecuador.

GeoGratis is a portal provided by the Earth Sciences Sector (ESS) of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) which provides geospatial data at no cost via your Web browser.

1:24,000 Scale Digital Elevation Models (DEM) SDTS format, National Elevation Dataset (NED), 1:2,000,000 Digital Line Graphs (DLG) SDTS format only, 1:250,000 & 1:100,000 Scale Land Use Land Cover (LULC), National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), GTOPO30 and HYDRO1K

The National Map Seamless Server enables a user to view and download many geospatial data layers, such as National Elevation Dataset, National Land Cover Dataset, High Resolution Orthoimagery, and many more. Free tutorial.

National Hydrography Dataset is now available in a new database design that allows better web-based access and query, as well as truly seamless data that can be downloaded in various extents. The new database design provides a distribution format called NHDinGEO. Data requests in NHDinGEO can be extracted by subbasin, county, congressional district or by topographic map quad. Data can be extracted in blocks encompassing several adjacent reference areas. Data are also available in a modified form of the traditional NHDinARC model called NHDGEOinARC. Data requests in NHDGEOinARC are only available by individual subbasins. An upgrade to the NHD ArcView 3.x Toolkit, which is compatible with the NHDGEOinARC format, is now available.

The USGS Land Cover Institute (LCI) downloads

Free GIS Map Categories

• Pollution, Hazardous Waste Generators, Mortality, Non-Attainment Areas, Superfund, National Priority List (NPL), Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)

ENVIRONMENTAL (LAND) Map Layers in ArcView - ArcGIS Shapefile format

• Airports, Dams, Water Pollution Facilities, National Parks, Hazardous Material Routes

ENVIRONMENTAL (WATER) Map Layers in ArcView - ArcGIS Shapefile format

• Hydrographic Features, Dams, Mortality, Superfund

HAZARD Map Layers in ArcView - ArcGIS Shapefile format

• Air Pollution Facilities, Dams, Airports, Airways, Earthquakes

NATURAL DISASTER Map Layers in ArcView - ArcGIS Shapefile format

• Dams, Earthquakes, Volcanoes

POLLUTION Map Layers in ArcView - ArcGIS Shapefile format

• EPA AirData (AIRS), Permit Compliance System (PCS), Superfund (NPL), Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), EPA Data, Non-Attainment - Carbon Monoxide, Particulate Matter, Ozone, Lead, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Oxides

TRANSPORTATION Map Layers in ArcView - ArcGIS Shapefile format

• Amtrak, Railroads, Highway Performance, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Ports, Navigable Waterways, Hazardous Material Routes

• Census, Tiger, Populated Places, CDC Census

Help Us Add More Digital Maps

Please contact me if you have or know of free digital maps and geographic data that should be available or linked here.

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About Quality, Accuracy and Suitability

This data may come from a variety of U.S. government and self-reporting private sources. While we try to assure the accuracy of this material, we cannot promise that it is absolutely accurate. We do promise that using the map layer will be fun, entertaining or educational. Beyond this, we make no guarantee as to its suitability for any purpose. We assume no liability or responsibility for errors or inaccuracies. Please understand that you use these map layers at your own risk.

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