Below are some of the top resources for finding good GIS data online.
This resource is brought to you by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). Planet provides daily satellite images of the Earth’s land surfaces and coastal areas. Natural color, near infra-red, and other multi-channel imagery products are available with 5m, 3.7m and 50cm ground pixel resolution. Images are exportable to GIS systems or can be viewed and analyzed using Planet's website and tools. PlanetScope (3.7m) satellite images are available daily, starting in 2014. SkySat (50cm) images are available for selected areas and time periods, starting in 2016. RapidEye (5m) is from 2009-2020.
New users must first complete registration form
Note: Institution-wide access ends 6/30/25.
An easy to use mapping, analytics, and data visualization app with 100,000+ data variables, including demographic data from the US Census, and the American Community Survey (ACS), consumer spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), 2020 Election Data, and D&B's Points-of-Interest business directory providing access to over 5 million US business profiles. The included MRI-SimmonsLOCAL consumer behavior dataset contains data on over 8,000 brands, 450 categories, the MOSAIC segmentation system, and detailed lifestyle information. Community Lifestages presents data based on Householder Age, Income and Household Family Status. Users also have access to the CDC PLACES health dataset which includes 27 diverse health measures, such as Health Outcomes, Prevention, Risk Behaviors, and Health Status. Data is largely available down to the block group level, and custom locations can be created. Includes EASI/MediaMark Research Incorporated (MRI) and Simmons LOCAL data packages. Data is downloadable in GIS-ready shapefiles. Users may log in as a Guest, or create an account to save their work. Access limited to 5 simultaneous users. Try again later if refused. (formerly known as SimplyMap).
UC San Diego affiliate can browse the Library's geospatial data holdings that are hosted on the X drive in our Data & GIS Lab. You must be connected to UCSD VPN in order to browse. This is for BROWSING ONLY. You CANNOT DOWNLOAD any files. You must visit the Lab to access files until we are able to publish the data into an online portal (currently in development)
The data is organized geographically, roughly by continent, with topical data arrangement inside each folder.
Remember, if you are looking for data on a smaller area of geography, be sure to check the folder with the larger geography first. An example would be if you are looking for data for only one of the states in the United States, you would want to look in the United States Data folder as well as the North America data folder.
You can access thousands of e-journals, e-books, databases, and more through UC San Diego Library.
For on-campus access, make sure that you are connected to the UCSD-Protected wifi.
To access library resources from off-campus:
Sign in to UC Library Search with OpenAthens for seamless access.
For help with troubleshooting, visit our Connect to Library Resources page.
X Drive - Types of Geospatial Data |
|
---|---|
Africa_Data | GIS_Workshop_Data |
Asia_Data | Global_Data |
A_Datacruncher_Data | Mexico_Data |
Business_Analyst_Data 2008, 2010, 2016 | North_America_Data |
California | Oceania_Data |
Canada_Data | San_Diego_Data |
ESRI_Data_for_Workbooks | South_America_Data |
Europe_Data | UCSD_Campus_Data |
GIS_Tools | United_States_Data |