Listing of Free GIS Data Sources from Robin Wilson

As we discuss in the book The GIS Guide to Public Domain Data, listings of spatial data sources have existed since the dawn of the web.  Those of you who have been around GIS as long as I have might remember such lists as the Oddens Bookmarks, which already contained over 5,500 categorized references by 1998, and the Alexandria Digital Library Project from UCSB.  The objective of these lists has always been, if not to eliminate, to at least reduce the need for each of us in the field to maintain our own lists.  While Internet search engines have vastly improved over the past 20 years, listings still have their place and are still useful, because search engines do not always pick up the relevant data and tools that the geospatial community is seeking.

With the crowdsourcing tools available to us nowadays, though, is it not possible for someone or an organization to create a crowdsourced listing of geospatial data?  To maximize the utility of such a resource would require someone vetting the list to make certain that only relevant items are approved.  Perhaps a reader can comment on this post to let the community know if such a project exists or is in the works.

In the spirit of being helpful to the geospatial community, Robin Wilson, PhD student at the University of Southampton, created the resource “Free GIS Data” on http://freegisdata.rtwilson.com/.  Robin’s index is one of the more useful I have seen and is frequently updated.  It contains over 300 sources with headings of physical geography, cultural geography, as well as data about specific places.  One of the most helpful things about the resource is Robin’s brief but very useful 1-2 sentences about each resource, which serves as a useful bit of metadata to guide the user.

GIS Resource Listing by Robin Wilson.

One of the drawbacks of resources like this and other well-intentioned lists from graduate students is longevity.   Will the site be there in the future when Robin graduates?  I hope so.  Still, for now, this is a very useful resource.  Thank you Robin!