NPHS 1510: Federal and International

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Geospatial Data Sources

GIS data is one of the most widely published types of data. Data is created and shared by many organizations:

Government Federal State Local Academic Commercial Other

Federal GIS Data Every federaal agency makes available some of it's maps, shapefiles and other spatial data. The listings below contain perhaps the most useful information for the emergency analyst. Two sites you should visit immediately are the FEMA site and the Census Site.

Most agencies of the Department of Homeland Security www.dhs.gov Publish geographic information. Data can be found at TSA, ICE, Coast Guard and FEMA. The map below shows the FEMA regions and their regional headquarters.

The U.S. Census Bureau www.census.gov produces spatial data on: People & Households Business & Industry Geography

Perhaps the most popular map on the Census site, or any other site is the Night time Population Distribution Map. The 2010 map is shown below.

Major Federal Government GIS Web Sites Department of Homeland Security (DHS) www.dhs.gov Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Department of Defense (DOD) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Department of the Interior (DOI) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Explorer Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Geospatial One-Stop GIS Data Map Studio National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) The National Map National Park Service GIS Page U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Department of Commerce (DOC) Census Maps and Cartographic Products National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) NOAA's National Ocean Service Geospatial Data Explorer NOAA's VENTS Geographic Information System (GIS) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) NASA Earth-Sun System Gateway NASA Langley Research Center GIS NASA Web Map Viewer The Federation GIS Services Cluster WMS Global Mosaic Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) GIS U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) National Transportation Atlas Database (DVD) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) www.cia.gov World Factbook and CIA Maps & Publications

State and Local Sources

As part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, each state has a geospatial data clearinghouse. Pennsylvania's is called PASDA the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access Cleartinghouse. www.pasda.psu.edu. In addition to state data, many counties and municipalities have contributed content.

Commercial Sources

The DVD that you purchased accompanying ArcGIS has aa wealth of shapefiles and other data. The directory: "ArcGIS 10.0 Data, Maps, Streetmap USA" has basemaps and thematic data for: Canada Europe Mexico World USA StreetMap USA

Exercise:     Familiarize yourself with the vast amounts of data avaailable at all levels. Think about a map that would be useful for emergency planning in your area. Download the appropriate shapefiles and create the map.

Copyright © 2011 Ken Sochats