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Below is a non-exhaustive list of satellite and GIS data resources. For more
information about the resources listed here, click on the resource name, which
will take you to the annotation following the list.
Satellite Data
Technical specifications of current sensors
Technical specifications of new sensors
Other Geospatial Data
GIS/Mapping Software and Applications
Learning Resources
Satellite Data
Digital Globe
DigitalGlobe is a company that facilitates the collection and archival of high-quality earth imagery and other geospatial and strives to ensure easy-to-use and flexible distribution. DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite features high-resolution collection capacity (60-cm panchromatic/2.4-m multispectral), accuracy, and the largest high-resolution swath width commercially available. Customers can also task QuickBird to collect up-to-date information relevant to their specific requirements. The company has partnered with Google to make much of its imagery available through the Google Earth imagery viewing application.
Earth Observing System Data Gateway
The EOS Data Gateway (EDG) is the primary interface to all data available in NASA's Earth Observation System Data Information System, and related data centers. Within EDG, a user can search for and acquire a large variety of earth, ocean, and atmospheric science data obtained from EOS instruments such as MODIS and MISR, as well as other satellites such as Landsat and TRMM. This type of data is not high-resolution, rather it is mid-to-low resolution (depending on the specific sensor); but it has particular impact and importance in the scientific community and elsewhere.
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) has a number of satellites and sensors used to collect earth data, including Envisat: the largest Earth observation spacecraft ever built, launched in 2002. Envisat carries an array of nine Earth-observation instruments that gather information about the earth (land, water, ice, and atmosphere) using a variety of measurement principles. ESA data can be obtained through either the ESA itself or through one of its 2 principal commercial vendors--Eurimage and SPOT Image--depending on the intended use of the data.
GeoEye Corporation
Formerly Space Imaging and Orbimage.
GeoEye continues the work of ORBIMAGE and Space Imaging providing geospatial data, information and value-added products to the national security community, partners, and customers worldwide. GeoEye owns and operates a constellation of satellites (including the high-resolution 1-meter panchromatic/4-meter multispectral sensor IKONOS satellite), an international network of regional ground stations, value-added geospatial imagery processing capabilities, as well as a robust image archive.
Global Land Cover Facility
The GLCF is a center for land cover science with a focus on research using remotely sensed satellite data and products to assess land cover change for local to global systems. Includes selected products from ASTER, QuickBird, IKONOS, OrbView, Landsat, SRTM, and MODIS. The work of the facility is sponsored by the NASA Earth Science Enterprise.
ImageSat International
ImageSat International N.V. is an international company and a commercial provider of high-resolution, satellite earth-imagery collected by its Earth Remote Observation Satellite (EROS). The EROS A satellite (launched on Dec. 5, 2000) collects 1.8-meter panchromatic data. The EROS B satellite (launched Apr. 25, 2005) collects 0.7-meter panchromatic data. The company advertises a diverse range of applications for EROS imagery including homeland security and environment and disaster control.
MODIS Rapid Response System
MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) offers a unique combination of features: it detects a
wide spectral range of electromagnetic energy; it takes measurements at three spatial resolutions (levels of detail);
it takes measurements all day, every day; and it has a wide field of view. This continual, comprehensive coverage
allows MODIS to complete an electromagnetic picture of the globe every two days. MODIS’s frequent coverage complements
other imaging systems such as Landsat’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, which reveals the Earth in finer spatial detail,
but can only image a given area once every 16 days - too infrequently to capture many of the rapid biological and
meteorological changes that MODIS observes. The MODIS Rapid Response system has been developed to provide rapid
access to MODIS data globally, with initial emphasis on 250m color composite imagery and active fire data.
Other Geospatial Data
Alexandria Digital Library
The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) is a distributed digital library with collections of georeferenced materials. ADL includes the operational library, with various nodes and collections, and the research program through which digital library architectures, gazetteer applications, educational applications, and software components are modeled, prototyped, and evaluated.
ADL provides HTML clients to access its collections and gazetteer, and provides specific information management tools, such as the Feature Type Thesaurus for classing types of geographic features, as well as downloadable software code.
Vector Map (VMap) Level 0
Vector Map (VMap) Level 0 is an updated and improved version of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA) Digital Chart of the World (DCW®). The VMap Level 0 database provides worldwide coverage of vector-based geospatial data which can be viewed at 1:1,000,000 scale. It consists of geographic, attribute, and textual data stored on compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). The primary source for the database is the 1:1,000,000 scale Operational Navigation Chart (ONC) series co-produced by the military mapping authorities of Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States. The complete database is available on a set of four CD-ROM's and contains more than 1,800 megabytes of vector data organized into 10 thematic layers. VMap Level 0 includes major road and rail networks, hydrologic drainage systems, utility networks (cross-country pipelines and communication lines), major airports, elevation contours, coastlines, international boundaries and populated places. VMap Level 0 includes an index of geographic names to aid in locating areas of interest. VMap Level 0 is accessible directly from the CD-ROM or can be transferred to a hard drive and used in many geographic information system (GIS) applications.
GeoCommunity GIS Data Depot
The GeoCommunity™ is a web portal that supports and promotes the GIS industry by providing software, data, news, job postings and other services to GIS professionals. This GIS web portal includes the GIS Data Depot where a range of datasets (in the US and around the globe), including political boundaries and road/river networks, can be downloaded. Much of this data can be obtained for free. Other datasets are available commercially.
GeoData.gov
Geodata.gov is a Geographic Information System (GIS) portal, also known as the Geospatial One-Stop (GOS), that serves as a public gateway for improving access to geospatial information and data under the GOS E-Government initiative. The geodata.gov portal is designed to facilitate communication and sharing of geographic data and resources to enhance government efficiency and improve citizen services by making it easier, faster and less expensive for all levels of government and the public to access geospatial information.
The portal is a catalog of geospatial information containing thousands of metadata records (information about the data) and links to live maps, features, and catalog services, downloadable data sets, images, clearinghouses, map files, and more. The metadata records were submitted to the portal by government agencies, individuals, and companies, or by harvesting the data from geospatial clearinghouses.
Geography Network
The Geography Network provides access to geographic content from hundreds of organizations around the world. The content ranges from dynamic map services that can be viewed online to static geographic data sets that can be downloaded for use with mapping software. ESRI sponsors the Geography Network to promote the sharing and discovery of geographic information and services.
GEOnet Namers Server (NGA)
The GEOnet Names Server (GNS) provides access to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) 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 database's features are updated monthly. The geographic area of coverage is 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.
International Statistical Agencies
Site from the US Census Bureau listing the websites for statistical agencies around the world.
Library of Congress Map Room
The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress provides cartographic and geographic information for all parts of the world to the Congress, Federal agencies, state and local governments, the scholarly community, and to the general public. It is the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world, numbering over 4.6 million maps, including 60,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, numerous globes and three-dimensional plastic relief models, and a large number of cartographic materials in other formats, including electronic.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) provides timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security objectives. Geospatial intelligence is the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess, and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. Information collected and processed by NGA is tailored for customer-specific solutions. By giving customers ready access to geospatial intelligence, NGA provides support to civilian and military leaders and contributes to the state of readiness of U.S. military forces. NGA also contributes to humanitarian efforts such as tracking floods and fires, and in peacekeeping.
UN Cartographic Section
The Cartographic Section of the U.N. makes a vast array of maps and mapping products available through their website. While there are many products available that can be useful to many users, it should be noted that the bulk of the UN Cartographic Section’s products are static maps, often available in PDF form, and should not be confused with digital GIS/geospatial data. While the UN has within its possession a huge amount of geospatial data, much of it is kept internally among the various UN branches.
UNOCHA Relief Web
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is an exception to the statement made above. ReliefWeb, launched in 1996 and administered by the UN OCHA, is the leading online gateway to information (documents and maps) on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. This includes a plethora or digital GIS data that can be freely downloaded and used by the humanitarian community and others.
GIS/Mapping Software and Applications
ESRI
ESRI the most well-known GIS software and applications company in the world today. ESRI products are used around the globe in many different fields and the product line includes desktop GIS software applications and more complex server-side GIS programs. It should be noted that ESRI software is not considered “cheap” and therefore is inaccessible to many potential users. It should also be noted that ESRI GIS products are considered to be robust tools for undertaking some geographic analyses and for viewing and editing geographic raster and vector data.
FreeGIS.org
The FreeGIS project aims to promote freedom in the scope of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Specifically, the project aims to promote the use, development and support of free GIS software and data. The FreeGIS website aims to provide a database of free GIS resources for the audience interested in such products. It also provides a community discussion forum to create synergy among FreeGIS community members and to post news on the issues.
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe stand-alone software application. It maps the earth by the superimposition of high-resolution satellite images, aerial photographs and other GIS data over a 3D globe. It is available under three different licenses: Google Earth, a free version with limited functionality; Google Earth Plus, which includes a few more features; and Google Earth Professional, intended for commercial use. The program, which relies heavily on the Internet, is revolutionizing the way in which we view and interact with geographic data.
Microsoft Virtual Earth
Virtual Earth is a web mapping platform that combines satellite imagery with other GIS data to allow for 3D mapping of the globe, similar to Google Earth but in a web interface (versus a standalone software application to be installed on a user’s system). There are a number of commercial features associated with Virtual Earth as well as free features, including the web map API feature that allows users to embed customized interactive maps of vector data and satellite images into their websites (Google Maps offers a similar service through Google. More information can be accessed here)
NASA World Wind
World Wind is a free open source virtual globe developed by NASA and open source community for use on personal computers running Microsoft Windows. The program overlays NASA and USGS satellite imagery, aerial photography, topographic maps and publicly available GIS data on 3D models of the Earth and other planets.
Open Source GIS
This website provides a list of freely available open-source GIS software applications available today. Short descriptions are given of each product in the list.
Learning Resources
ESRI Support Center
The ESRI Support Center web portal gives visitors and registered users access to a huge amount of support material in the form of software specific documentation, general help articles, forums for discussion, and a GIS dictionary, among other things. Much of the support is aimed at ESRI GIS users, but there is a good amount that can be helpful to any visitors to the site in need of GIS support.
Remote Sensing Tutorial
This tutorial, developed my Dr. Nicholas M. Short, Sr. and hosted on a NASA server, aims to help users understand what can be learned from sensors on spacecraft that look inward at the Earth and outward at the planets, the galaxies and, going back in time, the cosmos
GIS Development GIS Tutorials
The GIS Development web portal provides a number of tutorials on the basics of GIS, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), remote sensing, image processing and projection systems.
Contact Us:
To learn more about this project, to submit a request for assistance with a
potential human rights related case study, or to suggest resources on geospatial
technologies that we might post.
(page updated 09/25/2007)
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