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Environmental Science

Geospatial Data Access

Search and Download Geospatial Data Resources available through the Geospatial Map & Data Centre

Recommended Resources:

Scholars GeoPortal
Access and visualize geospatial data related to environmental science. Hint: Connect to Scholars GeoPortal and browse the following categories: Environment and conservation, Inland water resources, Geological and geophysical,  Imagery, basemaps, and land cover, Biologic and ecologic, Agriculture and farming, Elevation and derived products, and Atmosphere, climatology, meteorology.

Land Information Ontario (LIO) Inventory – Data Access

DMTI Spatial Inc – SMART Program Data Products (access via the GMDC Inventory and Scholars GeoPortal)


Data Sources for Environmental Science – Public Access

Canada

GeoGratis is a portal provided by the Earth Sciences Sector (ESS) of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) which provides geospatial data such as satellite images, scanned topographic maps (National Topopgraphic System), the Atlas of Canada, Land Inventory and more.

National Hydro Network (NHN) describes and models features of the inland surface-water system of Canada. 287 watersheds are available accounting for about 20% of the Canadian landmass. The NHN is a topographic data product, designed primarily to allow hydrographic network analysis. It is intended for water flow analysis, water and watershed management, environmental and hydrographical applications as well as for a multitude of cartographic applications.

National Hydrology – Drainage Areas

Canadian National Fire Database

Environment Canada Climate Data

Geological Map of Canada

Surficial Materials of Canada

Geological Map of the Arctic

Soil Landscapes of Canada

Agriculture and Food Statistics (Ontario) – Food and Agriculture statistics and data for Ontario, compiled by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. This website is a portal to data and statistics on the following topics: Field Crops, Horticulture, Agriculture Census, Livestock, Dairy, Food Industry, Farm Finance, Economic Indicators, and County Profiles.

United States

National Hydrography Dataset provides a 1:24,000-scale hydrography coverage of the U.S.

World

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is a portal to an international organization that is making the world’s biodiversity data accessible.

Global Change Master Directory (NASA) The GCMD holds more than 31,000 Earth science data set and service descriptions, which cover subject areas within the Earth and environmental sciences.  Topics include agriculture, atmosphere, biological classification, biosphere, climate indicators, cryosphere, land surface, oceans, and the hydrosphere.

The IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library contains over 300 data sets from a variety of earth science disciplines and climate-related topics. It is a powerful tool that offers access to a number of data sets, including GIS-compatible formats.

Marineregions.org – Marine Region shapefile downloads.

Natural Earth – Natural Earth is a public domain map data set offering free vector and raster map data available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and 1:110 million scales.

ESRI Virtual Campus Course Access

Step 1: Select course(s) from the following list: ESRI Virtual Campus Courses

Step 2: Complete request form to access course codes:  Request ESRI Virtual Campus Courses

Recommended Courses for Geography:

Learning ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 10)