Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial data

EarthStat shares cutting-edge data on the global food system to help others make science-based decisions.

FAO spatial database provides open-access geographic information, key food security indicators and agricultural statistics sourced from FAO and from external organizations such as NGOs, academia, the private sector, and space agencies.

FAOSTAT is a web-based information system for food and agriculture statistics at regional, national and sub-national levels.

Provides Geo statistics of developing countries

A collection of open data contributed by communities from around the world.

Geospatial data for lakes and wetlands around the world provided by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Landsat data products held in the USGS archives can be searched and downloaded at no charge from a variety of sources.

MSDS provides a suite of tools and services for free public access to marine geoscience research data acquired throughout the global oceans and adjoining continental margins.

SEDAC is one of the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) in the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Focusing on human interactions in the environment.

Public Domain reference data for the entire world. This is a great place to start!

This page provides access to scans of some of the 19th-century maps of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia that are held at the University of Chicago Library's Map Collection.

Databases for map collections

The historical map collection has over 54,000 maps and images online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North American and South American maps and other cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented.

Euratlas Georeferenced Vector Data is composed of 21 maps, one for each century from year 1 to year 2000. These maps depict the detailed political situation of Europe at the last year of each century. Each map is composed of physical features layers and political features layers.

Collection of maps available in the library of Congress collection

The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division is one of the world’s premier map collections in terms of size, scope, unique holdings, diversity and intensity of use. Established in 1898, our holdings include more than 433,000 sheet maps and 20,000 books and atlases published between the 16th and 21st centuries. The collections range from the global to the local scale and support the learning and research needs of a wide variety of users.

Gateway to Historical maps in Libraries around the World

The University of Texas Perry Castaneda library collection

Archive from the Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny in Poland of maps from 1919 - 1939.

Includes some historical country boundaries, including road networks for the African continent from 1960-2000

These GIS maps were created for the visualisation of data on Russian social and economic development from the late 18th to the early twenty-first centuries, available at: https://ristat.org/.
The current dataset, pertaining to the Russian Empire in 1897 (both district and province or governorate boundaries) has been cleaned and prepared by Rombert Stapel (IISH).

ESOC is an Archive of spatial data on armed conflict across the globe

The EPR Dataset Family provides data on ethnic groups’ access to state power, their settlement patterns, links to rebel organizations, transborder ethnic kin relations, and intra-ethnic cleavages.

Administrative Boundaries

Polygons representing ethnic groups around the world. Data pulled from Soviet Atlas Naradov Mira.

The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) conducts research on the conditions for peaceful relations between states, groups and people.