GIS for Architecture: Find geospatial data

Key data sources

The Geospatial Centre, located within Dana Porter Library at the University of Waterloo, has an extensive collection of geospatial data resources, including: local and Canadian geospatial data, U.S and world geospatial data, maps and atlases, aerial photos/ satellite images, online mapping and digital projects. You may have to sign an online data release form in order to access and use the licensed data held in the Library's collections.

See below for more online data sources.

Scholars GeoPortal
Get access to visualizing and downloading geospatial data, including land-based vector data, census geography, orthophotography, and more.
Coverage: Varies
Scholars GeoPortal is an Ontario Council of Univerity Libraries (OCUL) initiative that provides affiliated members with online access to visualizing and downloading geospatial data. It includes land-based vector data (water, cultural features, etc.), census geography, orthophotography, and more! Waterloo faculty and students may access most of the provincial and national level data currently available from Waterloo Library's Geospatial Centre through the portal. An easy to use platform for academic purposes only.

Assessing data sources and quality

Geospatial data standards

ERSI's GeoHubs

ArcGIS Hub
An easy-to-configure cloud platform that organizes people, data, and tools to accomplish Initiatives and goals.
Racial equity GIS hub
An ongoing, continuously expanding resource hub to assist organizations working to address racial inequities. The Racial Equity GIS Hub includes data layers, maps, applications, training resources, articles on best practices, solutions, and examples of how Esri users from around the world are leveraging GIS to address racial inequities.
Open sustainable development goals (SDG) data hub
Promotes the exploration, analysis, and use of authoritative SDG data sources for evidence-based decision-making and advocacy. Its goal is to enable data providers, managers and users to discover, understand, and communicate patterns and interrelationships in the wealth of SDG data and statistics that are now available.

Other data sources

Find geospatial data on the open web
University of Guelph Library
Government and external agencies
Ryerson University Library
Geospatial data guides
University of Windsor Library
Maps and geosptial data
McGill Library
Geospatial data and statistics
Dalhousie University Libraries
Canadian GIS and spatial data
University of Lethbridge
Finding international GIS data
Penn State University Libraries

Open data: local and municipal

Open data: provincial

Ontario:

Other provinces and territories:

Open data: national

The Atlas of Canada
AuroraMax
The Northern Lights, from the Canadian Space Agency
Canada3D
Digital elevation model (DEM) of the Canadian landmass
Canadian GIS and geospatial resources
Canadian Soil Information Service
Climate change data
From Natural Resources Canada
Geography Network Canada
GoGeomatics Canada
Government of Canada Open Data
Hazards data
From Natural Resources Canada
National Forest Information System
The North
A wide range of resources relating to the north, from Natural Resources Canada
Open Government Across Canada
Statistics Canada Census program
Topographic information
From Natural Resources Canada

Open data: Indigenous studies

Aboriginal Lands of Canada Legislative Boundaries
Includes legislative boundaries of Indian Reserves, Land Claim Settlement Lands (lands created under Comprehensive Land Claims Process that do not or will not have Indian Reserve status under the Indian Act) and Indian Lands.
First Nations Settled and Unsettled Land Claims in Canada
A Data Basin shapefile including settled and unsettled land claims in Canada.
Geographical Names Data
Files of official geographical names for individual provinces, territories and offshore, as recognized by the Geographical Names Board of Canada. The records include the names of populated places and administrative areas, water features such as lakes, rivers and bays, terrain features like mountains, capes and valleys; and undersea features such as seamounts and trenches.
Historic First NationsTreaties in Canada
Data basin dataset includes treaties negotiated between approximately and 1930, excluding Douglas Treaties (unknown boundaries).

Open data: global

Open data: international

United States:

Other countries:

Last Updated: May 15, 2024 1:10 PM
URL: https://subjectguides.uwaterloo.ca/c.php?g=717503
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Subjects: Architecture

Tags: architecture, geographic information systems, gis, spatial data