GIS Data Sources

Finding sources of GIS data can be frustrating for several reasons:

• Many formats and coordinate systems
• Lack of metadata
• Data has not been updated
• Restrictions that prevent sharing

Here are some useful links and the types of layers that can be found.

State of Michigan
http://gis.michigan.opendata.arcgis.com/

• All Roads
• Boundaries
• Rivers and Lakes
• Imagery
• Elevation Data

Federal Government
https://hifld-dhs-gii.opendata.arcgis.com/

• Hospitals
• FEMA Regions
• Communication Towers

https://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/index.html

• Topo Maps

https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

• Imagery
• Historical Imagery
• Elevation

http://www.census.gov/data/data-tools.html

• Population

City or County

Check with the County or City websites for GIS data. 

• Parcel data

Open Street Map
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Downloading_data

• Basemap

Global Administrative Areas
http://gadm.org/

• Basemap:   Lots of data.  May be better off using Natural Earth Data sets instead

Natural Earth Data

http://www.naturalearthdata.com/

• Basemaps

US National Grid (USNG)
http://usngcenter.org/fema-region-5/

UTM Zones
http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/grids/universal_grid_system.html

American Red Cross National Shelter System (NSS)
https://gis.fema.gov/REST/services/NSS/FEMA_NSS/MapServer

Geocoding
https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder
https://geoservices.tamu.edu/

What other types of data should be included in an offline GIS?  Let me know in the comments section.