Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Research Support
All these administration activities have some level of research support that
goes along with the actual administrative developments. In general, a rela-
tively small amount of research support, in the case of the MPLIS and NSDI,
for example, has been the seed of wide-ranging administrative develop-
ments. Governments also specifically fund research on improving data col-
lection and maintenance techniques, assessing and improving administrative
services, and developing new technologies and approaches to make better
use of GI and maps. This support has been crucial at various points in the
development of the over U.S. $200 billion/year GI and cartography industry
worldwide.
Government Sources of Geographic Information
Most available GI comes from government agencies. Sometimes it is not easy
to find GI for a specific region. This section only attempts to overview key
sources. For specific GI needs, you should first contact a nearby map library.
North America
The United States seems to stand out because of the widespread ease of
obtaining data, but that is actually certain only for most data held by federal
civilian agencies. Public domain data collected by civilian agencies of the
U.S. government with general funds are considered to belong to U.S. taxpay-
ers. All states have their own regulations, generally called “open records
laws,” which describe which data can be made available, under what restric-
tions, and at what costs.
The U.S. National Atlas (
www.nationalatlas.gov
) is a good starting point.
It supports the online creation of maps as well as data downloading. Data
about roads, address ranges, and census geography is available at
http://
www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/
; however, this data requires some processing
before it can be viewed and no online browser is available at this site. Some
remote sensing imagery can be found at
http://www.class.noaa.gov/nsaa/prod-
ucts
. Additional remote sensing data and individual images are available at
http://eros.usgs.gov/archive/nslrsda/
.
The U.S. states maintain individual websites for getting information and
accessing GI and making online maps. There are far too many to list here.
You may wish to go to the Geospatial OneStop for a basic list and access
information (
http://www.geo-one-stop.gov/
). Local governments also may main-
tain online access possibilities. You should be able to find these out by going
to the home page of the local government (county or municipality) in ques-
tion.
In Canada, the Canadian National Atlas (
http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/eng-
lish/index.html
) is an excellent resource, as are increasingly the provincial,
county, and municipal governments. GI for Mexico is far scarcer.
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