Internet Data Sources by Subject:
Geo-Spatial and the Environment
Scotland
Glasgow University Library Sources of Environmental Statistics
This site contains a range of links to environmental statistical sources in Scotland, UK and further afield.
Revised Indicators of Sustainable Development for Scotland (Scottish Government)
A range of 24 indicators relating to a variety of subject areas including: Work; Population Structure; Waste; Climate Change; Air Quality; Water Quality; Energy; Travel; Biodiversity etc.
Scottish Environment Statistics Online (Scottish Government)
The database contains data on the environment of Scotland. The
topics covered include climate change, air and water quality, land
use
and wildlife. Where possible links are made to the website of the
data
providers. Links are also provided to other sources of environmental
data on the Internet. The data can be viewed as HTML or downloaded in
Excel format. The accompanying publication,
Key Scottish Environment Statistics: 2008,
(can be viewed as HTML or downloaded in Adobe PDF format) presents charts and summary data for topics including: Public Attitudes; Global Atmosphere; Water; Radioactivity; Waste; Wildlife.
SEPA
Environmental Data (Scottish Environment Protection Agency)
SEPA is the public body responsible for environmental protection
in
Scotland. Topics covered include: water quality, classification
schemes (river, esturine, coastal), harmonised monitoring data,
discharge and bathing water data, environmental indicator series.
Data
can be viewed as HTML or downloaded in Adobe PDF or comma separated
values (CSV) format (dependent upon data series).
SNH Natural Spaces (Scottish Natural Heritage)
SNH has developed the Natural Spaces facility to enable the download data in ESRI Shapefile format for use with Geographical Information Systems, such as ESRI ArcGIS or Pitney Bowes Mapinfo data are available for Unitary Authority Areas for Scotland for three categories of data, namely: Habitats & Species; Landscape, Open Space & Access; Protected Areas. Datasets include: Country Parks; Local Nature Reserves; Special Areas of Conservation; Special Protection Areas; Woodland Inventories; Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Registration is required. Basic on-screen maps showing site boundaries are available through the Sitelink application.
Scottish Transport Statistics (Scottish Government)
An annual online publication with
summary and detailed tables on twelve topics: road transport vehicles;
bus and coach travel;
road freight;
toll bridge;
road network;
road traffic;
injury road accidents;
rail services;
air transport;
water transport;
finance;
personal and cross-modal travel.
Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) - Statistical Bulletin (Scottish Government)
The annual SVDLS has been operating since 1988. It is a co-operative venture between local authorities and the Scottish Government Development Department and is undertaken to establish the extent and state of vacant and derelict land in, or close to, urban areas and derelict land throughout Scotland. Charts and tables in HTML format include: Vacant and derelict land by Local Authority Area; Derelict land as a percentage of Local Authority Administrative Area; Ownership of vacant and derelict land; Contamination status of vacant and derelict land; Previous uses of vacant and derelict sites; Sources of funding used for vacant and derelict land brought back into use since the last survey, by Local Authority Area.
Note that for the purposes of comparison there is also the Survey of Derelict Land for England.
United Kingdom
The British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC)
The NERC's Designated Data Centre for the Atmospheric Sciences. The BADC assists researchers in locating, accessing and interpreting atmospheric data such as ozone levels and wind profiles. Most of the datasets, from a range of subjects including; meteorology, climatology and oceanography, are freely available without registration, but access to certain sets may be restricted.
British Geological Survey Data Services
BGS is the National Geoscience Data Centre for the National
Environment
Research Council and holds a wealth of geological
data such as digital databases and maps, archives and
materials collections. In addition it hosts a number of spatial and
non-spatial
indexes, the Discovery
Metadata
tool which queries detailed geoscience databases, as well as the
National Archive of Geological Photographs.
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS)
CEFAS (an Executive Agency of DEFRA)) is a scientific research and advisory centre working in fisheries management, environmental protection and aquaculture. The site map, set out in table format, provides a very clear outline of the various elements of this website. Access is provided to real time wave data; a mapping server to environmental and fisheries data for the UK shelf and beyond; spatial data for contaminants in UK coastal waters; and southern North Sea data. A section on current CEFAS research projects is also available. Datasets include: Sea tempeature and salinity trends, wave data from the English and Welsh costs, DAPSOM (an integrated database for fish stomach records).
Countryside Information System (CIS) (ADAS)
The CIS is a Windows-based program developed to provide access to spatial information about the British countryside. It contains a wide range of environmental data for each kilometre resolution grid reference for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Search or browse the data catalogue for dataset categories which include: administrative areas; agriculture; land classification; land cover & linear features; species; vegetation.
Version 8 of the CIS software can be downloaded free of charge. Online documentation is also available.
EDINA's Map and Data Place
(Edinburgh University Data Library)
Along with the EDINA's key map data services -
Digimap (Ordnance Survey
online and downloadable map data),
UKBORDERS (Census and other map boundary
data), and the EDINA agcensus service (grid-square Agricultural Census data) - there are web pages devoted
to finding sources of map and research data on the Internet.
Natural England Digital Boundaries (formerly English Nature, Natural England is a
quasi-governmental conservation organisation)
The datasets are divided into topics, such as
"National Nature Reserves". Some data, such as
"Sites of Special Scientific Interest", "National Nature
Reserves",
"Special Areas of Conservation" are arranged by
topic in convenient 100km files, based on the
Ordnance Survey grid. There are up to 27 files per
Topic. Other Datasets, such as "Natural Areas", is
available as a single file. The datasets are available in several
formats suitable for use in a Geographic Information System
(GIS) - MapInfo (.tab); MicroStation (.dgn); AutoCac (.dxf).
Users much register prior to receiving the datasets which are
delivered in Zip files.
Intute - Science, Engineering and Technology is a gateway to internet resources for FE and HE sectors within the UK. The resources have been selected by information professionals and subject specialists to ensure relevance and quality.
Records can be browsed by subject area and related sub-categories. There is also links to Virtual Training Suite (VTS) resources as well as learning and teaching materials.
Go-Geo! is a JISC-funded geo-spatial resource tool for locating geographic data and related resources within GB tertiary education and beyond. This trial service is co-hosted by EDINA (Data Library, University of Edinburgh) and the UK Data Archive (University of Essex). Resources include: Case Studies; Data Format Guides; information on Major Data Providers; Geoterminology; GIS Software including Data Translators and Freeware. There are also links to GIS-related research and learning materials, subject resources and training courses.
The MAGIC Project (DEFRA)
An interactive map which brings together information on key environmental schemes and designations, such as land classifications and rural designations. The project uses standard GIS tools to bring together information from DEFRA, the Countryside Agency, English Heritage, Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Forresty Commission and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The Dataset Information and Download Facility allows for download searches by topic, dataset or organisation. A summary of the downloadable datasets is also available.
National Land Use Database (England)
Users can access data for the NLUD-Previously Developed Land (PDL) surveys from 2001-2006, which collects data on vacant and derelict sites and other previously developed land and buildings that may be available for redevelopment in England. Updates on the NLUD-Baseline development project are also available. Data and reports are downloadable in .pdf format.
The National Biodiversity Network Gateway
A collection of UK Wildlife datasets gathered from various sources. Information available includes herpetelogical records, BRC Mammals database, the Seabird 2000 survey and the Marine Life Information Network (MLIN). After registration, users can customise the list of datasets available to them. There are also additional datasets which can be accessed through a special application process. Additional functionality allows users to create maps of the distribution of species throughout the UK.
National Statistics Online (Office for National Statistics)
In the top left corner, choose the theme
Natural and built environment,or Transport, travel and tourism.
A hierarchical index leads to online statistical reports and
publications freely available to the public.
Ordnance Survey (OS)
Great Britain's national
mapping agency site contains sources and contacts for all the
products OS
produce and the services it provides. The site also contains the GIS Files - an
interactive
learning area,
Get-a-map - a free Internet mapping service
(OSview software can be downloaded in order to view the digital map
data), information about
OS MasterMap (the definitive digital
map of Great Britain from which all new OS products are derived),
Land-Line Tile Selector
and the National GPS Network,
an online service to convert Global Positioning
System longitude/latitude readings to the GB National Grid projection.
The site also contains free downloadable GB Coastline and Administrative boundary maps in a range of formats including EPS (vector); TIF (raster); PDF; GIF (raster) in addition to a variety of Election maps containing administrative and electoral boundaries that can be overlaid onto a base map.
The site also includes some Teaching Resources.
Planning Statistics (Communities and Local Government)
Links to key resources, mainly for England only, such as commercial and
industrial floorspace, development control, land use change,
greenbelt statistics,
and the
National Land Use Database website.
Streetmap
Search by placename, telephone code, latitude/longitude, OS grid reference, London streets, postcodes to view zoomable map images online. The UK Streetmap Co-ordinate Converter facility can be used to convert between postcode, OS grid reference, landranger grid reference and
latitude/longitude.
Transport Statistics ( Department for Transport)
Provides general topics as an index to the statistics, a search box,
fact sheets, and a what's new section.
UK Climate and Weather Statistics (Met Office, UK)
A source of historical climate data for the UK. Monthly summaries and contoured maps for 1998-present are available online. Historical weather station weather observation data and statistical climate averages from 1961-2000 are also online in html format.
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International
AfricaMap (University of Harvard, Cambridge,USA)
AfricaMap is based on the Harvard University Geospatial Infrastructure (HUG) platform. It was developed by the Center for Geographic Analysis to make spatial data on Africa easier for researchers to discover and explore. In addition to a range of map layers (economic, environmental, ethno and linguistic, historic, politics and population) there are a range of boundary data and topographic features. It has a Google maps-based facility which allows the toggling between physical/street/satallite views. Maps can also be shared and downloaded as image files.
Alexandria Digital Library Gazetteer Server (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
A Worldwide gazetteer of placenames and many other categories,
including
administrative areas, topographical features, and human-made
features. Content somewhat slanted towards United States, based on
U.S. National
Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) data.
CIA World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency, USA)
Reference maps and
country profiles are given for every country, with basic
facts and
figures on geography, people, government, economy,
communications,
transportation, military, and transnational issues (disputes).
CIESIN Home Page (Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University)
As an organisation set up to track global change, CIESIN has several
georeferenced datasets
as well as online analysis tools, such as Demographic Data
Cartogram Service--interactive order of 1990 census
data in prominent GIS data formats, Chinese Censuses, Model
Visualization and Analysis for
Integrated Assessment Models of Climate Change, Gridded
Population of the World (world and continental population counts and
density on a 5 minute grid),
Monitoring Environmental
Progress--interactive query of the World Bank's database of
indicators of environmentally sustainable development, and more.
Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science - CSISS (National Science Foundation)
CSISS...is funded by the National Science Foundation under its program of support for infrastructure in the social and behavioural sciences. Its programs focus on the methods, tools, techniques, software, data access, and other services needed to promote and facilitate an integrating approach to the social sciences." Facilities include Learning Resources, Spatial Resources, Spatial Tools, and custom search engines to locate spatial analysis resources on the internet.
Digital Chart of the World (ESRI and Penn State University Libraries, USA)
This academic site
supports users wanting to download digital map data (boundaries, layers)
produced by ESRI for any country at a scale of
1 to 1 million. The download format is ARC/Info export, although
there is a preview function that can create maps on the fly using
Java.
Note: The available national boundaries reflect political reality as of 1991/1992 and that modern country names and boundaries have not been added.
Earth Trends (World Resources Institute, Washington D.C.)
An Environmental Information Portal which provides access to searchable databases, data tables, country profiles, maps and features relating to a number of topics, namely: Coastal and marine ecosystems; Water resources and freshwater ecosystems; Climate and atmosphere; Population, health and human well-being; Economics, business and the environment; Energy and resources; Biodiversity and protected areas; Agriculture and food; Forests, grasslands and drylands; Environmental governance and institutions. Data tables are downloadable in Adobe PDF and archived tables in WinZip format.
European Environment Agency Data Service
The EEA data Service provides
access to datasets used in EEA periodical reports. The datasets cover the following subjects:
Water, Tropospheric ozone, Acidification, Climate change, Ozone
depletion. Also links to the European Environment Information and
Observation Network (EIONET).
Geographic Names Server (GNS) (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, US)
The GNS is the official repository of standard spellings of all (foreign) place names, sanctioned by the US Board on Geographic Names. All searchable geographic features in the database contain information about location, administrative division, and quality. The two GIS Outputs results provides a Tab-delimited text summary which can be loaded into a GIS or user specific database application. In addition to look-up tables, Country files can be downloaded using ftp/http.
Geospatial Data Clearinghouse (Federal Geographic Data Committee Secretariat, Reston, VA, USA)
A metadata catalogue to "250 spatial data
servers" on the
Internet. Descriptions
include information about how to acquire or download the data.
Geospatial Datasets (Resources for Geographers, University of Colorado at Boulder)
Pointers to several geographic datasets organised into useful
categories such as
demographic (Census boundary) data, topographic data, land
use/land cover data,
remote sensing, etc.
Multimap.com
Click and zoom down to street level or search by placenames, London
streets, postcodes, or grid reference to view map images online. Access also to
street-level maps he United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and a
number of cities worldwide; road maps of the world and aerial
photographs with map overlay.
The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC, Boulder, Colorado USA)
The NGDC hosts several World Data Centers (WDCs) which can be accessed from this site including: glaciology, marine geology and geophysics, solar-terrestrial physics and solid earth geophysics. Each contains a data catalogue of downloadable datasets. The NGDC also provides links to UK mirror data site.
Oddens Bookmarks (Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Utrecht University, Netherlands)
A searchable and browsable site for all kinds of geographic resources
on the web.
Maps, atlases, tourist sites, geography departments, libraries,
gazetteers, etc.
Onegeology
OneGeology is an international initiative of the geological surveys of the world and a flagship project of the International Year of Planet Earth. Its aim is to create dynamic geological map data of the world available via the web with a mission statement. A prototype portal is currently available, with a fully operational edition expected in August 2008. Collaborators include: International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE); Commission for the Geological Map of the World (CGMW); Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI); EuroGeoSurveys; International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM).
Online maps (Bodleian Library Map Room, University of Oxford)
Up-to-date links to Internet map resources.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (University of Texas, Austin, USA)
A large collection of online maps viewable by continent. Also
includes
historical maps, special interest maps relating to current events,
and pointers
to other
online maps on the web.
UNEP/GRID Environmental Data-Sets (United Nations Environment Programme / Global Resource Information Database)
Several datasets are available for free downloading in GRID
ASCII or Arc/Info format, with
documentation in HTML (click on dataset title): Africa
Population Distribution Database (years 1960, 70, 80, 90), Asian Population Database, Global
Population Distribution Database (1990), Topographic Data including Global Elevation (5 or 10
min.),
Climatic Data, Soil Data, Vegetation Data. Users are required to submit their name, email,
purpose, and to cite the
source in any publications.
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