Research Guides: Geographic Information Systems (GIS): GIS Data Sources by Topic

GIS Data Sources by Topic

Census.gov - U.S. Census Bureau data
Population, housing, economic, and geographic data.
Microdata Access
The U.S. Census Bureau's Data Tool. A data mining and extraction tool that allows you to select various topics like CPS stats and ACS estimates.
Global Health Observatory (GHO) Data
GHO is the World Health Organization’s main health statistics repository. It contains an extensive list of health indicators, multi-dimensional query functionality, and a world map gallery displaying important health themes.
Published by: World Health Organization
Neighborhood Change Database (GeoLytics)
Provides instant access to US Census data from 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 at the census tract level. A resource for policy makers, community organizations, and researchers who want to analyze changes that have occurred in US neighborhoods over four decades. The NCDB contains 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 Long Form data with details such as: population, household, and housing characteristics, income, poverty status, education level, employment, housing costs, immigration, and other variables.
Social Explorer
A web-based interface that offers U.S. demographic information, including historical data starting in 1940
Texas Legislative Council's District Viewer
Interactive maps; demographic and election reports for current state house, state senate, Texas Congressional, and State Board of Education districts; as well as selected redistricting proposals. All redistricting proposals that have been made public in the legislative process are available while they are under consideration.
Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographer
Reference and thematic maps in PDF format, and TIGER census and congressional district data.
TIGER
The U.S. Census Bureau's Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing System offers shapefiles for the United States. Legal and statistical geographic areas are offered, as well as features like roads, railroads, rivers, and more. The shapefiles do not include demographic data, but they contain geographic entity codes (i.e. FIPS) that can be linked to U.S. Census demographic data available at American FactFinder. Cartographic Boundaries of 1990, 2000 and other selected years are available to download.

Historical

ICPSR's HISTORICAL, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2002
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research offers a census data collection that contains detailed county and state level ecological and descriptive data for the United States for the years 1790 to 2002. The TAMU community has direct access to download data by creating an account using the tamu.edu e-mail.
National Historical Geographical Information System (NHGIS)
Free, aggregated census data and boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2000. The geographic units offered are state, county, county subdivision, census tract, block, block group, MSAs, place, voting district, zip code, congressional district, etc. Data can be downloaded in ASCII, SPSS, SAS, STATA command file formatting, and comma or GIS comma-separated, column-delimited, and shapefiles data formats.

ReferenceUSA
A directory database of U.S. businesses, an updated list for job openings (!!!!), and more. Searches include company name, business size, corporate linkages, SIC / NAICS, and geographic information.
Alternate titles: Reference USA
Published by: Infogroup
SimplyAnalytics
SimplyAnalytics is a web-based mapping, analytics, and data visualization application that can be used to create interactive maps, charts, and reports using 100,000+ data variables.
Although students & faculty are not required to log in with a username and password, it is recommended if they wish to save their work.
Access is limited to 15 concurrent users.
Alternate titles: Simply Map, SimplyMap
Published by: Geographic Research, Inc
Statista
Statista is a database that contains international statistics, facts, and market data taken from free and proprietary sources.
Uniworld Directories
Provides online access to firms' information in various countries.
American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries - this directory lists wholly or partially owned subsidiaries, affiliates or branches of American companies with substantial investments in overseas operations. Results include locations and in many cases contacts, ownership and type of business operation, which are viewable and downloadable to Excel.
Foreign Firms Operating in the United States - this directory lists wholly or partially owned subsidiaries, affiliates or branches of foreign companies with substantial investments in the United States. Results include locations and in many cases contacts, ownership and type of business operation, which are viewable and downloadable to Excel.
Published by: Uniworld Business Publications, Inc.
World Development Indicators
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank provides over 500 indicators of economic development in terms of people, the environment, the economy and the world markets. Data spans 40 years and covers 208 countries.
Alternate titles: WDI
Published by: World Bank Group

Financial

FRED - Economic data
This site offers a wealth of economic data and information to promote economic education and enhance economic research. The widely used database FRED is updated regularly and allows 24/7 access to regional and national financial and economic data.
Government Finance Statistics (IMF)
The IMF Government Finance Statistics contains statistical data on government financial operations for 145 IMF member countries. Where reported, the database contains time series from 1990 onwards using the Government Finance Statistics Manual, 2001 (GFSM 2001) framework. The statistics, issued quarterly, are updated as new data are received and time series become available. These time series present combined statistics on revenue, expenses, transactions in nonfinancial assets and financial assets and liabilities as well as for stocks of assets and liabilities of general government and its subsectors.
International Financial Statistics (IMF)
This is considered a standard source of international statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. The IFS database contains approximately 32,000 time series covering more than 200 countries and areas and includes all series appearing on the IFS Country Pages; exchange rate series for all Fund member countries, plus Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles; major Fund accounts series; and most other world, area, and country series from the IFS World Tables. It reports, for most countries of the world, current data needed in the analysis of problems of international payments and of inflation and deflation, i.e., international liquidity, international banking, money and banking, interest rates, prices, production, international transactions, government accounts, and national accounts.
Market Indicators and Forecasts (EIU)
Allows access to key economic and market data for the countries of your choice. CountryData package provides a comprehensive database of macroeconomic indicators and forecasts. Market Indicators and Forecasts package helps you to gauge market size and growth potential for your choice of 60 countries.
Mintel Market Sizes
Contains market size, market share and forecast data for thousands of consumer goods categories worldwide.
Alternate titles: Mintel Global Market Navigator ; GMN
Published by: Mintel Group Ltd.

Trade

Direction of Trade Statistics (IMF)
This DOTS Online service provides data on the value of merchandise exports and imports between each country and all its trading partners. The database includes: o total bilateral and multilateral exports and imports aggregated at national or regional group level o data for the most recent six quarters and the latest year for 169 countries, and ten quarters and five years for the world and area tables.
International Trade Statistics
World Trade Organization (WTO) site that provides statistics on tariff and trade in merchandise and commercial services for an assessment of world trade flows by country, region, and main product groups or services by category.
Published by: World Trade Organization

Climate

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center
World's largest active archive of weather and climate data. The center develops both national and global datasets. Data is extracted via the GIS Map Services Index.
WorldClim – Global Climate Data
Global climate layers with 1-km2 resolution. Data is available for current, past, and future conditions in the forms of tiles or as grids.
WDC for Human Interactions in the Environment
Created from WDC datasets and is hosted by NASA's Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). The web application allows viewing, activating, adding, and reordering available data layers from the SEDAC catalog. It also offers a map gallery for about 320 world and regions (JPEG/ PDF) on themes such as climate, conservation, governance, hazards, health, population, poverty and sustainability.
EPA's Geospatial Data Access Project
Information regarding facilities or sites subject to environmental regulation. It features downloadable XML, KML, shapefiles, and feature classes. Datasets include Superfund National Priority List (NPL); EPA and State Treatment, Storage, Disposal facilities; Toxic Release Inventory System; National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Majors; Large Quantity Generators; Air Facility System, Corrective Actions; and more.
EPA C-MAP
The Clean Air Mapping and Analysis Program is a GIS assessment tool used to evaluate the benefits of national and regional pollutant emission reduction programs. The Clean Air Market Division is using this geographic data to assess the environmental effectiveness of the Acid Rain Program.

Weather

FIRMS Web Fire Mapper
Global near real-time fire information to users to support natural resource and fire managers around the World. FIRMS delivers active fires detected using the MODIS active fire locations processed by the MODIS Rapid Response System. Active fire/hotspot detections in shapefile format are available for the last 24 hours, 48 hours and 7 day time periods. These shape files are updated every hour. Data in KML, NASA World Wind, Web Fire Mapper (WMS) and Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) are also available.
NOAA'S Historical Hurricane Tracks
Interactive mapping application created by the Coastal Services Center that features tropical cyclone data of both Atlantic and Eastern North pacific basins

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) dataset contains hundreds of spatial layers relating to the oil and gas industry. Themes, which are available for the entire state, include:

Surveys
Pipelines
Wells
API’s (unique numeric identifiers)
Basemaps at the county level

Downloading RRC Data

To obtain the RRC Dataset, please fill out a Research Data Management Services Form and we will assist you as soon as possible.

Extracting the Data

The data files are compressed into folders with ".tar.gz" extensions. For example, FILENAME.tar.gz.

To extract the files:

Right click on the .tar.gz folder and select “Extract to FILENAME.tar\”
Open the resulting FILENAME.tar folder
Right click on the FILENAME.tar file and select “Extract to FILENAME\”
GIS software can now read the files in FILENAME

Manuals

The dataset comes with three user manuals created by the Railroad Commission of Texas:

The Map Manual
The Oil and Gas Well Bore System Guide
The Mapping Well Data Download Manual

FIPS

The data is available by county.
Each county is labeled by its Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS).
An alphabetical list of counties and their corresponding FIPS can be found in Appendix B of the Map Manual.

Spatial Projection

The data's geographic projection datum is NAD27.
Please visit our tutorials page or make an appointment at the Map & GIS Library to learn more about projecting spatial data.

Please fill out a Research Data Management Services Form and the Library staff will help you with any questions you may have regarding the RRC Dataset. Per our license agreement, the data can only be shared with Texas A&M University students, faculty, and staff.

Land Cover / Land Use

CropScape
Cropland Data Layers (CDL) from the USDA. The CDL is a geo-referenced raster of crop-specific land cover created annually for the continental United States using moderate resolution satellite imagery and extensive agricultural ground truth.
Enhanced Historical Land Use/Land Cover (U.S. Geological Survey)
Land use/land cover from the 1970s and 1980s.
EPA GIRAS
Land use/land cover data.
Multiresolution Land-Characteristics Consortium (MRLC)
National Land Cover Datasets
USDA Geospatial Data Gateway
Natural resources and environmental data. The Gateway allows you to choose your area of interest, browse and select data from the catalog, customize the format, and have it downloaded via FTP site or shipped on CD or DVD. Themes include orthoimagery, soils, common land unit, cultural and demographics, geographic boundaries and places, elevation hydrography, cadastral, transportation, digital raster quads, land cover/vegetation/plants, watershed boundaries, wetlands, precipitation and temperature, flood hazards, and national inventory of dams/water control infrastructures.
USGS Land Use Land Cover (LULC)
Historical land use and land cover classification data that was based primarily on the manual interpretation of 1970's and 1980's aerial photography.
WebGIS
Free access to terrain, land use/land cover (LULC) and digital line graph (DLG) data.

Agriculture

EarthStat
Created by the Global Landscapes Initiative and hosted by the University of Minnesota, includes: water depletion; cropland and pasture areas; harvest areas and yields for crops; yield gaps and climate bins; fertilizer applications, consumption, and balance; potential natural vegetation; and carbon stocks in potential natural vegetation
FAOSTAT
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - Statistical Division

Soil Data

USDA Web Soil Survey
Soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. It is operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRC) and provides access to the largest natural resource information system in the world, including soil maps and data fro more than 95 percent of the U.S. counties. The electronic version of published soil surveys can be accessed here (http://soils.usda.gov/survey/printed_surveys/).

ESA Satellite Images
Created by the European Space Agency (ESA), offers satellite imagery from around the world in the highest resolution available as TIFF and JPEG images. The gallery contains images used throughout the ESA Portal; most of them have been released publicly from ESA. You may use ESA images for educational or informational purposes.
National Map (USGS)
High-quality, geospatial data and information from the USGS as well as other federal, state, and local partners. It includes orthoimagery, elevation, geographic names, hydrography, boundaries, transportation, structures, and land cover.
TexMaps
Free aerial photos of the Texas Coast.
USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS)
One of the largest collections of Earth imagery: satellite images and data, aerial photography, elevation and land cover, digitized maps, and more.
USGS Global Visualization Viewer (GloVis)
Online search and order tool for selected satellite and aerial data from EROS holdings. It allows browsing of images within USGS’ inventory. A download interface is provided for free datasets. Java required. GloVIS Next is currently being offered as an alternative.
USGS LandsatLook Viewer
Real-time images from Landsat satellites. It displays the images in the 5, 4, 3 (Red, Green, Blue) band combination for both the TM and ETM+ sensors at a resolution of 30 meters.

Topography

USGS 7.5" Topo Index
It lists sources for digital historic 7.5" topos for the US, created by Illinois State Library's Map Librarian.
USGS 15" Topo Index
It lists sources for digital historic 15" topos for the US, created by Illinois State Library's Map Librarian.
USGS GTOPO30
Global digital elevation models (DEM) with a horizontal grid spacing of 30 arc seconds (approximately 1 kilometer).

EPA's EnviroMapper
Environmental information, including: air releases, drinking water, toxic releases, hazardous wastes, water discharge permits, and Superfund sites.
EPA Geospatial Data Access Project
Information regarding facilities or sites subject to environmental regulation. It features downloadable XML, KML, shapefiles, and feature classes. Datasets include Superfund National Priority List (NPL); EPA and State Treatment, Storage, Disposal facilities; Toxic Release Inventory System; National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Majors; Large Quantity Generators; Air Facility System, Corrective Actions; and more.
National Map (USGS)
High-quality, geospatial data and information from the USGS as well as other federal, state, and local partners. It includes orthoimagery, elevation, geographic names, hydrography, boundaries, transportation, structures, and land cover. It offers several interactive viewers:
National Map Viewer contains data sets from many contributing agencies.
USGS TopoView Beta includes TopoView offers access to JPEG's, GeoTFF's, KMZ's, and GeoPDF's of the USGS's Historical Topographic Map Collection.
National Map Seamless Server is the primary site to download USGS imagery, elevation and land cover data.
National Map ‘Best Practices’ Viewer offers the most up-to-date National Map road, boundaries, structures, and other vector data.
National Hydrography Data (NHD) Viewer contains hydrography digital spatial data, such as: lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, springs and wells. It offers data extraction on medium, high or local resolution, and is delivered as personal geodatabase, file geodatabase, or shapefile.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Dynamically-generated maps of renewable energy resources. It also offers downloadable GIS data and geospatial toolkits via FTP.
North American Environmental Atlas
A collaborative initiative between government agencies in Canada, Mexico and the United States.” It assembles a growing number of foundational and thematic map layers. By comparing these layers, users can better understand and quantify critical trends and interrelationships at a continental scale." It includes themes such as basemap, watersheds, terrestrial ecoregions, human influence, marine ecosystems, climate, and industrial pollution.
Protected Planet
Database of protected land.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Viewer dedicated to the Eduard Aquifer that offers a spatial queries mapping application with SUPERFUNDS (comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act) and MSD (Municipal Settings Designations) sites, and water wells data. GIS Data for the Atlas of Texas Surface Waters, hydrology, site layer of current locational data in TCEQ Program Area, TCEQ regulatory/administrative boundaries, and land use/land cover (LULC) layers are available to download
Texas Water Development Board
GIS datasets of various natural features defined by TWDB. Data is offered in geodatabase or shapefile formats. Most requested maps are available as PDF/JPEG.
USDA Geospatial Data Gateway
Natural resources and environmental data. The Gateway allows you to choose your area of interest, browse and select data from the catalog, customize the format, and have it downloaded via FTP site or shipped on CD or DVD. Themes include orthoimagery, soils, common land unit, cultural and demographics, geographic boundaries and places, elevation hydrography, cadastral, transportation, digital raster quads, land cover/vegetation/plants, watershed boundaries, wetlands, precipitation and temperature, flood hazards, and national inventory of dams/water control infrastructures.
WDC for Human Interactions in the Environment
Created from WDC datasets and is hosted by NASA's Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). The web application allows viewing, activating, adding, and reordering available data layers from the SEDAC catalog. It also offers a map gallery for about 320 world and regions (JPEG/ PDF) on themes such as climate, conservation, governance, hazards, health, population, poverty and sustainability.
World Data System (WDS)
Global geophysical and environmental data along with associated documentation, and visualization and analysis tools. Access to data for all scientists is free of charge or for the cost of reproduction.

Geology/Geophysics

Bureau of Economic Geology
STATEMAP GIS Databases (selected areas), and a set of interactive maps with its downloadable data of sequestrian of greenhouse gases in brine-formation database, Texas Coastal Hazard Atlas, Texas Shoreline Change Project, and Sand Resources of SE Texas Continental Shelf. Digital data is available with a fee, including digital quadrangle (DQ) Geologic Atlas of Texas on CD-ROM. Through STATEMAP Project Geologic Maps, black and white geologic maps of selected locations are offered for a fee.
NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center
Interactive maps including data from the Earth and sun, including Earth observations from space and sea floor data. It offers software and conversion tools, as well as downloadable shapefiles extracted from interactive maps.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Marine geophysics: tracklines, gravity, sediment, water column sonar; Marine geology: geosample data, crustal age grids, NOS seabed descriptions, and ocean drilling; Ocean depths & relief: coastal grids, create custom grids, DEMs, ETOPO1, global grids, fishing maps, Great Lakes, Hydrographic surveys, IHODCDB, multibeam bathymetry, paleobathymetry, shorelines, and tsunami inundation.
Public GIS Map for Oil, Gas, and Pipeline Data - Online Map Viewer
Detailed information and location coordinates for oil wells, gas wells, and pipelines from the Commission's files with base map data captured from U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute quadrangle maps.

Bathymetry

General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO)
Global bathymetric data, echo-sounding data; GEBCO Digital Atlas (GDA): global digital bathymetric contours, coastlines, trackline control data, and global one arc-minute bathymetric grid (GEBCO One Minute Grid).
Satellite Geodesy (UC San Diego)
Bathymetry and radar altimetry.
Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)
Bathymetry and shorelines.

Shorelines

DigitalCoast
Composes the National Coastal Assessment Framework (CAF), providing NOAA’s GIS data of counties, states, boundaries, watersheds, shorelines, etc.
GSHHS (NOAA)
Global self-consistent, hierarchical, high-resolution shoreline database.
Shoreline Data Explorer (NOAA)
Shoreline data of the U.S. and adjacent islands.
NOAA Shoreline Website
Global, national, and local scale shoreline data; Shoreline change analysis, nautical chart production, cartographic representation, and boundary determination.
NGDC 3 Arc-Second Coastal Relief Model
U.S. coastal zone with view of the seafloor.
TAMU's Texas Coastal Communities Atlas
Boundaries, policy data (coastal management zones and building code), transportation, census, rainfall, topography, ecological, hydrology, protected areas, recreation areas, development (property values, populated places, damns, and wetlands permits), natural hazards, coastal development, and offshore risk data. Some open access layers are available to download as shapefiles.

Nautical Charts

NOAA Office of the Coast Survey
Local, regional, and global nautical charts and tools.
NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC)
Electronic navigational charts, digital hydrographic data, historical charts, and U.S. maritime zones.
NOAA Nautical Charts
Paper and electronic charts.

Transportation

National Transportation Atlas Database
National geographic databases of transportation infrastructure and facilities.
Texas Department of Transportation
TxDOT annually publishes its roadway inventory data in a variety of common GIS and tabular formats. Data includes GIS linework and all roadway inventory attributes. TxDOT submits this data annually to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as part of the Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) program.
Texas Tech's Digital Atlas of Texas Counties
Texas Counties data, including: relief maps (JPEGS), boundaries, roads, populated places, hydrology, census data, satellite imagery, and DEMs.

Local Cities and Counties

Brazos County Appraisal District
Property search application displays the properties and associated tax reports. Our Library catalog holds the BCAD Data from 2004-2012, available to review and copy at Map and GIS Collections and Services.
Brazos County Flood Map Modernization
Interactive Mapping Service offers preliminary flood insurance rate maps (FIRM). The final FIRM is available after the appeal process and the final determination is made.
City of Bryan GIS Map Services
Aerials, streets, new developments, school districts, capital improvements, cemetery (ownership and grave location), census, garage sales, and sex offender mapping services.
Brazos County
Shapefiles of county and city limits, cemeteries, rivers, streams, railroads, roads, and 100-year floodplain.

Cities in Texas

Austin

Austin GIS OpenData
The Official City of Austin Open Data Portal
Capital Area COG GIS Information Clearinghouse
Geodatabases, shapefiles, and Google KMZ files of airports, bridges, streets, city limits, contours, county boundaries, flood zone, Envision Central Texas (ECT) Model, Hydrography, Land Fragmentation Analysis, Landfills, Orthos (1997-2008), Parcels (2005, 2008), topos, vegetation, soils, and more.
City of Austin GIS
Aerials (1962-2008), address points, utilities, topography, land use, zoning, environmental, transportation, base maps, and regional data.

Dallas

Dallas GIS OpenData
The City of Dallas's Official GIS Datasets
Dallas Central Appraisal District
Parcel information and links to parcel appraisal account information.
The link to this resource is no longer functional; previously it was available at https://maps.dcad.org/prd/dpm/
Denton Central Appraisal District
Parcel, contours, transportation, boundaries, floodplain, aerials from 2011-2017, and other useful layers.
North Central Texas Council of Governments GIS Clearinghouse
GIS coordinator for 16-counties of North Central Texas, centered around the two urban centers of Dallas and Fort Worth. Geographic data for the NCTCOG region, as well aerial photography and digital elevation contours available for purchase by its members at a much-reduced cost.
Tarrant County Appraisal District
Shapefiles and maps of parcels; county, city, and school district boundaries; hydrography and more.

Houston

City of Houston Geographic Information and Management System
Over 300 data layers. Portions of GIMS data is available only to City of Houston agencies, however some are accessible to the public. ROW and bikeways data are available only to view, but not for download.
City of Houston GIS Release (COHGIS)
Administrative boundaries, locations, routes, pavement, right-of-way, subdivision, and Lambert Facet Page (grids commonly used by Harris County Appraisal District and City of Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering) datasets.
Harris County Appraisal District GIS Data
Appraisal, city, college, county, emergency, fire, highway, school polygons, and other data.
Harris County Public Infrastructure Department Engineering Division's GIS Library
Available by contacting the Harris County Public Infrastructure Department Architecture and Engineering Division GIS Group.
Houston-Galveston Area Council Data Clearinghouse (HGAC)
Vector data covers only the H-GAC region; however, several are regional and statewide.
STAR* Map
Southeast Texas Addressing and Referencing Map. Data is free to TAMU students who are conducting research projects. Licensing restrictions apply. Please ask for the CD at Map and GIS front desk. The Libraries Catalog record provides more information.

San Antonio

San Antonio GIS OpenData
Geospatial data and datasets provided by the City of San Antonio's GIS Division

Environment & Infrastructure

Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD)
Managed by GMO, HIFLD curates and provides access to geospatial data on U.S. critical infrastructure. Users can view data and download CSV, KML, and Shapefiles for visualization and application development.
SimplyAnalytics
Database with demographic, business, and public health data.
Social Explorer
Database with demographic data, climate, and religious data.
Texas Department of Transportation
Summaries of Texas motor vehicle crash statistics available for download. Data is organized by county.
Texas Natural Resources Information System
Bathymetry, administrative boundaries, elevation, geology, hydrology, land cover, soils, transportation, and more.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Performance, safety, energy, environment, infrastructure, passenger movement, boundaries, landmarks, and characteristics for rail aviation, roads, transit, and marine transportation.
USGS' Earth Explorer
Remotely sensed data with global coverage.

Weather

NOAA's National Hurricane Center
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s National Hurricane Center provides interactive maps and data downloads for the weather conditions related to Hurricane Harvey.
Image Collection on Space.com
Remotely sensed images of Harvey from space.

Emergency Response Data

Harvey Open Data
Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) includes data layers of emergency services, hazards and incidents, community lifelines, community resources, vulnerable population infrastructure, transportation, imagery, base and population data, US National Grid maps, and additional tools.

City of Houston

Houston GIS OpenData
Data provided by the city of Houston, including: management districts, zip codes, voting precincts, neighborhood boundaries, community programs, libraries, schools, public buildings, trauma centers, police districts, fire districts, demographics, traffic, bike lanes, and many more.
City of Houston Geographic Information and Management System
Over 300 data layers. Portions of GIMS data is available only to City of Houston agencies, however some are accessible to the public. ROW and bikeways data are available only to view, but not for download.
City of Houston GIS Portal (COHGIS)
Clearinghouse for municipal GIS datasets for the City of Houston. Contains a link to Houston GIS OpenData and more. Datasets include: administrative boundaries, locations, routes, pavement, right-of-way, subdivision, and Lambert Facet Page--grids commonly used by Harris County Appraisal District and City of Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering.

Harris County

Harris County Appraisal District GIS Data
Appraisal, city, college, county, emergency, fire, highway, school polygons, and other data.
Harris County GIS Data
Harris County data and more.
Harris County Public Infrastructure Department Engineering Division’s GIS Library
Available by contacting the Harris County Public Infrastructure Department Architecture and Engineering Division GIS Group.
Houston-Galveston Area Council Data Clearinghouse (HGAC)
Vector data covers only the H-GAC region; however, several are regional and statewide.
STAR*Map
Data is free to TAMU students who are conducting research projects. Licensing restrictions apply. Please ask for the CD at Map and GIS front desk. The Libraries Catalog (https://catalog.library.tamu.edu/Record/in00002466796) record provides more information

Coastal Texas

Coastal Communities Planning Atlas
Developed by the Texas Sustainable Coastal Initiative, the atlas provides layers of hazards, policies, administrative boundaries, transportation, roadways, historical tropical storm winds, annualized tropical storm loss, landscape features, and more

Historical Hurricane Data

National Hurricane Center Data
The NHC provides historical hurricane data beginning in 2008.
National Hurricane Center Data Archive
The NHC Data Archive provides cyclone data beginning in 1958.
Unisys Weather
Historical track data, including: coordinates, sustained winds, and central pressure. Satellite images, surface, upper air, and radar data are also available.
Weather Underground Hurricane and Tropical Cyclone Data
Number of storms and hurricanes per year, related deaths, damage (millions USD) and retired hurricane names beginning in 1851.
NOAA's Historical Hurricane Tracks - GIS Map Viewer
Interactive maps and data downloads for over 6000 cyclones over the last 150 years. Data tools and dashboards are also available.

EU Open Data Portal
The dataset contains the latest available public data on COVID-19 including a daily situation update, the epidemiological curve and the global geographical distribution in the EU and worldwide.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Daily updated data on the number of new cases reported per day and per country.
Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Cases Data
Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) epidemiological data since 22 January 2020 compiled by John Hopkins University.
Our World in Data COVID-19 Dataset
COVID-19 data on deaths, confirmed cases, and testing updated daily.
U.S. Coronavirus Data
Coronavirus data separated by state.
Worldometer COVID-19 Pandemic Data
Coronavirus data for each country.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

GIS Data Sources by Topic

Historical

Financial

Trade

Climate

Weather

Downloading RRC Data

Extracting the Data

Manuals

FIPS

Spatial Projection

Land Cover / Land Use

Agriculture ​

Soil Data

Topography

Geology/Geophysics

Bathymetry

Shorelines

Nautical Charts

Transportation

Local Cities and Counties

Cities in Texas

Austin

Dallas

Houston

San Antonio

Environment & Infrastructure

Weather

Emergency Response Data

City of Houston

Harris County

Coastal Texas

Historical Hurricane Data

Agriculture