GIS and Geospatial Data

Services | Support/Training | Software | WI Data Collections | Online Data Resources | Request Data

What is GIS?
"A GIS is a powerful set of tools for collecting, storing, retrieving at will, transforming, and displaying spatial data from the real world for a particular set of purposes."
-P.A. Burrough and R.A. McDonnell
Principles of Geographical Information Systems, 1998, p.11

GIS Services at the Robinson Map Library
Map Library staff is available to assist users with GIS software and data. Appointments can be made for one-on-one preliminary consultations with the Map/GIS Librarian.

What we will help with:

• Brief introduction to ArcGIS software and extensions
• Basic understanding of geospatial data types and formats
• Where to find reliable sources of geospatial data
• Simple software operations

What we will NOT help with:

• Creating maps for students
• Course-related projects or assignments where the professor or TA should be consulted first
• Detailed analysis and specialized functions
• Cartographic principles and techniques
  

To make an appointment for GIS assistance, contact Jaime Stoltenberg:
Email: jstoltenberg@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-1471

GIS Support and Training on the UW-Madison campus
The Map Library provides initial consultation for GIS projects and introduction to ArcGIS software. Any further requests for support or assistance in making maps or performing detailed analysis can be provided elsewhere on campus. Students seeking detailed assistance or in-depth project consultation are advised to consider formal training.

• The Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility offers ArcGIS and other ESRI-Authorized training courses. They can also provide students with access to the ESRI Virtual Campus online training modules.
  Contact Math Heinzel for access to these online courses.
• The UW Geography Department offers an introductory GIS course: Geography 377: Introduction to GIS
• The UW Geography Department offers an advanced GIS course: Geography 578: GIS Applications
• The UW Urban and Regional Planning Department offers the course: Introduction to GIS for Planners
• The UW Department of Landscape Architecture offers the course: Applications of GIS in Natural Resources

Software in the Map Library: ArcGIS 9.3.1
There are six public GIS workstations available for browsing geospatial data and/or using GIS software.

UW-Madison faculty, staff and student ArcGIS license information is available from:
The Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility
550 Babcock Drive, Rm B102
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 263-5534

Digital Geospatial Data Collections

Wisconsin Local Data Collections:
(date in parentheses is when the Map Library acquired the data)

CLICK HERE to view the Map Library's policy on GIS data distribution.
CLICK HERE to see the Map Library's GIS Data User Agreement.

• Adams County (via NCWRPC): 2005 landuse, tax parcels, MCDs, hydrogology, PLSS, roads, rails, wetlands, zoning (2007)

• Ashland County: tax parcels and assessment data. (2006)

• Barron County: tax parcels, right-of-way, 2ft contours, cultural and recreational features, land cover, roads, rails, vegetation, wetlands, hygrology, watersheds, zoning, zip codes, 2005 6" b/w orthophotos (2007)

• Bayfield County: 2007 tax parcels and assessment data, countywide 10m DEM (2008)

• Brown County: tax parcels and assessment data. (2005)

• Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest areas: CNNF districts, vegetation stands 2009, management areas, NEPA boundaries, ownership areas, recreation sites, timber harvest data for 1999-2009, roads, trails (2009).

• Columbia County 4ft contours, roads/transportation, emergency/fire/ems, municipal boundaries, hydrology, PLSS, 2005 land use, tax parcels, school districts, recreation trails, soils, voting wards, miscellaneous points of interest, zoning, 2007 countywide MrSID ortho/1ft color. (2006 and 2009)

• Dane County: 2000-2006, 2007, 2009 annual tax parcels and assessment data, soils, 10-ft contours, municipal boundaries, 1990/2000/2005 land use, street centerlines, hydrography, PLSS, supervisory districts, building footprints, environmental corridors, MCDs, cell towers, conservation easements. (2007, 2008, 2009)

• Dodge County: year-end2008 tax parcels, road centerlines, 2006 6"b/w MrSID ortho, PLSS, municipal boundaries,
  hydrography, Horicon Marsh, public lands, railroads (2009)

• Door County: tax parcels and assessment data, DEM, EMS address, land use, roads, streams, zoning, cultural & recreational data, 2ft contours, DRGs, DTM, soils, watersheds, 1992 1m b/w orthophotos, 2002 1ft color orthophotos. (2006 and 2007)

• Douglas County: tax parcels and assessment data. (2005)

• Green County: tax parcels and assessment data, school districts, supervisory districts, voting wards, 20ft contours, lakes, soils, watersheds, subdivisions, PLSS sections, PLSS towns, MCDs, address grid, cell towers, EMS/Fire/Law zones, streets, private roads, zip codes, 2005 countywide MrSID 1.5' b/w orthophoto (2007)

• Green Lake County: tax parcels, transportation, MCDs, 4ft contours, 2005 6" b/w orthos (2009)

• Iowa County: road centerlines and tax parcels, 2005 b/w 18' orthophotos (2008)

• Iron County: tax parcels and assessment data. (2005)

• Jackson County: tax parcels, subdivisions, control corners, streets, address points, forestry, highways, streams, open water, railroads, ROW, PLSS, soils (2008)

• Jefferson County: tax parcels, land use, roads, environmental corridors, zoning, soils, trails, municipal boundaries, subdivisions, 2ft contours for Lake Ripley area, 2004-05 orthophotos. (2006 and 2007)

• Lincoln County: 5ft contours, landfill inventory, cultural and recreational data, infrastructure and utilities, tax parcels, soils, geology, watersheds, wetlands, other hydrology, 2001 and 2005 orthophotos. (2005 and 2007)

• Madison, City of: 1990/2000/2005 land use, MCDs, bus routes, TAZ, bike routes and paths, parks, watersheds, zoning, 2005 LIDAR data, street centerlines, private streets, water utility easements, parcels and ownership, hydrography, municipal boundaries, place names, PLSS, sanitary/storm sewer easements, 2-foot contours, 2007 color 6" orthos, 2007 color IR 6" orthos (2007-2008)

• Marquette County: 2005 1ft b/w orthophotos, MrSID format (2008)

• Menominee County: tax parcels, contours, hydrology, roads, building footprints (.dwg files) (2007)

• Milwaukee County: Automated Mapping and Land Information System dataset (MCAMLIS, 1995 and 2005).
  2 foot contour topographic data, tax parcels, detailed planimetric data, geodetic control, orthophotos: 2000, 2005, 2007. (2005-2009)

• Oconto County: tax parcels, hydrology, soils, wetlands, PLSS, and 2004 orthophotos. (2005 and 2009)

• Oneida County: 2009 tax parcels & assessment data, roads, addresses, PLSS, water, zoning, 2005 building footprints, jurisdictional boundaries, 2005 color orthophotos (2009)

• Ozaukee County: contours, land use, street centerlines, tax parcels, natural areas, parks and open space, environmental corridors, groundwater inventory, watersheds, detailed planimetric data, 2005 orthophotos. (2005)

• Portage County: rural and urban landuse, 2000 and 2005 spring orthophotos (2004 and 2008)

• Racine County: tax parcels, orthophotos, hydrology, land use, roads, wetlands, zoning, environmental corridors. (2005)

• Rock County: tax parcels and assessment data, airports, floodplains, hydrography, 2000 land use, MCDs, transportation, school districts, PLSS, zoning (2009)

• St. Croix County: tax parcels, environmental corridors, hydrology, minor civil divisions, subdivisions, land cover, land use, 2004 1ft orthophotos (2007)

• Sauk County: roads, wetlands, parcels, hydrology, contour grids, 2005 orthophotos (2007)

• Sawyer County: hydrology, PLSS, reservation boundary, municipal boundaries, roads, soils, watersheds, wetlands, 2006 orthophotos (2007)

• Sheboygan County: 2002 land use, tax parcels and assessment data (except for the City of Sheboygan). (2005 and 2007)

• Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington, & Waukesha): 1963, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 land use; watershed boundaries. (2006 and 2007)

• Waukesha County: tax parcels, roads, railroads, hydrology, environmental data, 2005 orthophotos. (2006, 2007, 2008)

• Waupaca County: forest programs, hydrology, parcels, railroads, road centerlines, zoning, land use, 2005 orthophotos. (2007)

• Waushara County (via ECWPRC): 2000-2007 land use (2008)

• Wood County: parcels and assessment data, PLSS, school districts, hydrography, transportation (roads, rails, ROW, etc.) (2008)
  

Online Geospatial Data Sources

Wisconsin Digital Orthophotos:
Comprehensive statewide USDA-NAIP (1m for 2005, 2m for 2006, 1ft urban areas for 2007, 1m for 2008) digital aerial photography for Wisconsin is available from the WisconsinView.org

About WisconsinView:
WisconsinView became a full member of the AmericaView Inc. consortium in April 2004. WisconsinView is built on a partnership between the University of Wisconsin - Madison's Environmental Remote Sensing Center ( ERSC ), and the State Cartographer's Office ( SCO ). The WisconsinView consortium is growing and has enlisted a number of key players in geospatial and information technology.


Wisconsin Data Sources:

WISCLINC - The Wisconsin Land Information Clearinghouse
WISCLINC is a clearinghouse effort in Wisconsin maintained by the Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office. WISCLINC is part of a network of NSDI nodes which contribute to the progress of federal initiatives such as Geospatial One Stop and the National Map. WISCLINC pulls together records of geospatial data, land records web sites and statewide land information inventory survey.

Wisconsin Land cover (WISCLAND) - Wisconsin Land cover data
WISCLAND is the Wisconsin Initiative for Statewide Cooperation on Landscape Analysis and Data, a partnership of public and private organizations seeking to facilitate landscape GIS data development and analysis.

WI DNR Interactive Web Mapping Applications
A list of 14 web mapping applications hosted by the DNR that include subjects such as floodplain management, DNR managed lands, natural heritage inventory, and others.

WI DNR's FTP site
Download data directly from the public FTP web site hosted by the WI DNR.

WI County Web Mapping Applications
A current list of Wisconsin counties that host online web mapping applications for viewing local GIS data. This list is maintained by David Hart of the UW Sea Grant Institute.

Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) GIS Data and Maps
The WGNHS provides downloadable maps and GIS data in shapefile and coverage formats. These include bedrock geology, glacial geology, water-table elevation maps, etc.

U.S. Data Sources:

Census Bureau TIGER and TIGER/Line Mapping Center
Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) product information from the US Census Bureau, including up-to-date U.S. Census boundary shapefiles and relationship files.

ESRI Data Census 2000
Shapefiles and database tables from the 2000 decennial census (SF1 population data).

FEMA Map Service Center
Flood Rate Insurance Maps [FIRMs] on the Web

Geodata.gov - "Geospatial One Stop", a U.S. e-Gov initiative.
Data Categories:
Imagery | Base Maps | Administrative and Political Boundaries | Agriculture and Farming Soil Resources / Water Resources | Atmosphere and Climatic | Biology and Ecology | Cadastral | Cultural, Society, and Demographic Demographic | Elevation and Derived Products | Derived Elevation Data and Products | Environment and Conservation Land Cover | Geological and Geophysical | Human Health and Disease | Imagery and Base Maps Orthoimagery | Inland Water Resources | The Drainage Network | Locations and Geodetic Networks | Oceans and Estuaries | Transportation Networks | Utilities and Communication

Geospatial Data Gateway
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. This site includes county and state level data, including but not limited to: DRGs, DEMs, census data, land cover, quad indexes, digital orthophotos, etc.

The GIS Data Depot
(GeoCommunity Data Clearinghouse) Available data include DOQQs, DRGs, DEMs, Census data, hydrology, land use/land cover, etc.

The National Atlas
U.S. Department of the Interior (map layers are available for download via the "Map Layers Data Warehouse". An index lists all of the map layers currently contained in nationalatlas.gov, by broad subject categories that correspond to the chapters of the National Atlas: Agriculture, Biology, Boundaries, Climate, Environment, Geology, History, Map Reference, People, Transportation, Water.

The National Map
(USGS) Provides public access to high-quality, geospatial data and information from multiple partners to help support decision making by resource managers and the public. The National Map is the product of a consortium of Federal, State, and local partners who provide geospatial data to enhance America's ability to access, integrate, and apply geospatial data at global, national, and local scales.

The National Spatial Data Infrastructure Clearinghouse
(NSDI) - Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

The National Wetlands Inventory
Digital wetlands data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Branch of Habitat Assessment.

Seamless Data Distribution System
National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Web mapping application for viewing and downloading popular USGS datasets.

Soil Data Mart
NRCS detailed soil digital data (shapefiles. coverages, and .e00s) and attribute (tabular) data by county for the entire U.S.

Soil Data Viewer
Soil Data Viewer is a tool built as an extension to ArcMap that allows a user to create soil-based thematic maps. The application can also be run independent of ArcMap, but output is then limited to a tabular report.

Starting the Hunt: Guide to Mostly On-Line and Mostly Free U.S. Geospatial and Attribute Data
Guide to finding free sources for U.S. geospatial data (from the University of Arkansas)

USGS Geographic Data Download
Quick links to many of the popular USGS datasets for direct downloading (no online viewing), including Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), National Elevation Dataset (NED), National Land Use & Land Cover (LULC), and the National hydrology Dataset (NHD).

International Data Sources:

GIS data by country
A comprehensive list of online international data sources from Stanford University.

Alphabetical Listing of Resources:

ADDS - Africa Data Dissemination Service
Tabular, spatial, and imagery data for the continent of Africa.

Antarctic Digital Database
The Antarctic Digital Database (ADD) is the premier source of vector topographic data for Antarctica. First published on CD-ROM in 1993, the current version is available for download from this site. The data are supplied in ARC/INFO uncompressed export format, compressed and encrypted for download using zip. The data are encrypted using an individual password which is supplied to registered users of the ADD site.

CARPE - Central African Regional Program for the Environment
An interactive web GIS for the Congo Basin and the CARPE Data Explorer lets you search and browse CARPE-related data and metadata. You can search by defining an area of interest, or by specifying a content type and an optional keyword. Alternatively, you can browse through data organized in various categories such a CBFP landscapes, countries, etc.

China Historical GIS - China Historical Geographic Information System
The China Historical Geographic Information System, CHGIS, project was launched in January 2001 to establish a database of populated places and historical administrative units for the period of Chinese history between 222 BCE and 1911 CE. CHGIS provides a base GIS platform for researchers to use in spatial analysis, temporal statistical modeling, and representation of selected historical units as digital maps.

CIESIN - Center for International Earth Science Information Network
CIESIN works at the intersection of the social, natural, and information sciences, and specializes in on-line data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment.

GeoGratis - GIS data for Canada
GeoGratis is a portal provided by the Earth Sciences Sector (ESS) of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) which provides geospatial data at no cost via your Web browser.

Geoscience Australia
Free GIS data downloads from the Australian government.

Go-Geo! - GIS Database for the United Kingdom
Go-Geo! is a tool designed to help you find details about geospatial datasets and resources within Great Britain.

SAFARI - Southern Africa Regional Science Initiative
Visit the FTP download site for direct access to soils, hydrology, climate, satellite imagery,vegetation and wetlands data for the southern Africa region.

SALB - Second Administrative Level Boundaries
The Second Administrative Level Boundaries (SALB) dataset is a dataset aiming at improving the availability of information about administrative boundaries down to the second subnational level. The SALB dataset forms part of the UN geographic database and was developed in the  context of the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG).

SEDAC - Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
From CIESIN (Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, NY).
SEDAC, the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, is one of the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) in the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. SEDAC focuses on human interactions in the environment.