GeoDataViewer
Menu
Launch Studio
Theme

Free GIS data directory

Free GIS Data Directory

Explore a curated GIS directory for DEM, boundary, OSM, transportation, land-cover, imagery, hydrology, and internet infrastructure datasets. Every entry has a dedicated landing page, practical download guidance, and SEO/GEO-friendly context designed for research, tutorials, and AI-assisted search.

DEM & elevation Boundary & admin data OSM downloads Transportation Land cover Satellite imagery Hydrology Internet infrastructure Radios Population & census Climate & weather Geology & soils

Total datasets

103

Search-oriented landing pages covering official portals, direct links, and reusable GIS workflows.

Browse groups

12

Organized around GIS tasks such as elevation, boundaries, OSM, transport, and imagery.

Delivery model

Guides + downloads

Some pages point to hosted GeoJSON or JSON files, while others keep official portals and direct source links in one place.

Browse categories

Jump straight to a GIS topic

Category landing pages capture comparison-friendly content, official access paths, and the dataset clusters most likely to rank for practical GIS download queries.

DEM & elevation

DEM & Elevation Data

Global elevation, terrain, and bathymetry datasets including SRTM, Copernicus DEM, ASTER GDEM, AW3D30, ArcticDEM, GEBCO, MapLibre-ready terrain tiles, and China-focused sources with browser-ready download guidance.

Boundary & admin data

Boundary & Administrative Data

Country, provincial, and administrative boundary datasets such as Natural Earth and GADM.

OSM downloads

OpenStreetMap Downloads

OpenStreetMap download and export sources including Geofabrik regional extracts and Overpass Turbo custom exports.

Transportation

Transportation Layers

Airport, rail, road, and logistics datasets useful for map basemaps and transport analysis.

Land cover

Land Cover & Land Use

Global land cover and land use datasets such as ESA WorldCover for thematic mapping and analysis.

Satellite imagery

Satellite Imagery

Free satellite imagery sources such as Sentinel-2 and Copernicus Browser.

Hydrology

Hydrology & Coastlines

Hydrology, rivers, basin, and coastline datasets for water and environmental mapping.

Internet infrastructure

Internet Infrastructure Data

Hosted GeoJSON and JSON layers for satellite, cable, backbone, data center, DNS, and CDN research.

Radios

Radio Stations

Global radio station locations and metadata from Radio Browser, including interactive PMTiles map layers.

Population & census

Population & Census Data

Global population grids, census boundaries, and demographic datasets including WorldPop, LandScan, GPW, and US Census TIGER/Line data.

Climate & weather

Climate & Weather Data

Global climate rasters, historical weather records, and reanalysis datasets including WorldClim, CHELSA, NOAA CDO, and ERA5 for environmental and ecological GIS analysis.

Geology & soils

Geology & Soils

Global soil property rasters, geologic maps, and soil classification datasets including SoilGrids, USGS geologic maps, and GlobalSoilMap for terrain and agricultural analysis.

dem

DEM & Elevation Data

Explore category

Global elevation, terrain, and bathymetry datasets including SRTM, Copernicus DEM, ASTER GDEM, AW3D30, ArcticDEM, GEBCO, MapLibre-ready terrain tiles, and China-focused sources with browser-ready download guidance.

Raster DEM

NASA/JAXA ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model Version 3 at 30-meter resolution with near-global land coverage from stereo optical imagery.

Global terrain modeling Void-filling for SRTM gaps
Raster DEM

JAXA ALOS World 3D 30-meter global DEM derived from PALSAR stereo SAR imagery with worldwide land coverage and free registration-based download.

Global 30m terrain basemaps SAR-based elevation for cloudy regions

GeoTIFF / HGT

NASADEM

Raster DEM

NASA NASADEM improves on SRTM with ICESat altimetry, ASTER GDEM filling, and reprocessing for reduced voids and better vertical accuracy at 30-meter resolution.

Improved SRTM replacement Hydrological modeling in tropics

GeoTIFF / COG

ArcticDEM

Raster DEM

Polar Geospatial Center ArcticDEM at 2–5 meter resolution covering the Arctic from stereo satellite imagery, with void-filled mosaics and strip DEMs.

Glacier volume change analysis Arctic infrastructure planning

GeoTIFF

MERIT DEM

Raster DEM

MERIT (Multi-Error-Removed Improved-Terrain) DEM at 90-meter resolution with removed SRTM sensor errors, stripes, and void areas for improved hydrological modeling.

Hydrological modeling and flow routing Drainage network extraction

GeoTIFF / Esri GRID

GMTED2010

Raster DEM

USGS/NGA Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 providing global elevation statistics at 7.5 to 30 arc-second resolution from multiple source DEMs.

Continental-scale terrain reference Global elevation statistics

GeoTIFF / NetCDF

ETOPO1

Raster (topo+bathy)

NOAA ETOPO1 1-arc-minute global topography and bathymetry dataset combining land elevation with ocean floor depth for integrated relief models.

Global relief mapping and cartography Ocean and bathymetric modeling

NetCDF / GeoTIFF

GEBCO

Raster bathymetry

General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) global bathymetric grid at 15 arc-second resolution combining satellite altimetry and ship soundings for seafloor mapping.

Global ocean bathymetry reference Marine navigation and habitat mapping
Raster DEM

Airbus/DLR TanDEM-X WorldDEM at 12-meter resolution from bistatic SAR interferometry, providing the most accurate global commercial DEM available.

Precision engineering and infrastructure Military and defense terrain analysis

GeoTIFF / ArcGRID

NED / 3DEP (USGS)

Raster DEM

USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) providing 1–10 meter resolution DEMs for the United States via The National Map with seamless national coverage.

US high-resolution terrain analysis Lidar-derived elevation for engineering

中国资源卫星应用中心 (China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application) provides free access to Chinese satellite imagery and derived products including ZY-3 stereo DEMs.

High-resolution China DEM from ZY-3 stereo Gaofen satellite imagery access

Raster-dem tiles (Mapbox encoding)

Mapbox Terrain Tiles

Raster DEM tiles

Mapbox-encoding global raster-dem terrain tiles from the Mapbox platform, available via Mapbox Studio and the Maps SDK with paid API access.

Mapbox GL JS terrain MapLibre 3D terrain

boundaries

Boundary & Administrative Data

Explore category

Country, provincial, and administrative boundary datasets such as Natural Earth and GADM.

GeoJSON / Shapefile

ISO 3166 Country Shapes

Polygon

Country boundary geometries matched with ISO 3166-1 codes, ideal for joining with tabular datasets that use standardized country identifiers.

Country-level data joining Choropleth maps with ISO codes

Shapefile / GeoJSON / GeoPackage

Eurostat NUTS Boundaries

Polygon

EU NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) boundary polygons at levels 0–3 covering all EU member states for European statistical mapping.

EU regional statistics mapping NUTS choropleth maps

osm

OpenStreetMap Downloads

Explore category

OpenStreetMap download and export sources including Geofabrik regional extracts and Overpass Turbo custom exports.

PBF / OSM XML

OSM Planet File

Mixed geometry

The complete OpenStreetMap planet file in PBF format, updated weekly, containing all mapped features worldwide in a single archive.

Full OSM database loading Custom regional extract generation

PBF / Shapefile / GeoJSON / CSV

BBBike OSM City Extracts

Mixed geometry

City and regional OSM extracts in multiple formats (PBF, Shapefile, GeoJSON) for hundreds of cities worldwide, ideal for desktop-scale GIS workflows.

City-scale OSM analysis Desktop GIS with OSM data

JSON (API) / CSV

OSM DataHub (ohsome)

Statistical aggregates

OSM history analytics platform offering statistical analysis of OpenStreetMap data quality and evolution over time by geographic area.

OSM data quality monitoring Mapping campaign progress tracking

transportation

Transportation Layers

Explore category

Airport, rail, road, and logistics datasets useful for map basemaps and transport analysis.

land cover

Land Cover & Land Use

Explore category

Global land cover and land use datasets such as ESA WorldCover for thematic mapping and analysis.

imagery

Satellite Imagery

Explore category

Free satellite imagery sources such as Sentinel-2 and Copernicus Browser.

hydrology

Hydrology & Coastlines

Explore category

Hydrology, rivers, basin, and coastline datasets for water and environmental mapping.

Shapefile / File GDB

USGS NHDPlus

Lines / polygons / rasters

National Hydrography Dataset Plus for the United States with flow direction, catchments, and waterbody features.

Watershed delineation Stream network mapping

internet infrastructure

Internet Infrastructure Data

Explore category

Hosted GeoJSON and JSON layers for satellite, cable, backbone, data center, DNS, and CDN research.

radios

Radio Stations

Explore category

Global radio station locations and metadata from Radio Browser, including interactive PMTiles map layers.

population

Population & Census Data

Explore category

Global population grids, census boundaries, and demographic datasets including WorldPop, LandScan, GPW, and US Census TIGER/Line data.

GeoTIFF / ASCII

WorldPop

Raster (population grid)

Global 100m population density grids built from census and satellite data, covering 2000–2020 with annual estimates.

Population density mapping Humanitarian risk assessment

GeoTIFF / ESRI Grid

Oak Ridge LandScan

Raster (population grid)

Global population distribution at ~1km resolution from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, widely used for risk analysis and humanitarian planning.

Disaster risk assessment Humanitarian response planning

Shapefile / GeoJSON

US Census TIGER/Line

Mixed (polygons, lines, points)

U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line shapefiles with roads, boundaries, hydrography, and demographic data for all US territories.

US demographic mapping Census boundary analysis

climate weather

Climate & Weather Data

Explore category

Global climate rasters, historical weather records, and reanalysis datasets including WorldClim, CHELSA, NOAA CDO, and ERA5 for environmental and ecological GIS analysis.

GeoTIFF / ASCII

WorldClim v2.1

Raster (climate grid)

Global climate rasters at 30 arc-second resolution including temperature, precipitation, and 19 bioclimatic variables.

Species distribution modeling Climate change analysis

GeoTIFF / NetCDF

CHELSA Climate

Raster (climate grid)

High-resolution global climate data using orographic and downscaled climate models, more accurate in mountainous terrain than WorldClim.

Mountain climate research Species distribution modeling

geology soils

Geology & Soils

Explore category

Global soil property rasters, geologic maps, and soil classification datasets including SoilGrids, USGS geologic maps, and GlobalSoilMap for terrain and agricultural analysis.

Raster (soil property grid)

Global soil property predictions at 250m resolution including organic carbon, pH, texture, and depth from ISRIC World Soil Information.

Soil property mapping Agricultural suitability analysis

Shapefile / GeoPDF / GeoTIFF

USGS Geologic Maps

Mixed (polygons, lines)

US Geological Survey state and national geologic maps showing rock types, faults, and structural geology for the United States.

Geologic mapping Mineral exploration

GeoTIFF / WMS

GlobalSoilMap

Raster (soil property grid)

An international consortium project producing fine-resolution (100m) digital soil maps with global coverage for key soil properties.

Fine-resolution soil mapping Food security assessment

Why this directory matters

A search-friendly public atlas for GIS data downloads

These pages are designed to work as dataset landing pages first, download guides second, and interactive previews only where that adds value. Search engines and AI answer engines can read the summaries, steps, FAQs, and structured data directly from the HTML.

The directory clusters related sources so DEM, boundaries, OSM, transport, land cover, imagery, hydrology, and infrastructure data are easy to compare and cross-reference from one canonical hub.

Recommended download workflows

Fast country basemap workflow

  • Natural Earth boundaries
  • Geofabrik regional OSM extracts
  • GADM administrative supplements

Web map overlay workflow

  • Boundary basemap
  • Copernicus DEM
  • ESA WorldCover
  • GeoJSON publishing

Spatial analysis project workflow

  • OpenTopography DEM
  • HydroSHEDS
  • OSM transport layers
  • Thematic raster overlays