Skip to Main Content

Course Guide for GIS Classes: Home

Guide to data and resources for GIS Courses.

What is in this guide?

This guide provides links and search tools to help you find spatial data and ideas for your GIS course. This guide includes spatial data sorted by topic, links to help you find project ideas, and citation resources.

For information about GIS Software, see our GIS Software Guide.

For information on general geospatial datasets, including datasets broken up by geographic units (i.e. state, local, and federal data), see our Spatial Data Online Guide.

Search the Library's Collection of Geospatial Data

Search our spatial data collection:

Spatial Data by Topic


Alternative Energy


Business Location Data


Climate/Weather


COVID-19


Demographics


Geology/Geomorphology/Soils


Health


Historical Mapping


Imagery


Land Use Land Cover Change (LULCC)


Natural Hazards


Sports


Topography


Transportation


Water Resources


Web Mapping Services


Wildlife

GIS Librarian

Profile Photo
Philip McDaniel
he/him/his
Contact:
Digital Research Services, Davis Library

(919) 962-3788

Digital Research Support Specialist

Profile Photo
Gracie Riehm
she/her
Contact:
239E Davis Library

Need a topic for your GIS project?

Don't know what to do for your GIS project? Investigate these resources to see what professionals are doing and to find ideas for a topic of your own. These are just a few ideas from Joseph Kerski's blog post.

Cartography

You've picked a project topic, found your datasets, and cited your data - now you need to communicate what you've found to an audience. Maps are a great tool for visualizing geospatial data, but a lot goes into making a great map. Look at these resources below for help picking colors, composing your map, and more! Here's a compilation of resources for choosing colors (including colorblind friendly palettes), typography, and more from Andrew Norris' blog post.