What's in this Guide?
This guide provides links to recommended data sources for geography and GIS projects, as well as some things to think about as you use the data.
Use the tabs at left to navigate through the pages of this guide.
- Data Considerations: Who creates the data, data limitations and evaluating the accuracy of your data.
- Websites by Geography: National, Pennsylvania, and international data websites.
- Websites by Topic: Sites for climate, geology, environmental, education, crime, health, economic data and more.
What is GIS?
A Geographic Information System (GIS) "integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information." (ESRI)
What is GIS used for? There are many applications, spanning a wide variety of disciplines. Some examples include:
- Biological Sciences: migration patterns, species diversity, fisheries management
- Health Sciences: epidemiology, noise pollution
- Historic Geographic Analysis: National Register of Historic Places, Stanford Geospatial Network Model of Ancient Rome
- Digital Humanities
- Emergency Services: wildfire spread, missing person location, least-cost paths to accident sites
- Environmental Sciences: soil/groundwater contamination, drainage networks, erosion, pollution
- Social Sciences: crime rates, food deserts, population dynamics, education
When dealing with data, consider who creates it, its limitations, and how to evaluate it-- all considerations as you try to find statistics and data to support your research project.
As you dig in, it can help to start with a research question and a geographic focus. For example, "How do inoculation rates impact influenza rates in Pennsylvania?"