Resources¶
A curated, opinionated, and mostly-free reading list. Skip the firehose of "100 GIS resources" pages and use this to actually get unstuck.
The 7 chapters¶
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Where to find boundaries, demographics, imagery, and more.
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The official Esri docs you should bookmark.
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The most-used demographic dataset for US-based GIS work.
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Free global roads, POIs, buildings — and how to use them.
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Esri's curated, ready-to-use authoritative layers.
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The 10 channels worth subscribing to.
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Books, MOOCs, and certification paths.
Triage: where to go for what¶
| If you need… | Start here |
|---|---|
| US demographic data | Census Data |
| Global roads / POIs | OpenStreetMap |
| Curated authoritative layers | Living Atlas |
| Land cover, elevation, hydrography | Free GIS Data Sources |
| How a specific ArcGIS tool works | ArcGIS Documentation |
| Quick visual tutorial | YouTube Channels |
| Deep, structured learning | Books & Courses |
Most-used data quick links¶
If you only bookmark 8 things:
- data.census.gov — US Census / ACS data
- TIGER/Line — US boundaries
- USGS National Map — US elevation, hydrography, NLCD
- Geofabrik — country-level OSM extracts
- Living Atlas — Esri-curated layers
- Natural Earth — small-scale world layers
- USDA Cropland Data Layer — agriculture
- FEMA NRI — natural risk index
→ Full curated list: Free GIS Data Sources.
Stay current¶
GIS moves quickly. A few low-effort ways to keep up:
- GIS subreddit: /r/gis — career questions, news, software updates.
- Esri Community: community.esri.com — forums and Q&A on Esri products.
- Geoawesome: geoawesomeness.com — geospatial news.
- Anita Graser's blog: anitagraser.com — open-source GIS.
- Mapping in the Cloud: weekly cloud-GIS news.
→ Start with Free GIS Data Sources.