Geomatics for biodiversity

Online resources for geomatics in ecology and biology

Software

  • ESRI Home of the popular ArcGIS and Arc/Info software.
  • QGIS is a free, open source GIS program working under Windows, MacOS X and Linux. It can be highly customized with Python scripts and can be used to call GRASS functions. It works with rasters and vectors and can work seamlessly with shapefiles and multiple other file formats.
  • GRASS GIS is another free, open source GIS program working under Windows, MacOS and Linux. It has a very extensive list of modules for vector and raster processing and analysis. A large number of add-ons can extend the capabilities of GRASS
  • Orfeo Toolbox An open source software for remote sensing image processing also available from within the QGIS Processing toolbox.

Online spatial data

  • Geoconnections Discovery Portal is your first stop for geospatial data. It allows to discover and access Canada's geographic information on the internet.
  • Geobase is a federal, provincial and territorial government initiative to supply geospatial data to Canadians. It provides free access to multiple GIS-ready vector and raster maps, including: SPOT satellite coverage over all of Canada, elevation data, national hydrology and road networks.
  • Geogratis is a geospatial data portal operated by Natural Resources Canada that provides free access to GIS maps. Examples include NTS 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 vector and raster maps, digital elevation model over Canada, satellite data and land cover data.
  • GADM database of Global Administrative Areas is a spatial database containing administrative boundaries of the word (countries, provinces, etc.). The files are even available as RData files for use in R with the 'sp' package.
  • WorldClim - Global Climate Data is a set of global climate layers (climate grids) with a spatial resolution of a square kilometer.
  • ASTER DEM contains digital elevation models for the entire globe.
  • USGS Earth Explorer is a mega geospatial data depot where you can download, among other things, Landsat imagery.
  • Climate Data and Predictions by the Moscow Forestry Sciences Laboratory, ID, USA provides historic and predicted climatic data for any custom location specified by the user.