Geomatics for biodiversity

Online resources for geomatics in ecology and biology

Quantum GIS is a free, open source GIS program working under Windows, MacOS 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.

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.