CIAT – International Center for Tropical Agriculture
This organization uses GIS in many projects, and has several tools availalbe. Not sure if you can download actual data, but a good source to find out about GIS and natural resources research, especially in Asia and Africa.
CIESIN Center for International Earth Science Information Network
From the web site: “The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) is a center within the Earth Institute at Columbia University. CIESIN works at the intersection of the social, natural, and information sciences, and specializes in on-line data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment.” Be sure to look at the links to their project and programs (left side of site) – including the World Data Center (http://www.gateway.ciesin.org/wdc/) and the Socio-Economic Data and Applications Center (http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/). CIESIN has new world population data sets that are of particular use.
CIGIAR (Consortium for Spatial Information)
From the web site: “The Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI)is an initiative of the many geospatial scientists within the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research (CGIAR), linking the efforts of CGIAR scientists, national and international partners, and others working to apply and advance Geospatial Science for International Sustainable Agriculture Development, Natural Resource Management, Biodiversity Conservation, and Poverty Alleviation in Developing Countries. See the links for various geospatial information. NOTE: CIGIAR has a very easy interface for downloading finished SRTM 90 meter digtial elevation models – see http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/
EarthData (NASA Earth Observatory System Data and Information System)
Gateway to NASA’s global satellite data and derivatives.
Data and Products – includes the Global Land Cover 2000 Data set and a host of others
Geocover Landsat Mosaics
You can download orthorectified Landsat mosaics for the whole world from an easy to use interface. Images are from 1990 or 2000. Take a look at GeoCover Tutorial for useful background information on satellite imagery. Note: the images are georeferenced but seem to lack coordinate system definitions. You must define the coordinate system before use. The coordinate system is UTM WGS 84, and the zone number is in the name – for example, the name “N-13-25_2000_loc”, means UTM Zone 13 N. Images from the southern hemisphere should take the UTM north zone not the south. for example “S-21-10_2000_loc” should have its coordinate system defined as UTM Zone 21 N, not Zone 21 S.
Global Runoff Data Center
Digital world-wide repository of river discharge data, including mean, minimum, maximum monthly discharges and time series of most major rivers of the world, plus GIS data for basins and river networks. Data requesters must identify themselves first, agree to usage requirements, and wait for approval.
Hydro 1K
Hydrographic data derived from the GTOPO 1 kilometer digital elevation models. These are 1 km DEM-derived hydrographic data (elevatioin, slope, streams, aspect) – not highly accurate but better than nothing and available for the entire world in shape/grid format (downloads as .tar file)
International Water Management Institute – Remote Sensing/GIS Center
Lots of good GIS data, including boundary data and water-related data (more detailed for individual project watersheds). Very slow connection (coming from Sri Lanka). You need to register and this takes a few hours to validate. The site organization assumes you know what you’re doing – not a lot of help or metadata. Also check out their RS/GIS Links page.
You can download VMAP1 and VMAP2 data for some parts of the world from here. Not the easiest user interface, but it does work! Read the HELP section first. Mapability.com (http://www.mapability.com/info/index.html) has more information and more help for these data sets. Tufts GIS Center has the data on CD as well.
USGS – Hydrosheds
Digital elevation models and hydrologic base data derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and other sources at 90 meter grid cell resolution – more detailed than the Hydro 1K data, but not available for the whole world yet (as of 8/07, there is data for South America and most of eastern Asia). See the web site for details on how the SRTM and other data sources were processed, and for status of other areas and expected completion dates.
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute makes public many of the data sets used in their reports, including GIS data. You can see a list of available data sets by going to the Publications link, then Datasets, or go to the individual projects / Earth Trends categories and click on data links if available.