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Air travel has been affected particularly negatively by the current pandemic, with some airlines and airports effectively closing down entirely. What’s interesting is that ADS-B tracking data is being constantly collected, and as a result we’re now able to create some interesting

I’m a little late to the party on this one. UP42 was launched a while ago now, a new platform for accessing and processing Earth observation data. I have to admit that I’ve not used it myself yet, but it looks slick

Public transport datasets are amazing, especially when they include the real-time position of each vehicle. Fortunately, a lot of cities and transport authorities are realising the value of this data and making it available through APIs. The linked dataset here is for real-time positioning

This fascinating dataset contains the track data for historic tropical cyclones worldwide, from way back in 1841 all the way to the present day. The dataset is updated weekly with the more recent data (later than 1980) being the most accurate, having come from

A new high-resolution DEM has been released that covers the entire Canadian Arctic. The new data has 2 metre resolution, compared to 5 metres previously. The data has been released as part of the ArcticDEM project. High-Resolution Digital Elevation Model (HRDEM) generated from LiDAR

The DEM-Net Elevation API is an open API put together by Xavier Fischer that lets you create downloadable 3D models (glTF and STL) using global elevation data. You’re also able to overlay your own GPX traces on top of the elevation models as

NASA have recently updated their Open Data APIs portal. All of the APIs are listed and documented at the bottom of the portal, most also including examples. There are a huge number of APIs and datasets, including photography from the Mars rovers and a

If you have an interest in Hurricane Dorian and its aftermath then you may want to check out the free high-resolution satellite imagery that has been released by DigitalGlobe. It covers both pre and post-Dorian. DigitalGlobe | Open Data OccasionDigitalGlobe is the global leader in

I’ve been on the lookout for decent geology data since I saw the beautiful USGS maps of the United States. It turns out that the British Geological Survey have released a whole bunch of sub-surface data for free under an Open Government Licence.

If you haven’t used ASTER GDEM data yourself then you’ve probably seen a map that used it in some way. NASA have recently released a new version of this global elevation dataset that contains less voids as well as less errors over

The LINZ Data Service have released an updated dataset containing 2D building outlines from across New Zealand. The new dataset includes nearly 130,000 more buildings than before. I’m constantly impressed with both the quality and quantity of what the LINZ team are

If you’re interested in weather and atmospheric data then you’ll love the datasets available from NOAA. From weather models, to satellite imagery, to radar data captured during severe weather events. Data Access | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) formerly known as National

The Urban Modelling Group at University College Dublin have captured and released an annotated LIDAR dataset for an area of Dublin. The annotated data is incredibly detailed, down to individual doors and windows in some cases. DublinCity: Annotated LiDAR Point Cloud and its Applications

And last but not least, Scale have collated a whole range of datasets around autonomous vehicles, from sensor data to maps and annotated videos. The data comes from various places and is well worth checking out if you’re interested in this space. Open

Following in the theme of autonomous vehicle data, Lyft recently released their own dataset captured from their fleet of vehicles. Containing raw camera and LIDAR sensor data, they also hope that the data can be used by others to improve the algorithms and other

The various datasets and maps released by Argoverse contain a wealth of information captured by their fleet of autonomous vehicles. Their aim is for the data to be used to help others to test, experiment and teach self-driving vehicles. HomeTwo public datasets supported by

Obscure datasets are usually the most interesting, just like this dataset that tracks the positions of icebergs since 1992. No doubt there are all sorts of interesting visualisations and insight that can be produced from this data. The Antarctic Iceberg Tracking Database

Geoff Boeing has put together a dataset containing a road network graph for the entire US. I find road network graphs incredibly interesting, especially once you start to use them for practical purposes such as routing and other kinds of analysis. US Street Network

This dataset contains the widths of rivers and streams around the planet. To do this they utilised satellite imagery from Landsat combined with field measurements. The data is in shapefile format. Global River Widths from Landsat (GRWL) Database

Robin Wilson has put together a huge list of freely-available spatial datasets. It must have taken him a huge amount of time, and he’s also categorised everything so it’s easy to find. It’s a gold mine! Free GIS Datasets - Categorised

If you’re interested in Earth observation then you’ll want to check out the GEOSS Portal — a one-stop-shop to discover all sorts of related datasets. Data can be filtered using a map or by a number of other inputs (eg. by capture date)

Cameron Beccario (of earth.nullschool.net fame) recently shared an example of how detailed the new NOAA weather forecasting model is compared to the old version. In short, it’s much more detailed! Striking difference in detail before and after the new FV3 dynamical

Storing spatial data in a GeoPackage is particularly hot at the moment. You can now access OpenStreetMap planet data in GeoPackage format, updated every two months. Global OpenStreetMap data extracts | osmdata.xyzOpenStreetMap data extracts on a global scale as GeoPackages | osmdata.xyzosmdata.xyz

If you’re at all interested in data related to shipping then you should check out the MarineCadastre.gov vessel traffic data. It includes minute-by-minute snapshots of vessel positions off the coast of the US since 2009. Vessel Traffic Data

The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) has released their Colouring London project, which attempts to use crowd-sourcing to collect information on every building in London. So far the collected area is small, though this will likely change as more people get involved.