Announcing the release of QGIS 1.3.0 ‘Mimas’

Submitted by Tim Sutton on Sun, 2009-09-20 00:00.

Introduction

Quantum GIS (QGIS) is a user friendly Open Source Geographic
Information System (GIS), licensed under the GNU General Public
License, that runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, and Windows. QGIS is Open
Source software and its free of cost. It supports vector, raster, and
database formats (including the most common ESRI ShapeFile and
geotiff). QGIS supports a wide variety of plugins to do things like
display tracks from your GPS, and much more. They can be easily managed
through the Plugin Manager.

As an open source project, we provide support for using QGIS via our mailing lists and bug tracker:

• For general enquiries subscribe to our users mailing list at http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user
• For developer related enquiries subscribe to our separate developers list at http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
• If
  you think you have found a bug, please report it using our bug tracker.
  When reporting bugs, please include some contact information in case we
  need help with replicating your issue. The tracker is available at https://trac.osgeo.org/qgis/

Sponsoring

We are still looking for sponsors to help us cover the costs of holding
our second QGIS developer meeting in Vienna, Austria from 5-9 November
2009. If you are interested in supporting us, please visit: http://qgis.org/en/developer-meeting.html for more details!

Whats new in Version 1.3.0?

Please note that this is a release in our ‘cutting edge’ development
release series. As such it contains new features and extends the
programmatic interface over QGIS 1.0.x and QGIS 1.2.0. If an unchanging
user interface, programmatic API and long term support is more
important to you then cool new and untested features, we recommend that
you use a copy of QGIS from our Long Term Support (LTS)1.0.x release
series. We have removed the ‘unstable’ designation from our development
release series because it creates the incorrect impression that these
release are more likely to crash. The development releases are usually
quite stable to run, but introduce new features and API additions which
some people may wish to avoid.

This release includes over 30 bug fixes and enhancements over the QGIS
1.2.0 release. In addition we have added the following new features:

OSM plugin & provider updates:

• new OSM style files.
• new icons.
• dialog text updated and completed.
• Saving OSM into file functionality was improvements.
• fixed some problems with encoding… ascii to utf-8.
• all OSM layers are automatically removed after disabling OSM plugin in plugin manager.
• other OSM related bugfixes.

Other notable features and improvements in this release

• Marker size is now configurable when editing a layer.
• Incorporation of the analysis library into the mainstream release.
• Identify features across multiple layers.
• Added a new plugin for carrying out raster terrain analysis (computing slope aspect, steepness etc).
• A reshape tool to apply to line/polygon geometries. The part
  of a geometry between the first and last intersection of the reshape
  line will be replaced.
• Added snapping to current layer in measure dialog.
• Added ability to select the primary key for views.
• Zoom to a coordinate by entering it in the status bar coordinate display.

The issue with crashing or hanging when zooming into polygon datasets on some operating systems should now be resolved.

Download your copy

Binary and source code packages are available at http://qgis.org/en/download/current-software.html

Visual changes

Here are some of the most noticeable changes in this release:

Reshape features. The reshape tool allows you to change the geometry between two vertices.

Measure snapping. When using the measure tool you can now snap to vector features.

Terrain modelling. We are starting to slowly add more native (i.e. non
GRASS based) analytical tools to QGIS. In this release, a new plugin
was added for carrying out terrain modelling activities.

Marker Sizes. The marker sizes and display behaviour is now more configurable to give you the digitising environment you prefer.

The stable 1.0.x release series are part of our
effort to provide a stable, unchanging, long term supported
environment. Each minor release in the stable series contains only bug
fixes and no new features. The current official stable version is QGIS 1.0.2 ‘Kore’" and was released on 13 May 2009. For a list of bugs that were closed in the 1.0.2 release, please see the 1.0.2 release milestone.
We offer Ready-to-Run software packages (.exe, .dmg, .deb, .rpm) for
many platforms listed in the table below. If your OS is missing from
the list below, please check again soon – we add new packages as they
become available.

deb http://debian.gfoss.it/ lenny main

wget http://debian.gfoss.it/debian-gfoss.key -O - | apt-key add - 

Quantum
GIS provides a continously growing number of capabilities provided by
core functions and plugins. You can visualize, manage, edit, analyse
data, and compose printable maps. Get a first impression with some screenshots and a more detailed feature list.

Quantum
GIS is a volunteer driven project. We welcome contributions from in the
form of code contributions, bug fixes, bug reports, contributed
documentation, advocacy and supporting other users on our mailing lists and the QGIS Forum. If you are interested in actively supporting the project, you can find more information under the development menu and on the QGIS Wiki. We also welcome financial contributions in the form of sponsoring and funding.

Global GIS Data Links

You can download all the links on this website in a format easy to import into
your own web browser. For details how, visit our for details.

Agriculture, Food Security and Development  Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation  Climate  Geology  Other Data Warehouses and Links  Population Infrastructure Topography and Administration Data  
Remote Sensing and Imagery  Statistics  Vegetation, Soils, Hydrology and Land Use  

Agriculture, Food Security and Development

• Agricultural Research Organizations on the WEB – AROW
  ISNAR
  - Agricultural Research Organizations on the web – site contains a
  worldwide directory of organizations and universities working in
  agricultural research that have a home page on the Web. We continue to
  develop this directory–with new listings being added all the time and
  old listings being updated or deleted
• AgriSurf! – The Farmers Search Engine
• Agrolink Front Page
  Agriculture is Business
• CEISIN Global Distribution of Poverty: Datasets Information
  Characterizing the Global Distribution of Poverty
• CIAT Food Poverty and Development Links from the Challenge Program on Water and Food
• EI Special_GIS in Sustainable Development
  GIS in sustainable development. The use of GIS in FAO, major global dataset available in FAO and other institutions
• FAO List of Natiuonal Agricultural Statistical Websites ASIL
• FAO Livestock Geography Atlas Index
• FAO’s GRIDDED LIVESTOCK OF THE WORLD – GLW
  AGA,
  Animal Production and Health Division,Food and Agriculture Organization
  of the United Nations: Global Livestock Production and Health Atlas,
  livestock disease databases, electronic atlas, maps, statistics
• FAO-GIEWS – Global Information and Early Warning System
• FAO/AGLL – Agro-MAPS, a global spatial land-use database
  FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – Agro-MAPS, a global spatial land-use database
• FAOSTAT Database Collections
• FAO_GIEWS Special Reports and Alerts
• FIVIMS – Key Indicator Mapping System (KIMS)
• Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations – Africover Eastern Africa Project
• Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems
• Global livestock production systems
• IASA Global Agro Ecological Zones
  Global Agro-Ecological Zones Model/CD-ROM – FAO/IIASA
• International Agriculture Datasets from Cornell
• ICSC UNDSA Data by Region
• LEAD – Livestock, Environment and Development – Virtual Research and Development Centre – Connecting People
• Poverty Mapping – Maps and graphics
  A clearinghouse for graphic representations and spatial analysis of poverty patterns.
• Geographic distribution of major crop across the world (SAGE)
• UNDP Human Development statistics
• US Foreign Agricultural Service

Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation

• Bailey Ecoregions of the Continents
• Bills Wildlife Sites
  An
  index of internet sites of interest to wildlife ecologists. Categories
  include: government, federal, state, non-profit, professional,
  university; endangered species, mammal, carnivore, marine mammal, bird,
  amphibian and reptile, wildlife newsgroups, and wildife-related
  products such as telemetry equipment, binoculars, spotting scopes,
  software, books, art and photography.
• Birdlife Species search
• Conserve Online – Connecting Conservation Practitioners worldwide
• GAA: Global Amphibain Assessment
  GAA: Global Amphibain Assessment
• GBIF Biodiversity Data Portal
• GED Global ecosystems database
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility
  The
  Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) prototype internet data
  portal www.gbif.net now provides free and universal access to millions
  of scientific data records about plants, animals and micro-organisms,
  as well as the ability to map their distributions, search them by
  scientific or common name, or browse through them by taxonomy. These
  data will be of great value to a wide range of users, including
  scientists, students, policymakers, and the general public.
• Holdridge Life-Zone map
• Millenium Ecosystem Assessment
• http://www.natureserve.org
  Providing
  the scientific basis for effective conservation, NatureServe and its
  net of natural heritage programs are the trusted source for
  information about rare and endangered species and threatened
  ecosystems.
• NatureServe: Digital Distribution Maps of the Birds of the Western Hemisphere Version 2.1
  NatureServe
  and its net of member programs provide a vast array of scientific
  information and online data about species and ecosystems of the western
  hemisphere.
• NatureServe: Get Data
  NatureServe
  and its netcartea of member programs provide a vast array of scientific
  information and online data about species and ecosystems of the western
  hemisphere.
• NOAA Ecosystem Informatics
  NOAA’s
  NGDC is pursuing a program in ecosystem Informations through our
  affiliation with the University of Colorado’s Cooperative Institute for
  Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES). The basic database for
  this work is presently the Global Ecosystem Database (GED).
• UNEP GLOBIO
  Mapping Human Impacts On The Biosphere
• UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre
  United Nations Environment Programme – World Conservation Monitoring Centre
• World Atlas of Biodiversity
• World Database on Protected Areas

Climate

• British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC)
• Climate Change Unit JRC staff
• Climate Explorer The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute KNMI
• Climate Research Unit CRU_TS_2_0 Climate Datasets
• Climate Research Unit TYN SC 1.0: grids of climate futures
• Climate Research Unit TYN SC 2.0: grids of climate futures
• Climate Research Unit High-resolution gridded datasets (CRU)
• Climate Research Unit Ten Minute Climatology Data
• Climatological Database for the World’s Oceans 1750-1850
• FAO SD Environment Global Climate Maps
• George Mason University Links to Precipitation Data
• GIS Climate Change Scenarios
• Goddard DAAC Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
• GHistory Database of the Global Environment (HYDE)
• IPCC-DDC SRES Climate Scenarios
• JISAO Climate Data Archive
  climate data archive
• Met Office: Climate change projections Hadley UK
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
  The Largest Archive of Climate Data in the World
• NOAA National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC) Dataset List
  The Largest Archive of Climate Data in the World
• Special Reports on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) Experiments Overview
  The IPCC Data Distribution Centre
• SRES at CIESIN, Results
• The Global Historical Climatology Network at National Oceanographic and Atomspheric Administration
  The global historical climatology network.
• The International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project, Initiative II Data Archive
• Total Precipitable Water
• UKCIP UK Climate change – Scenarios Gateway
• University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
• US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)
• Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)
• WORLDCLIM – data formats
• WorldClim, Global Climate Data from Berkeley

Geology

• USGS Spectroscopy Lab – Facilities
• USGS Spectroscopy Lab – home page
• USGS Spectroscopy Lab – Software
• USGS Spectroscopy Lab – Tetracorder
• USGS Spectroscopy Lab_ Spectroscopy of Rocks and Minerals, and Principles of Spectroscopy

Other Data Warehouses and Links

• Austin Texas University Links to Regional Country Level Information Centers
  The
  objective of UT International Network Information Systems is to provide
  international users with access to academic databases and information
  services worldwide, and to provide area studies scholars around the
  world with access to information on and from the regions covered by
  different Centers. Each Center’s e-mail contact is posted in its own
  home page.
• Berkely Earth Sciences and Map Library
  Homepage of UC Berkeley’s Earth Sciences & Map Library
• Center for International Earth Science Information Network CIESIN, Columbia University
• CEOS IDN_ datasets list
  The CEOS IDN contains metadata refences to datasets, datacenters, sensors, projects, and satellites.
• CGIAR-CSI Consortium for Spatial Information
  Slow.
  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.
• CGIAR-CSI SRTM 90m DEM Digital Elevation Database
• SRTM "Finished"
• Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Water Body Dataset
• Conservation Geoportal
  The
  Conservation Geoportal is a collaborative effort by and for the
  conservation community to facilitate the discovery and publishing of
  geographic information systems (GIS) data and maps, to support
  conservation decisionmaking and education.
• Climate Prediction Centre_ CPC_USGS_FEWS_USAID Project
• Digital Chart of The World Online, PSU Maproom
• Digital Chart oif the World 2000 (Vmap0) downlaods
  Revised and Updated version of the trusty Digital Chart of the World. Vector
• Duke University Links to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Spatial Data
• European Commission Joint Research Centre Digital Atlas DMA Digital Atlas
• FAO-UN GeoNetwork – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations portal to spatial data and information
  FAO
  GeoNetwork provides Internet access to interactive maps, satellite
  imagery and related spatial databases. It’s purpose is to improve
  access to and integrated use of spatial data and information.
  GeoNetwork opensource allows to easily share spatial data among
  different users
• FreeGIS.org FREE GIS DATA AND APPLICATIONS
• GEO Data Portal – The Online Environmental Database UNEP.Net, the Environment Network
  The
  GEO Data Portal is the authoritative source for data sets used by UNEP
  and its partners. Its online database holds more than 400 different
  variables – on themes like population, water, forest, emission,
  temperature, biodiversity, land, soil, energy etc. – as national (i.e.
  country-level), subregional, regional (i.e. Africa, Asia, America,
  Europe) and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps).
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS) WWW Resource List
• Geography Network
• Geoland – Core Service Bio-geophysical Parameters
  geoland – Core Service Bio-geophysical Parameters
• Geospatial Matters from GeoPlace
  "The Authoritative Resource for Spatial Information"
• GIS Data Depot
  The
  GIS Data Depot provides FREE GIS data downloads and creates custom GIS
  data CD-ROMs for CAD, mapping, and location based applications.
• Global Change Master Directory, at NASA
  The
  Global Change Master Directory is a comprehensive directory of
  information about Earth science data, including a broad coverage of
  global warming, the oceans, atmosphere, hydrosphere, solid earth,
  biosphere and human dimensions of global change. FGDC Clearinghouse
  Node (NASA).
• Go-Geo Trial
  Go-Geo!
  is a tool designed to help you find details about geo-spatial datasets
  and related resources within Great Britain tertiary education and
  beyond. This is a trial service for the academic community.
• Manchester InforMation and Associated Services (MIMAS)
• MapRef: The Collection of Map Projections and Reference Systems
• NASA Global Change Master Directory
  The
  Global Change Master Directory is a comprehensive directory of
  information about Earth science data, including a broad coverage of
  global warming, the oceans, atmosphere, hydrosphere, solid earth,
  biosphere and human dimensions of global change. FGDC Clearinghouse
  Node (NASA).
• NCSU GIS Data Catalogue
• NOAA National Geophysical Data Center
  Bathymmetry
  Images offered by the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
  Marine Geology & Geophysics Division and collocated World Data
  Center for Marine Geology & Geophysics, Boulder.
• Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Landscan Project
• Oddens Bookmarks
  The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping
• Oddens’s Bookmarks_ Maps and Atlases – 3. Electronic Atlases
• World database Protected areas 2006
• Social Scinece Information Gateway (SOSIG) GIS and Cartography links
• Socioeconomic Data And Applications Center DAAC
  The
  Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) manages and
  distributes data products through the Distributed Active Archive
  Centers (DAACs).
• The Center for Global Change, michigan State University
• The Geocommunity
  The
  GeoCommunity provides FREE GIS data downloads, GIS job postings, news,
  GIS software tools, utilities, discussion, and fun in geographic
  information systems and location based applications.
• The Goddard DAAC
  nasa gsfc data and information services center
• TranStats HomePage
  This
  is the TranStats homepage. TranStats provides one-stop shopping for Intermodal Transportation data for researchers, decision-makers, as
  well as the general public interested in transportation issues.
• UN InfoNation Data Menu
  View and compare statistical data for countries that are a part of the United Nations.
• UNEP GRID at USGS
  UNEP,
  as the environmental voice of the United Nations, analyzes the state of
  the global environment, assesses global and regional trends, provides
  early-warning information on environmental threats and advises
  governments and the UN based on the best scientific and technological
  capabilities available.
• UNEP GRID Geneva, Activities
• UNEP GRID, Geneva, Data
  UNEP/DEWA/GRID-Geneva
  is the United Nations Environment Programme’s office in Switzerland,
  providing environmental information, communications, and capacity
  building services for information management and assessment.
• UNEP Islands
  Access to information on islands and small island developing States (SIDS) especially from within the United Nations system
• UNEP-GRID – Sioux Falls Data List
• UNEP/GRID-Arendal – Home page
• UNH EOS-WEBSTER, University of New Hampshire
  EOS-WEBSTER
  provides free, customized Earth Science data. Our data holdings can be
  searched spatially, temporally, or by keyword, freetext, or collection
  name. We have distributed amost 400,000 data products to our users
  world-wide since 1999.
• United Nations Cartographic Section
  This
  is the official Web Site of the United Nations Cartographic Section in
  New York. Here you will find UN Peacekeeping maps, country profile
  maps, and geographical information.
• US Census Bureau International Programs Centre
  The
  International Programs Center (IPC), part of the Population Division of
  the U.S. Census Bureau, conducts demographic and socioeconomic studies
  and strengthens statistical development around the world through
  technical assistance, training, and software products. Its work is
  commissioned and funded by federal agencies, international
  organizations, non-governmental organizations, private businesses, and
  other governments. For over 50 years IPC has assisted in the
  collection, processing, analysis, dissemination, and use of statistics
  with counterpart governments throughout the world.
• USDOC_ NOAA_ NESDIS_ National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Home Page
  The
  National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) is part of the US Dept of
  Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, National
  Environmental Satellite, Data, & Information Service
• Russian Federation – GIS Data Download
  Provides access and links to GIS data for the State of Washington and other selected global areas.
• Washington Stat Geospatial Archives GIS Data Download
  Provides access and links to GIS data for the State of Washington and other selected global areas.
• World Data Center System
  Home
  Page for the World Data Center System hosted by the WDC’s Boulder,
  collocated with the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). The
  World Data Center System is operated under the auspices of the
  International Council for Science (ICSU). The World Data Center (WDC)
  system was created to archive and distribute data collected from the
  observational programs of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year.
  Originally established in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Japan,
  the WDC system has since expanded to other countries and to new
  scientific disciplines. The WDC system now includes 52 Centers in 12
  countries
• World Resources Institute EarthTrends database
  A
  free online database that focuses on issues of sustainable development
  andthe environment. This site draws statistical, graphic, and
  analytical information from over 40 internationallyrecognized data
  sources. Detailed documentation is provided for serious research.

Population Infrastructure Topography and Administration Data

• AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment
• ADMIN BOUNDARIES GAZETEER DIVA DataServer
  MapServer, free GIS-data
• Another URL for Shoreline Vectors from NOAA
  Information
  on digital coastline and shorelines data available from various
  sources. Provided by the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
  Marine Geology & Geophysics Division and collocated World Data
  Center for Marine Geology & Geophysics, Boulder.
• cdc admin shape files
  Division of Public Health Surveillance and Informatics
• CEISIN – Country Summaries
• CGIAR Meta-Datasets by alphabetical order
• DIVA DataServer adminboundaries
  MapServer, free GIS-data
• GAUL Global Administrative units (FAO dataset)
• GADM, global administrative areas (boundaries)
• GeoHive Country Data Index
  Country Data Index; demographic facts on all known geopolitical entities.
• GeoHive Country Data Index
• Global Rural Urban Mapping Project: Settlements by population size (CIESIN)
• Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution Shoreline Database (GSHHS)
  Information
  on digital coastline and shorelines data available from various
  sources. Provided by the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
  Marine Geology & Geophysics Division and collocated World Data
  Center for Marine Geology & Geophysics, Boulder.
• Global Map of urban areas
• Global Roads (CIESIN)
• GSHHS – Global shorelines of the world
• Gridded Population of the World – GPW v3 , Summary
• Human footprint: The Las of the Wild
• International Trade Data and Statistics
  GTI is recognized as the premier supplier of international merchandise trade data around the world.
• Lakes, Worldwide Fund for Nature
• Landscan Overview
• LandScan Simple Maps
• Light Pollution
  Scientific
  data, informations, atlases and other on light pollution,night sky
  brightness,sky glow, nightime lights,naked eye visible stars,limiting
  magnitude,night-time stellar visibility,measurements from DMSP
  satellites, light pollution science and technology institute, Dati
  scientifici, informazioni, mappe, atlanti su inquinamento luminoso,
  brillanza del cielo notturno,effetti dell’illuminazione artificiale sul
  cielo stellato, stelle visibili ad occhio nudo,magnitudine limite, in
  base a misure da satellite, illuminazione artificiale,istil,istituto di
  scienza e tecnologia dell’inquinamento luminoso,by Pierantonio Cinzano.
• Mapability VMAP0 (Updated Digital Chart of the World Download)
• Mapping Urban Areas Globally
  Research ongoing at Boston University’s Department of Geography on urban areas, urban growth, and mechanisms of urban change
• NGDC nighttime lights
  Defense Meteorological Satellite Progam
• NGDC-GLOBE Project Get GLOBE Digital Elevation Data Tiles
• NUTS Classifications for CEE
• NUTS NAMES
• Populated places in the world
• Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
  The
  Population Reference Bureau provides timely and objective information
  on U.S. and international population trends and their implications.
• Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center
  SEDAC’s
  mission is to develop and deliver information products and services
  that integrate social and natural science data in ways useful for
  decision making . The Center for International Earth Science Information
  Network at Columbia University, has been designated by the National
  Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to operate and maintain
  SEDAC, one of the data centers in the Earth Observing Data and
  Information System (EOSDIS).
• Rural and Urban Population
• Statoids
  Worldwide reference for states, provinces, governorates, counties, districts, and other subdivisions of countries
• Statoids administraive regions list
  Worldwide reference for states, provinces, governorates, counties, districts, and other subdivisions of countries
• The Global Land One-km Base Elevation (GLOBE) Project
• UN Second Administrative Level Boundaries(SALB)
• UNEP_GRID-Arendal Database_ Maps and Graphics
  The
  UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics library contains hundreds of
  illustrations on themes related to environment and sustainable
  development, such as climate change, water, poverty and security. This
  web-site collects graphics prepared in projects and publications, with
  a special focus on the Arctic, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia
  and Africa. The collection also includes interactive maps.
• Urbanization Maps Boston University
  Research ongoing at Boston University’s Department of Geography on urban areas, urban growth, and mechanisms of urban change
• US Census Bureau Home Page
  The Census Bureau Web Site provides on-line access to our data, publications, and products.
• Vmap0 Coastline of the World
• Vmap0 Railroad of the World
• Vmap0 Roads of the World
• WHO – Mortality Database
• World Population Prospects The 2004 Revision Population Database
• World Urbanization Prospects

Gazeteers
 
• Alexandria Gazetteer Server Client
• Directory of Cities and Towns in World
• Falling Rain Genomics: World Gazetter
• GeoNames Gazetter
• Geonames Query Home Page
  NGA GNDB Database Query Form
• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
  Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) is a structured vocabulary of geographic names for indexing art and architecture.
• Google Maps World Gazetteer | maplandia.com
  Google
  maps world gazetteer. Comprehensive and searchable directory of google
  satellite map locations in all countries of the world.
• NGA: GNS; Names Files of Selected Countries NIMA GAzetteer
• NIMA GNS Public Page
  NGA Database of Geographic Place Names
• PUBLIC NIMA GNPS QUERY FORM
  NGA Database of Geographic Place Names

Remote Sensing and Imagery

• ADDS – Africa Data Dissemination Service
• ASTER’s Global View from Space
• ASTER’s Remote Sensing Image Gallery
  ASTER
  (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) is a
  high resolution imaging instrument that is flying on the Terra
  satellite. ASTER will be used to obtain detailed maps of land surface
  temperature, emissivity, reflectance and elevation.
• AVHRR
  The
  NOAASIS is the starting point for essential information used by
  satellite receiving station operators who monitor the NOAA TIROS, GOES
  satellites and other environmental, meteorological or weather
  satellites operated by other countries
• China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite Applications
• China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite Home Page
• CIESIN – Satellite General information
• CONAE
  Argentinian Space Activities
• Dundee Satellite Receiving Centre
• Earth Observatory Newsroom: Blue Marble Next Generation
• Earth Observing System EOS Data Gateway Welcome
• Earth View
  This
  site is developed and maintained by John Walker, founder of Autodesk,
  Inc. and co-author of AutoCAD. A variety of documents, images, software
  for various machines, and interactive Web resources are available here;
  click on entries in the frame to the left to display a table of
  contents for that topic. Items which span more than one category are
  listed in all.
• EDC DAAC Data Products
  Digital Cartographic and Satellite Data Archives
• ENVISAT
  Envisat
  is the most powerful European Earth Observation satellite yet built. It
  has begun making the most complete set of observations of our planet
  that any satellite has ever carried out. Envisat monitors: The
  landOceansAtmosphereIce capsIt helps scientists to understand how
  changes to one, say climate, affect the others. Envisat is a key
  element of the European Space Agency�s plans for the next decade to
  monitor Earth�s environment.
• EROS Hyperion Product
  Systematic
  Terrain-Corrected (Level 1Gst) data product from the Earth Observing-1
  (EO-1) Hyperion sensor. This new processing option provides increased
  quality and improved geometric accuracy for the Hyperion data product.
  In the past, the Hyperion image product consisted of L1R
  (radiometrically corrected) data only.
• ERS launch
• ERS/METEOSAT
  ESA
  Observing the Earth homepage, features the latest news on Earth
  observation missions and satellites, including ERS 1, ERS 2, Envisat,
  Metop, Meteosat and Living Planet.
• ESAD – MrSid Image Server
• Eurimage EiNet(sm) Searchable Catalogue Home Page
  Multi-mission satellite data
• Eurimage ERS-1 and 2 data description
  Multi-mission satellite data
• Eurimage LANDSAT data descriptions
  Multi-mission satellite data
• Eurimage Products and Services
  Multi-mission satellite data
• European Remote Sensisng Satellites
  Respectively
  launched in 1991 and 1995, the ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites for Earth
  Observation are an ESA success. Thanks to the quality, reliability and
  originality of the on-board instruments, many findings related to the
  Earth environment have been made and many applications derived from
  them.
• Free VEGETATION Products VITO
  Free VEGETATION Products
• Generalities – non-technical – very good!
• GIMMS
  The primary
  focus of the GIMMS group is to provide scientific Earth systems
  research with the use of AVHRR timeseries remote sensing data.
• GLCF Welcome Largest Free Source of Landsat Data
• GOES – updated
  The
  NOAASIS is the starting point for essential information used by
  satellite receiving station operators who monitor the NOAA TIROS, GOES
  satellites and other environmental, meteorological or weather
  satellites operated by other countries
• Infoterra UK (General info on availability. cost of several imagery types)
  Geographic
  information solutions include aerial photography and satellite imagery,
  interpreting geospatial information, managing geospatial information,
  software development and hosting of all geo-information.
• Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency EORC Homepage
• Landmap – Britain from Space
• Landsat 5 TM 1990 Kenya
• Landsat Data Access (USA)
• Landsat.org – Global Access to Landsat Data
  Landsat.org
  supports the purchasing, distribution, and sharing of Landsat 7 imagery
  worldwide by providing a simplified, platform-independent user
  interface and search engine with online data ordering. Landsat.org
  supports research centers, science teams, and educational organizations
  by providing customized search interfaces, access to data hosting
  services, clearinghouse services, data brokering, and imagery
  cooperatives.
• Links to Remote Sensing Data Directories and Inventories
• METEOSAT Second Generation at ESA
• MODIS: Home
• MODIS Land Discipline Web Site
  The MODIS Land Team web site at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• MSG Welcome Page and UK NERC
• NASA CLASS
• NASA Earth Observatory
  NASA’s Earth Observatory, exploring NASA’s Earth Science
• NOAA Satellite Active Archive
  The
  Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS) is an
  electronic library of NOAA environmental data. This web site provides
  capabilities for finding and obtaining those data. CLASS is NOAA’s
  premiere on-line facility for the distribution of NOAA and US
  Department of Defense (DoD) Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental
  Satellite (POES) data, NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental
  Satellite (GOES) data, and derived data.
• ResMap: FREE On-line GIS-Ready Satellite Imagery
• SatImagingCorp.com: Satellite Image Pricing Information!
• Satellite info nice table
• Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
• Shuttle Radar Topography Mission – Small Water Bodies
• Small Sats
  The
  Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) is the first earth observation
  constellation of 5 low cost small satellites providing daily images for
  applications including global disaster monitoring.
• SPOT VEGETATION PROGRAMME
  The
  VEGETATION Programme is conceived to allow daily monitoring of
  terrestrial vegetation cover through remote sensing, at regional to
  global scales.
• SSTL Website Home
  SSTL
  is proud to have the world’s most extensive track record of providing
  small satellite missions. This section of our site provides information
  on our current missions, and will soon include summaries of all past
  missions.
• TERRA at NASA
  TERRA Mission Public Outreach Portal
• The International Satellite Land-SurfaceClimatology Project, Initiative II Data Archive
• USGS AVHRR 10-day composite
  Global Land 1-KM AVHRR Data Set Project.
• USGS EROS Satellite Image Browser
  USGS Global Visualization
• Welcome to Eurimage S.p.A.
  Multi-mission
  satellite data; high resolution and medium resolution imagery from
  QuickBird and Landsat. ERS and Envisat data, IRS, Spot, Ikonos,
  Radarsat.

Statistics

• AI-GEOSTATS_ The Central Web Server for GIS & Spatial Statistics
  AI-GEOSTATS.ORG is a web server dedicated to geostatistics and spatial statistics
• BManly Homepage – Spatial Stats
• http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mbedward/coda/coda.html
  CODA
  is a free software package for nature conservation planning written and
  distributed by Michael Bedward mbedward@ozemail.com.au
• http://www.geo.unizh.ch/~imfeld/diss
  All you wanted to know about points…
• Instituto Nacional de Estad�stica. (Spanish Statistical Institute) Agcensus 1999
• Kappa Coefficients A Critical Appraisal
  Kappa coefficient and weighted kappa: critical appraisal. Issues, pros and cons, references, etc.
• KS-test Data Entry
• Long list of statistics links of various sorts
  Middlebury College
• Peter Diggle Homepage
• References for international statistics Statistical sources
• SNEWS Mailing Archives
• Some Guidelines For Implementing Spatially Explicit, Individual-Based Ecological Models Within
• UNOSAT Free satellite imagery from the UN
• Worldmapper: The world as you’ve never seen it before

Vegetation, Soils, Hydrology and Land Use

• A Compendium of On-Line Soil Survey Information – Digital Soil Survey
  Links to all digital soil maps available on-line or CD-ROM
• Biogeophysical Products downlaods – POSTEL
• Base de données cartographiques
• CIAT (Center For International Tropical Agriculture) GIS Site
  Land Use Project Web Site in the Interntational Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
• Cultivation Intensity
• Environment usgs
  Environment theme page
• EOS Data Gateway Primary Data Search
• GISS Global Vegetation Data Set (CEOS IDN datasets)
• GLCF Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies
• GLCF: Earth Science Data Interface
• GLCF: Earth Science Data Interface MODIS 2001 tree, bare, herb
• Global Assessment of Human-induced Soil Degradation (GLASOD)
  ISRIC
  - World Soil Information. Mandate: To increase knowledge of the land,
  its soils in particular, and to support the sustainable use of land
  resources. Our aims: To inform and educate – through the World Soil
  Museum, public information, discussion and publication; As ICSU World
  Data Centre for Soils, to serve the scientific community as custodian
  of global soil information; To undertake applied research on land and
  water resources
• Global Assessment of Human-induced Soil Degradation (GLASOD – FAO page)
• Global Goode Projection GLCC Data Files Version 2.0
  Digital Cartographic and Satellite Data Archives
• Global Map of Irrigated areas & Johan Wolfgang Goethe Universitat
• Global Land Cover 2000, EU Joint Research Centre
• Global Land Cover Characterisation (GLCC) from USGS
  Digital Cartographic and Satellite Data Archives
• Global Land Cover Classification (GLCF) Africa Lambert Projection Data Files
  Digital Cartographic and Satellite Data Archives from USGS
• Global Land Cover Classification, Maryland University
• Global Land Cover Facility Amazon and Central Africa Forest Change Products
• Global Land Cover Facility Continuous Fields Tree Cover Project
• Global Land Cover Facility Data
• Global Map of Irrigated Area (GMIA)IMWI
• Global map of rainfed cropland areas
  IWMI Satellite sensor based
• IWMI Satellite sensor based map of land use / land cover areas
• IWMI Satellite sensor based generic 628 class map
• Global Soil Regions
• Global Rainforest Mapping Project
• GTOPO30
  GTOPO30
  is a global digital elevation model (DEM) resulting from a
  collaborative effort led by the U.S. Geological Survey’s EROS Data
  Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. GTOPO30 was developed to meet the needs of
  the geospatial data user community for regional and continental scale
  30-arc second elevation data.
• Global Vegetation and Land use
  From GISS Columbia University
• First global land cover map at 300 m resolution
  The
  POSTEL Service Centre has produced the first global land cover map at
  300 m resolution, that discriminates the land surfaces in 22 classes
  representatives of the continental ecosystems. It is a preliminary
  version that may be viewed with a zooming capacity below. The map is
  derived from full resolution MERIS / ENVISAT data acquired in the
  period May 2005 – April 2006. It is produced in the framework of the
  GLOBCOVER project from ESA, which has appointed POSTEL / Medias-France
  as Prime Contractor for this project.
• Global wetland project
• GLOBCOVER project presentation from POSTEL
• HYDRO1k documentation
  Derived from GTOPO30.
• HydroSHEDS
  Global River Network from SRTM
• International Water Management Institute IWMI Home Page
  International
  Water Management Institute (IWMI) offers online resources such as
  findings, publications, links on water use in agriculture and
  integrated management of water and land resources in developing
  countries.IWMI is a non-profit scientific research organization
  specializing in improving water and land resources management for food,
  livelihoods and nature.
• Land Use Change – CD-ROMS
  LUC Project Description
• Land Use Change Project at IIASA
  LUC Project Description
• Landsat NASA Pathfinder deforestation-UMD
• Leaf Area Index MODIS data
• LGRSS Global Land and tree Cover Project
• Mapping of Soil and Terrain Vulnerability in C&E Europe (SOVEUR)
• NASA Land Cover Land Use Change Program
• NASA World Wind
• NSRI Soil Horizon.pdf (UK)
• ORNL DAAC Search
• SAGE Data Models
• Soil Constraints
  from FAO World Soil Map
• Soil data From ISRIC
  ISRIC
  - World Soil Information. Mandate: To increase knowledge of the land,
  its soils in particular, and to support the sustainable use of land
  resources. Our aims: To inform and educate – through the World Soil
  Museum, public information, discussion and publication; As ICSU World
  Data Centre for Soils, to serve the scientific community as custodian
  of global soil information; To undertake applied research on land and
  water resources
• Soil Degradation in South and Southeast Asia (ASSOD)
• Suitability for rain-fed crops (maximizing technology mix)
• The European Soil database
• The FAO/AGL – Land and Water Digital Media Series
  FAO
  - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – Land and
  Water Development Division – Land and Water Digital Media Series
• The FAO Digital Soil Map of the World (DSMW)
• The FAO Global Soil and Terrain Database (SOTER)
• Soil Moisture Descriptions – POSTEL
• UNEP GRID Land Use
• Vmap0, Non Perennial Inland Water Areas of the World
• Vmap0, Perennial Inland Water Areas of the World
• Vmap0, Non-Perennial Water Courses (Rivers) of the World
• Vmap0, Perennial Water Courses (Rivers) of the World
• Wetlands and other Usda Data
• World Intact Forests Greenpeace

Sources

Formats

The files have been compressed and grouped in ZIP files. You can use
programs such as 7-zip, PKZIP or StuffIt to decompress the files.
Vector data are stored as ESRI shapefiles
Grid (raster) data are stored as DIVA gridfiles
Each "shapefile" consist of at least three actual files. This is a
commonly used format that can be directly used in Arc-anything,
DIVA-GIS, and many other programs. It can be imported to most other GIS
programs. Shapefiles contain a single class of "vector" data such as
points, lines, or polygons.
Gridfiles are used in DIVA-GIS. From DIVA-GIS they can be exported to a
number of other grid formats including IDRISI and Arc or to shapefiles.
(More info on format;
for developers).
A gridfile with "country mask" indicates that the areas outside the
selected country are masked out. For these areas, the value is "NODATA"
(indicating the absence of data for those cells). For the other
gridfiles, NODATA is only used for areas covered with water, except for
the land cover grids, on which water is a separate class.
A DBF (dBase file) is a dbase format database table. 

Resolution

The resolution is the size of each grid cell
expressed as the length of one side of one (square) cell. The units are
in (arc) degrees, minutes or seconds. When the cell size is small
(e.g., 30 seconds), resolution is high. The size in square meters
varies with latitude . A cell with a 30 seconds resolution is about 0.8
km2  at the equator and smaller at higher latitudes. High resolution
files for large areas (countries) can be very large. This means that it
may take a while to download these files, and that you will need a fast
PC to work with them.