What Is Geospatial Data and Where Can I Find It?

To answer the first part of our question, geospatial data, in simplest terms, is data that has a geographic component—that is, a component that ties the data to a point on, or adjacent to, the Earth’s surface. To answer the second part of our question, geospatial data is quite literally all around you.

There are large volumes of geospatial open data that is collected, maintained, and released by public entities such as government agencies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as private corporations. The availability of geospatial data within the open data ecosystem has led to the rise of robust data standards that were developed and are actively used by the geospatial community. The development of community standards is talked about briefly in this chapter as it relates to data formats and publications.

In this chapter, you’ll learn about the following topics:

• Static and dynamic geospatial...