Library Guides: Geospatial (GIS), Spatial Data and Map Resources: Map guide introduction

Map guide introduction

Locating spatial data can be difficult. Please don’t hesitate to contact Map Collection staff for assistance if you are having difficulty finding something in particular. This guide is not intended to cover all resources available, but rather list the most commonly requested and regularly updated.

Other guides and resources are available from the Map Collection Homepage

Map Collection social media

Any queries can be emailed to Library staff maps-info@unimelb.edu.au or Book a Research Consultation

Last Updated Dec 2021

Collection updates

The Map Collection has moved to the Baillieu Library!

As part of the new Student Precinct project the Map Collection has been moved to Special Collections in the Baillieu Library. All material and services are still available on request from the Reading Room on the third floor.

UniMelb Library Map Collection
The Library Map Collection holds in excess of 130,000 cartographic items providing access to rare maps and geospatial data to the research and education community. Access to hardcopy maps via the Baillieu Library Reading Room.

Victoria

Vicmap catalogue
Victoria's authoritative suite of statewide foundational spatial data.
Vicmap Products
Vicmap™ is the foundation that underlies most spatial information in Victoria.

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This portfolio of spatial related authoritative data products, made up from individual datasets, is developed and managed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning. The information provides the foundation to Victoria’s primary mapping and spatial information systems, and is used for building business information and systems.

Vicmap is a registered trademark of the Victorian Government and is synonymous with authoritative statewide mapping since 1975.
VicMap Address
Vicmap Address is Victoria's authoritative geocoded database of property address points.

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The data includes predominately, but not exclusively, locational property address identifiers assigned by Local Government, considered to be the primary creator and custodian of property address. If accessible, other 'real life' property addresses created and used by the community, but not recognized by Local Government including retirement villages, assisted care facilities, industrial and public housing estates etc. are included.
VicMap Administration
This dataset series contains polygon features delineating key Victorian administrative boundaries.

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It comprises several data sets and is part of the Vicmap suite of products. Datasets in the series are listed below. See their individual metadata entries for more product specific metadata.
VicMap Transport - Various
Vicmap Transport represents the transport network of the state of Victoria and is made up of point, line and polygon area features.
Road, Rail and Air related infrastructure.
VicMap Transport - Road Network
This layer is part of Vicmap Transport and is and extensive digital road network - line features delineating state wide road network. Includes; Bridges, Connectors, Footbridge, Ferry Route, Foot Tracks, Roads, Highways, Roundabouts & Tunnels.
Public Transport. A collection of PTV datasets
Public Transport Victoria bus, train and tram routes & stops depicts publicly known spatial the master routes in metro and regional Victoria.
Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project & Stations GIS data
These spatial layers represents the location of underground tunnel and stations details for the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project.
VicMap Planning Zones & Overlays
Vicmap Planning is the map data representing the land use zone and overlay controls for all Victorian planning schemes.

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Planning schemes cover the 79 local government areas and three other areas in Victoria. Planning schemes are regularly amended, and Vicmap Planning is continually updated to reflect the official planning scheme at any time.
Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project & Stations GIS data
These spatial layers represents the location of underground tunnel and stations details for the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project.
VicMap Cadastral (Simplified Parcel Boundary)
Parcel Map Polygons is a polygon layer belonging to Vicmap Property Simplified, a modified and simplified model of Vicmap Property.

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It consists of polygons representing Victoria's land parcels. This layer should be used in conjuction with the other layers and aspatial tables that make up Vicmap Property Simplified see metadata for Vicmap Property and Vicmap Property Simplified.
VicMap Cadastral (Property)
These layers consist of polygons and tablets representing Victoria's properties.
Vicmap Hydro 1:25,000
This dataset series contains line, point & polygon features delineating hydrology. It is a combination of a number of data sets that are a part of Vicmap Hydro.

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Features include (but are not limited to); rivers, lakes, dams, reservoirs, marinas, and desalination plants.
Native Vegetation
Modelled 2005 Ecological Vegetation Classes (with Bioregional Conservation Status)
VicMap Elevation - 1-5 Contours & Relief (1985 Melbourne)
Metropolitan Melbourne coverage, 1985.

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This dataset series is a product of Vicmap Elevation. It contains topographical relief features represented by lines and points. It is a combination of a number of data sets that were a part of VicMap Digital Topographic. Datasets in the series are listed below. See their metadata entries for more detailed metadata.
VicMap Elevation 10-20m Contours (Statewide)
This layer is part of Vicmap Elevation 10-20 Contours & Relief, a subset of Vicmap Elevation.

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It contains topographical relief features represented by lines. Data has been derived from Land Victoria's State Digital Map Base topographic data and converted from Microstation .DGN format to Arc/Info format.
Vicmap Elevation DTM 10m
Vicmap Elevation DTM 10m is a product which is a raster representation of Victoria's elevation. DTM 10m has a spatial resolution of 10m.
Vicmap Lite
Statewide data series depicting major features, public land, vegetation, hydrology, transport and administrative data.

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Vicmap Lite datasets are suited for use between scales of 1: 250,000 and 1 : 5 million. The level of attribute information, the number of features and the number of vertices has been simplified to suit the 1: 250,000 - 1 : 5 million scale range. The concept of a Scale Use Code has been introduced to help control the level of detail displayed.
VicMap Features of Interest
Vicmap Features of Interest Product contains a series of datasets.

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This dataset series contains a range of features of interest represented by points, lines and/or polygons within Victoria. See metadata entries for more detailed metadata.
Urban Growth Boundary - Vicmap Planning
This dataset contains line features representing a boundary which indicates the long-term limits of urban development in metropolitan Melbourne. It only affects 17 LGAs within the Melbourne metropolitan area.
VicMap Crown Land Tenure
This Product is a decoded version of Vicmap Crown Land Tenure.

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The model has been designed with simplicity of use in mind. Attributes have been populated with values from the aspatial tables normally supplied with Vicmap Crown Land Tenure.

Vicmap Crown Land Tenure is a statewide dataset series that plays a key role in the management of Victoria's Crown land.
Biodiversity Conservation Strategy Extent
This dataset provides the spatial extent in which the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, as part of the Melbourne Strategic Assessment, applies.
Native Vegetation Time Stamping Dataset - Melbourne Growth Areas (VC68)
This dataset is a definitive view of native vegetation extent and condition across Melbournes VC68 urban growth areas
Geomark
This dataset series contains a range of named or 'could be' named Victorian topographic features.

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Inclusions are rivers, water bodies, transport (excluding roads), geographic features and most of the Vicmap Features of Interest content. These features all reside within the Vicmap Framework Products. Features are combined to create one piece of geometry based on name and type. The database replicates the Vicmap Feature of Interest model/schema Geomark contains a series of datasets. Datasets in the series are listed below.

DELWP DataShare - Spatial data and resources discovery tool
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) maintains a vast amount of spatial information relating to natural resources and land use.
Victorian Government Data Portal
You will find data directly from Victorian government departments and agencies. Get access to over 3000 datasets, tools and resources. data.vic.gov.au supports re-usable, accessible, understandable and shareable, Victorian government data.
VicMapShare - Victorian Map Share
MapShareVic interacts with Victorian maps for Property, Forest, Public Land, topography with searching for address, place name, locality or local government. Design, export (PDF) and print A4 & A3 maps.

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Introductory video :
https://youtu.be/5AqvxFt_SWo
Digital Twin Victoria
New digital twin program is using spatial data, digital innovation and artificial intelligence to help Victoria plan for a liveable, sustainable and resilient future.
3D buildings data of major Victorian regional centres
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is opening access to highly detailed, high-quality 3D buildings data covering 20 regional towns across Victoria.

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Anglesea (Photomesh)
Ararat (untextured co-planar Object Models LOD2.2)
Ballarat (Photomesh, textured Object Models LOD2.2)
Bendigo (Photomesh)
Castlemaine (untextured Object Models LOD2-LOD3)
Echuca (Photomesh, textured Object Models LOD2.2)
Sale (Photomesh, textured Object Models LOD2.2)
Shepparton (Photomesh, textured Object Models LOD2.1)
Swan Hill (Photomesh, textured Object Models LOD2.2)
Wangaratta (Photomesh, textured Object Models LOD2.2)
Warrnambool (untextured co-planar Object Models LOD2.2)
Wonthaggi (untextured co-planar Object Models LOD1.3 & LOD2.2)
Victorian Planning Authority
The Victorian Planning Authority is committed to providing free and open data for public use. Included is data for Melbourne's Green Fields planning boundries.
VicPlan - Interactive Planning Scheme of Victoria
Find zoning planning and create your own map from the many layers. Print your map to PDF and save the file. Includes historical zoning, environmental layers such as flood mapping and significance.

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This interactive mapping service allows you to:

Search planning scheme maps using a property address, Melways reference or lot and plan number,
View planning zones and overlays,
Use simple tools to move around and view planning scheme maps,
Turn zone and overlay layers on and off to customise your view of each planning scheme, and
Prepare, save and print a customised PDF report.
Plan Melbourne - The Vision for Melbourne 2017-2050
Plan Melbourne will guide the growth of our city for the next 35 years. It sets the strategy for supporting jobs, housing and transport, while building on Melbourne's legacy of distinctiveness, liveability and sustainability. Spatial data is downloadable
Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria
Follow the links to the sections of our website that cover the different sectors of the environment.

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Air, Climate change, Land and groundwater, Noise, Water, Odour and Waste.
Victorian Transport Statistics
Provides access to data that will be of interest to anyone who wants to better understand transport trends in Victoria. The data comes from a number of sources, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), VicRoads and the Department of Transport and can be output into tables, graphs and maps.
Biodiversity NatureKit Interactive Map - Victoria
Biodiversity Interactive Map (BIM) is an easy to use tool to display and produce maps of Victoria's biodiversity, native vegetation, flora and fauna data.

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BIM displays information on Victoria's:

•Flora and fauna distribution
•Native vegetation
•Investment prospects
•Marine bathymetry and habitat
•Disturbance
•Land administration and classification

BIM allows you to zoom in and out, pan around the map, identify features in the map, perform queries on databases, generate reports, link to other sites and create printable maps (in PDF) based on themes.
Victorian Biodiversity Atlas
Crowd source collecting and sharing species observations and surveys our information makes an impact locally, nationally and globally driving benefits for biodiversity. Threatened and native species information.

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Anyone can access the VBA as a guest to search for species in an area. If you want to see detailed records and contribute your own observations you will first need to register
Department of Transport Open Data Site (VicRoads)
Data about road use and transport in Victoria
Crime Statistics Agency Victoria
Explore crime by location - Data Visualisation

City of Melbourne Open Data Portal
The City of Melbourne's open downloadable data
Plan Melbourne - The Vision for Melbourne 2017-2050
Plan Melbourne will guide the growth of our city for the next 35 years. It sets the strategy for supporting jobs, housing and transport, while building on Melbourne's legacy of distinctiveness, liveability and sustainability. Spatial data is downloadable
City of Melbourne Building footprints
This dataset shows the footprints of all structures within the City of Melbourne. A building footprint is a 2D polygon (or multi-polygon) representation of the base of a building or structure.

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Where a building has a significant change in built form, multiple footprint polygons are ‘stacked’ vertically to define shape of the built form.
City of Melbourne Tree Canopies 2016 (Urban Forest)
This dataset details the location, species and lifespan of inner Melbourne's urban forest.
Popular spatial datasets of the inner City of Melbourne
Most used and download data layers
Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project & Stations GIS data
These spatial layers represents the location of underground tunnel and stations details for the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project.
Landmarks and Places of Interest
This dataset contains a description and co-ordinates of places of interest within the City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne 3D Textured Mesh (Photomesh) 2018
3D textured mesh (photomesh) representing all physical features (e.g. buildings, trees and terrain) across City of Melbourne. The 3D textured mesh is provided in object file format (.obj) and is accompanied by material (.mtl) and image texture (.jpg) files
City of Melbourne 3D Point Cloud 2018
3D point cloud representing all physical features (e.g. buildings, trees and terrain) across City of Melbourne. The data has been encoded into a .las file format containing geospatial coordinates and RGB values for each point. The download is a zip file containing compressed .las files for tiles across the city area
Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN)
AURIN is crucial infrastructure for researchers, government and industry, accelerating research into our towns, cities and communities. We provide the data and tools
Cityscope Online Database
Cityscope is a commercial property database that provides detailed information on all properties and strata units within defined CBD regions. The Library has access to data on the following areas: Melbourne CBD, Southbank, Docklands, St. Kilda Road, Eastern Melbourne, Burke Road, Chapel Street and Richmond (Bridge Road).

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5 Concurrent users.
It is not possible to export data directly to yourself. All data exports are sent to the subscription administrator. Enter your unimelb.edu.au email address in the Additional Information field and the administrator will forward the results to you.
Gilbert and the Guardians of Melbourne
Picture book style story of Bunjil. "May I introduce Bunjil", purred Gilbert. "He is the Aboriginal spirit creator of this land. He was here before the cities, the buildings and the cars". Created by the History Teachers' Association of Victoria.
City of Melbourne - Development Activity Model building Footprints
This dataset contains spatial information about development activity located within the City of Melbourne municipal area. Developments may have one of four statuses. Applied, Approved and Under Construction, and Complete.
Exportable.

UoM Spatial Space Management Open Data Portal
This is a platform for exploring and downloading The University of Melbourne GIS data. Data such as attributed building, road and tree footprints are freely downloadable.
Melbourne University Urban Forest
Tree and plant data for each of the University's main campuses
Melbourne University Parkville Self-Guided Campus Tour
Visitors to campus can download a self-guided walking tour map which provides you with a plotted history of campus architecture and other landscape features. The tour takes about an hour to complete.
Melbourne University Locations search
This website is designed to help you find locations, and get around The University of Melbourne campuses.
Burnley Plant Guide
The Burnley Plant Guide is an indexed, searchable database of plants that has been developed to support the learning of plants by students at the University of Melbourne, particularly those who undertake courses at its Burnley Campus. The database contains information on over 2,700 plant species or cultivars, and more than 7,500 images illustrating plant recognition characters, plant habitat, form, and use in the landscape

Architecture on Campus : a guide to the University of Melbourne and its colleges by Philip Goad & George Tibbits
Call Number: UniMelb INTERNET Resource
ISBN: 9780522863994
Publication Date: 2003
Architecture on Campus offers a unique insight into the rich array of buildings, public artworks and landscapes of the University of Melbourne. When the university was established in 1853, its founders secured a large and expansive site.

Architecture on campus : a guide to the University of Melbourne and its colleges (Hardcopy)
The University of Melbourne's buildings offer an unparalleled chronicle of educational architecture in Australia. This guide offers a number of walking tours around the campus and also biographical information on its key architects.
UniMelb Library Map Collection
The Library Map Collection holds in excess of 130,000 cartographic items providing access to rare maps and geospatial data to the research and education community. Access to hardcopy maps via the Baillieu Library Reading Room.
ABP Study and Research Guide
This guide will point you to Architecture Resources from the University of Melbourne Architecture, Building & Planning Library
MSD Building Archive - Drawings and Images
The Melbourne School of Design Building Archive is a rich source of information about the design and construction of the new Melbourne School of Design Building. It contains over 20,000 digital resources across six key phases of the project, from the Design Competition held in 2009 to the completion of construction in 2014, and its on-going use.

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The Archive is intended to be a resource for students, University staff, researchers and the general public to access information on the building for learning and research purposes and general information. The Archive can be used to find information on particular project phases, building elements or specific resource types. The main digital resources available include design sketches and renders, drawings, images, videos and related documents.
Architectural drawings for University of Melbourne buildings on the Parkville campus
including floor plans, construction drawings, sections and elevations. The collection can be searched by building number, description and/or year of the drawing. The drawings can be downloaded and consist of AutoCAD .dwg, .cal, .gp4, tiff and PDF formats
City of Melbourne 3D Textured Mesh (Photomesh) 2018
3D textured mesh (photomesh) representing all physical features (e.g. buildings, trees and terrain) across City of Melbourne. The 3D textured mesh is provided in object file format (.obj) and is accompanied by material (.mtl) and image texture (.jpg) files
Drainpipes Interactive map
From the City of Melbourne. Drainage pipe data showing the underground network of drainage infrastructure.
Developed using the open council data standard (0.2) http://standards.opencouncildata.org/#/drainpipes
New Student Precinct - Design & Development
The University is evolving and growing. With over 40% of our students now studying south of Grattan Street, increased opportunities for students to live at quality accommodation facilities close to campus, and new development Precincts such as the Carlton Connect Initiative, the University is investing in opportunities to further connect the campus as urban landscape within the City of Melbourne.
Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project & Stations GIS data
These spatial layers represents the location of underground tunnel and stations details for the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project.
UniMelb Room search - Parkville Campus
Find rooms, view their capacity, layout and the audio-visual and IT equipment of the lecture theatres at Melbourne University's Parkville Campus.
27 measured drawings of buildings at the University of Melbourne
The State Library holds a collection of 27 measured drawings of buildings at the University of Melbourne that were produced by students at the Department of Architecture from 1964-1966. To view the drawings contact the State Library
University of Melbourne Staff Architect's Branch collection - Archives
Archives holds the University of Melbourne Staff Architect's Branch collection from 1954-1971. This includes plans of University buildings, as well as files on the construction and/or alteration of various University buildings; working files on University buildings, and administrative files.
Material from Archives can be viewed in the Cultural Collections Reading Room (Baillieu Library). You will need to submit a online request before visiting the Reading Room. If you have an enquiry about the collection at Archives, email archives@archives.unimelb.edu.au
Cultural Collections
The University of Melbourne owns 32 Cultural Collections. The origins of some lie in the earliest years of the University's establishment in the 1850s, while regular new acquisitions keep the collections dynamic and relevant.
History of the University of Melbourne - Digitalised Collection
Various digitalised historical publications and records about The University of Melbourne

Additional UniMelb related services

Large poster Printing and Imaging @ UoM
Imaging + Posters in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience offers large format printing and professional photography to all departments of the University of Melbourne as well as any external institution, business or individual.
UniMelb Imagebank
The University's official photographic database. These include some beautiful new aerial shots of the Parkville campus. All staff with a unimelb.edu.au email address can access and download a range of University-approved photographs.

LGA Victoria - Open Council & Shire Data
Interactive map list of Australian LGA areas with thier online spatial data available online

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This repository contains lightweight standards for the publishing of council data. The standards have initially been developed by councils in Victoria, Australia, but are open to other councils to use and participate in developing.
Boroonda City Council GIS data
Brimbank City Council GIS data
Casey City Council GIS data
Cardinia Shire GIS data
Greater Dandenong City Council GIS data
Frankston City Council GIS data
Geelong City Council GIS data
Glen Eira City Council GIS data
Hobsons Bay City Council GIS data
Manningham City Council GIS data
Maribyrnong City Council GIS data
Melbourne City Council GIS data
Nillumbik Shire GIS data
Port Phillip City Council GIS data
Stonnington City Council GIS data
Whittlesea City Council GIS data
Wyndham City Council GIS data
Yarra Ranges Shire GIS data

nearmap ltd
Online downloadable hi-res Aerial Photography. The University of Melbourne has a subscription for enrolled staff and students to nearmap. Create an account on the nearmap site using you UniMelb email address
UniMelb Aerial Photography Resources guide
Concerning a board range of modern and historical aerial photography and remote sensing resources

Victorian Digital Geological data online
These packages contain a digital version of almost 47 years of exploration data held by DPI. It enables clients to research the details of previous exploration work conducted in their area of interest from the comfort of their own office.
Climate and oceans data and analysis (BOM)
Access past weather and climate information from the Bureau's vast data archives. Much of this information is freely available for immediate download. Also explore our range of specialised climate services such as certified extracts (legal), storm confirmations, data subscriptions and custom analyses (charges may apply).
Latest greenhouse gas (GHG) data updated monthly (CSIRO)
The Cape Grim program originated from a commitment by the Australian Government to the United Nations Environment Program in the early 1970s to monitor and study global atmospheric composition for climate change purposes.

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CSIRO is responsible for the quality of the data and provides analysis, interpretation and modelling of the results. All data are made available to interested parties – Australian government agencies, industry, the public and international agencies.
TERN's Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia
Researchers from across Australia have joined together to develop detailed digital maps of the country’s soil and landscape attributes.

State Library of Victoria - Map Collection
Australian maps, especially those covering Victoria, are the main focus of this collection, though the Library also has many maps from overseas.
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) - Land & Property
The records we hold about individual blocks of land mostly relate to their ownership over time. We hold many records, created since the arrival of European settlement until recently, about the lease, sale and re-acquisition of State-owned (or 'Crown') land. We also hold records about land transactions between private individuals and companies.
Melway Melbourne Street Directories 1966-1999
Historical editions of the Melway Street Directory from 1st edition 1966 until 1999 have been digitalised and made available under direct license from Melway Publishing Pty Ltd
Melbourne street directories (1912-1952) [Beta. Slow to load]
From the State Library of Victoria
Melbourne 1945 aerial photomaps images
Simple jpg images which can be downloaded
State Library of Victoria - Victoria's early history, 1803-1851
A guide to researching the history of Victoria's foundation and early settlement based on published and digitised sources.
State Library of Victoria - Maps for family history
This is a guide to using maps for family history in Victoria. It focuses on using the SLV maps collection, and on researching Victorian family history, including immigration to Victoria.
Vicmap Planning History
Vicmap Planning History is the map data representing the land use zone and overlay controls for all Victorian planning schemes. Current data model is Version 3.0.1 (Draft) 15 July 2017.
List of Victorian Historical Societies
List maintained by Royal Historical Society of Victoria
Victorian Cultual Hegitage Register
Find out about how our cultural heritage places and objects are protected.
Royal Historical Society of Victoria
A community organisation committed to collecting, researching and sharing an understanding of the history of Victoria. A charge of $16.50 [inc GST] per day applies to non-members for use of the research collection.
Victorian Places
This is a website containing the history of all the places in Victoria (Australia) that have now or once had a population over 200 at any time since the establishment of Victoria as a British colony.
On using maps for building research in Victoria - Miles Lewis
Souces and thinking when researching the history of places and building in Victoria

Some historical maps in the Library Map Collection
This is not an exhaustive list and these maps are not online, but are hardcopy only located for use in the Map Collection. For further assistance contact the Map Collection

Melbourne MMBW 1896-1952 Image Repository
Melbourne MMBW 1970-71 1:9600
Melbourne CBD 1970s MMBW 1:500 maps
Shows property boundaries, building footprints and other build details
MMBW New Series survey 1955-
Shows streets, railway lines and property boundaries. Some sheets also show contours.
MMBW 3rd series 1977-mid 1980s
Begun in 1977 in three scales. 1:2,500, 1:5,000 and 1:10,000 this series updated property boundaries, foot-printed large public buildings and chiefly detailed 1 meter contours for the whole of the city which are still used today.
This series is located at the University Library Map Collection, State Library of Victoria and the Victorian Public Records Office.
Sands & McDougall's Directory maps
For the Sands & McDougall Directories these can be useful for looking at the early settlement and development of Melbourne.
Fire insurance plans

Australia and states

Australian Government Open Data
An easy way to find, explore and reuse Australia's public data
Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN)
AURIN is crucial infrastructure for researchers, government and industry, accelerating research into our towns, cities and communities. We provide the data and tools
TROVE - Search Engine
Search for maps of Australian & the World
Australia Interactive Maps online
Geoscience Australia's Interactive Maps is a discovery and exploration view of Geoscience Australia's geospatial data products and web services. It provides access to the wealth of curated information content organised into science disciplines and decision support themes, easy to navigate and linked to related information.
PSMA Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF) latest
The Geocoded National Address File (referred to as G-NAF) is Australia’s authoritative, geocoded address file.
CSIRO Data Access Portal
The CSIRO Data Access Portal provides access to data published by CSIRO across a range of disciplines.
National Map
National spatial index data now available for download
Geoscience Australia national public sector geoscience organisation (formerly AGSO and AUSLIG)
Geoscience Australia is Australia's pre-eminent public sector geoscience organisation. We are the nation's trusted advisor on the geology and geography of Australia.
Atlas of Living Australia
The Atlas of Living Australia is a collaborative, national project that aggregates biodiversity data from multiple sources and makes it available and usable online.
Open Council Data
Interactive map of Australian City and Shire with online spatial data

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This repository contains lightweight standards for the publishing of council data. The standards have initially been developed by councils in Victoria, Australia, but are open to other councils to use and participate in developing.
Research Data Australia (RDA)
A discovery service designed to provide rich connections between data, projects, researchers and institutions, and promote visibility of Australian research data collections in search engines.
Location INformation Knowledge (LINK) Platform
Key fundamental Australian government spatial datasets
National Native Tile Tribunal Maps
The NNTT provides maps and spatial datasets on a national, state, territory and regional level.
National Environmental Monitoring Sites
The National Environmental Monitoring Sites Register (NEMSR) provides a consolidated view of Australia's environmental monitoring sites. Clicking on a site shows its location, site metadata and provides a link to the data itself.

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Custodian: Bureau of Meteorology
Further information: www.neii.gov.au/nemsr
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)
The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) is the national observatory for Australian ecosystems, delivering data streams that enable environmental research and management:
Australian National Investor Map
The Investor Map is a website for map-based access to spatial data from Australian government agencies. It is an initiative of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), developed by Data61 CSIRO in collaboration with Geoscience Australia.
Australian Cyclone and Earthquake Hazard mappers
Historically, bushfires, floods, earthquakes, landslides and cyclones have caused loss of life and significant damage to property and infrastructure.
PacificMap
PacificMap is an online map-based platform centralising spatial data from 22 Pacific Island Countries & Territories, enabling enhanced access to timely & useful information for gov. & non-gov. organisations, businesses & communities throughout the region
Mapping Sciences Institute Australia (MSIA)
A learned society established in 1952 to engender the professional development of individuals and organisations involved in the mapping sciences.
Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI)
Australia's peak body representing the interests of surveying and spatial science professionals, combining the disciplines of land surveying, engineering & mining surveying, cartography, hydrography, remote sensing and spatial information science.
Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG)
The principal body representing geographers and promoting the study and application of geography in Australia. It was founded in 1958 and since then has promoted, supported and defended Australian geography.

NSW Open Data Portal
An open portal to digital datasets throughout NSW State Government
NSW SIX geospatial information portal
The SIX Portal is the official source of NSW geospatial information. It also provides access to authoritative land and property information.
NSW Spatial Collaboration Portal
The Spatial Collaboration Portal provides a secure platform to facilitate the delivery of NSW spatial datasets.
The Portal allows local, state, and federal agencies to deliver spatial data, asset management and visualisation services, and enables the search and discovery of datasets

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Find out what data exists, where and how to access the data, the data's fitness for purpose, who/when and how the data was created, how often it is updated, the geographic extent of the dataset, as well as rights and restrictions that apply to the dataset.
SEED The Central Resource for Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data in NSW
SEED is the NSW Government’s central resource for Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data. It was developed for the NSW community in a collaborative effort between government agencies to provide an accessible and reliable platform for environmental data
State Library of New South Wales - Maps Collection
The State Library holds one of the most significant collections of maps in Australia, reflecting changes in cartography from the earliest charts of European navigators to digitally created maps of the twenty first century.
Board of Surveying and Spatial Information of New South Wales
BOSSI registers land and mining surveyors and advises Government on matters relating to any aspect of surveying or the spatial information industry.
NSW Historical Land Records research - Land Title, Parish & Maps
Many NSW Land Registry Services (NSW LRS) records are available electronically, and NSW LRS has undertaken a major program of records digitisation to bring many more historical records online. The remaining paper records must be examined at our at Queens Square office in Sydney.
NSW State Archives and Records - Maps and Plans
Several guides to significate series of maps and plans of historical Sydney and NSW
Historical Atlas of Sydney
The Historical Atlas of Sydney contains digital versions of maps and associated documents.
Land and Property Information
Land title registration, property information, valuation, surveying and mapping
NSW Housing and Property Group
The Housing and Property group was established to provide a more strategic approach to leveraging government-owned land and property to deliver improved economic, social, environmental and cultural outcomes for the people of NSW.
New South Wales Natural Resource Atlas
The NSW Natural Resources Atlas (NRA) is a website designed for locating, viewing and querying natural resources data within New South Wales
NSW mineral resources - Geoscience
An online collection of surveys, reports, publications and data about the geology, mineral and energy resources of NSW

Data ACT
Search for data about the Australian Capital Territory
ACTMAPi
ACT Government's interactive mapping service
National Library of Australia - Map Collection
The Maps collection includes over 600,000 maps, from early European charts to current mapping of Australia, in print and digital form.

Data South Australia
Government data from SA
Location SA Viewer
Spatial information and services for South Australia
State Library of South Australia - Maps
The State Library has a fairly comprehensive collection of maps of South Australia
Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute South Australia
Provides a forum in South Australia for information exchange and discussion on all issues associated with spatial information.
SARIG
Online minerals interactive geoserver
Mapland
Mapland sells a range of products from the DENR mapping and aerial photography library to the general public and business community.
Location SA Viewer
Spatial information and services for South Australia
SSSI - Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute
The Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute is a national body catering for the professional people who make up the spatial information industry. It gives a voice to the members of the spatial science community in both the national and international arena.
Property Location Browser
Government Towns; Counties; Local Government Areas; LGA Ward; Postcodes; Hundreds; Development Plan Layers. Map Index; Bushfire Protections Areas.

Queensland Gov. Open data
Queensland Spatial Catalogue - QSpatial
This service is a Queensland Government initiative to provide improved public access to a variety of spatial and associated data. You can discover, display, select and download or order data over an area of interest in selected formats, including map coverage data, image data and text file data.
State Library of Queensland - Map Collection
The map collection at the State Library of Queensland provides cartographic coverage of the world, with a major emphasis on Queensland and Australia.
Queensland Spatial Information Council (QSIC)
QSIC is uniquely characterised by all sectors of industry, meeting as equal partners to assure the progression and success of the Queensland spatial information industry.
Environmental maps and data online
Queensland Government Information Service
Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying
Provides historical resources and services about Queensland's land, mapping and surveying, and access to the virtual museum.
Queensland Interactive resource and tenure maps
The Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) produces a wide range of geological and tenure maps. This guide describes the types of products available and how to access them.
Queensland Air quality station downloadable data
Air quality monitoring station data and linked air quality modelling material

Northern Territory Government Open Data portal
This portal contains datasets released openly by Northern Territory Government agencies. NTG Open Data is being developed in phases and will improve over time.
City of Darwin Open Data Hub
Download open commons data layers from the City of Darwin
NT Atlas and Spatial Data Directory
NT Atlas is an online application allowing users to view and query some of the more commonly used Northern Territory Government spatial datasets
Northern Territory Government information and services
Northern Territory State Library & Archive
The library holds a large range of Northern Territory (NT) town, pastoral and regional maps in various scales as well as NT topographic and geological maps and world maps.
Minerals and Energy
The Minerals and Energy InfoCentre provides information about mining and geoscience, minerals and energy industry, exploration reports, Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) products and
resource industry news.
Northern Territory Geological Survey
The Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) actively develops geoscientific and index databases that are searchable online
STRIKE - Spatial Territory Resource Information Kit for Exploration
The Spatial Territory Resource Information Kit for Exploration (STRIKE) is the department's web-mapping application for geoscientific data and minerals and energy tenure information in the NT for both industry and government users.tific data.
GIWS - Geophysical Image Web Server
for a spatial index to NT Geological Survey airborne geophysical survey data.
Integrated Land Information System (ILIS)
ILIS is the central database that supplies land and administrative information to Government and Commercial interests in the Northern Territory. It contains historical and current data and is updated daily as part of the Department's administrative activities. Electronic Title searches in the NT access this data set. ILIS also supplies theme and attribute data to ILIS Maps
Aerial Photography Index
The Aerial Photography Archive Enquiries System provides an index to the Department's aerial photography library. The system currently holds over 35000 low-resolution images, key diagrams, photo mosaics and index tables to aid in locating aerial photography over project areas.

WA Landgate
The State's official register of land ownership and survey information and is responsible for valuing the State's land and property for government interest.
Western Australia Open Data
Providing open access to WA government data
Western Australia SLIP
Spatial map data from WA
State Records Office of Western Australia - Maps & Plans
Maps online
Western Australian Land Information System (WALIS)
Responsible for coordinating across-government access and delivery of the geographic information held by WA Government agencies.
Geological Survey of Western Australia
The Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) is a division within the Department of Mines and Petroleum. Since the 1880s GSWA has been gathering, synthesizing, and publishing information on the State's geology, and mineral and petroleum resources
Maps & data
Theinformation in this section is useful for identifying locations of groundwaterand surface water including lakes, rivers and estuaries. This level of waterinformation helps in monitoring river levels, understanding the water resourcesthat are available for use and their quality and reports from monitoring bores
Shared Location Information Platform (Google maps interface)

Tasmania State Open Data portal
State open data portal form the government of Tasmania
Land Tasmania - Dept. of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
Land Tasmania provides innovative and authoritative location-based information and services to the Tasmanian community, including: Land Titles, Government Property Valuation, Mapping, Survey and Spatial Information.
Land Information System Tasmania
Whole of government service that delivers integrated land information online
Land, Properties & Tiles
TASMAP
TASMAP is the Tasmanian Government's base mapping arm, supplying a wide range of topographic maps including series, national park and tourist maps as well as a range of other mapping products.
Land Tasmania Spatial Discovery
Spatial Discovery provides teachers with tools and ideas to integrate spatial technology techniques in the classroom delivery of a range of curriculum content and is also suitable for anyone wanting to learn more about the importance of 'location information' for effective decision making in modern society.

nearmap ltd
Online downloadable hi-res Aerial Photography. The University of Melbourne has a subscription for enrolled staff and students to nearmap. Create an account on the nearmap site using you UniMelb email address
UniMelb Aerial Photography Resources guide
Concerning a board range of modern and historical aerial photography and remote sensing resources

Australian states boundaries outlines
The digital State Boundaries and their legal identifiers have been derived from the cadastre data from each state and territory jurisdiction
Basic various basic subject maps of Australia
Geoscience Australia basic maps including geological, geophysical and geothermal
Outline map of Australia (with state borders)
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
Outline map of Australia (with state borders and capital city locations)
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Australian specialist spatial resources

UniMelb Climate Energy College
Numerous events and data trackers including one of the most popular reduced-complexity climate carbon cycle models online
Australian Energy Resource Assessment
Geoscience Australia and the Economics Branch of the Department of the Environment and Energy, with support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, have produced this integrated scientific and economic assessment of Australia’s non-renewable and renewable energy resources.
Research Data Australia Earth Sciences
Find, access, and re-use data for research
Australian Research Data Environmental Sciences Data
Research Data Australia is the data discovery service of the Australian National Data Service (ANDS). Access and download data
Australian climate variability & change
Climate change – trends and extremes
CSIRO Marine and atmospheric research (MAR) Data Centre
Central assembly and management point for ship-collected and moored instrument-arrays data from the past 25+ years in the Australasian region. Includes various data management systems and tools and a central data warehouse.
Climate Data Store
Part of The Copernicus Programme. A wealth of information about the Earth's past, present and future climate.
AREMI is a spatial data platform for the Australian energy industry
The AREMI website provides access to renewable energy and general information which has been provided by various third party data custodians
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences
The ABARES is the research arm of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.

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Our mission is to provide professionally independent data, research, analysis and advice that informs public and private decisions affecting Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Spark
A wildfire simulation toolkit for researchers and experts in the disaster resilience field.
Australian PV Institute (APVI) Solar Map
Understand the Australian solar PV market with live generation data, historical maps and animations, and tools to explore rooftop PV potential and per-postcode market penetration.
Australian Gridded Solar Climatology Web Data Services
These datasets are long term averages of solar radiation at the surface over the Australian land mass. Applications of these data include solar energy, agriculture, building thermal design and water balance modelling. Climatologies are given for two radiation parameters: the global horizontal exposure, which is the total amount of solar energy falling on a horizontal surface over a time interval; and the direct normal exposure which is the total of the component of radiation from the sun’s disk on a plane perpendicular to the beam.
These data sets are derived from 23 years (1990 - 2012) of data from satellites operated by Japan Meteorological Agency and the US National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration. NEII

ELVIS (Elevation Information System)
Ensuring decision makers, investors and the community have access to the best available elevation data describing Australia's landforms and sea bed to address the needs of today and the decades ahead.
VMAP0 - Vector Map (VMap) Level 0
Vector Map (VMap) Level 0 is an updated and improved version of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA) Digital Chart of the World (DCW®). The VMap Level 0 database provides worldwide coverage of vector-based geospatial data which can be viewed at 1:1,000,000 scale

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The complete database is organized into 10 thematic layers. The top level thematic layers are: Boundaries, elevation, hydrography, industry, physiography, population, transportation, utilities and vegetation. In addition, there are various layers underneath each top level category.
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map
Search the entire ASTER Earth Sciences data archive. ALL products are available to all users at no cost. Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) datasets and more.
Geodata Topo Series 3 - 1:250,000
1:250 000: At this scale 1cm is equal to 2.5km. The data has been prepared to provide high quality base information for mapping and GIS professionals as it provides a detailed overview over a large area.
Global Map Australia 1M 2001
1:1 million: At this scale 1cm is equal to 10km. This data covers the Australian landmass and its island territories and was created by generalising our 1:250 000 topographic data.
Elevation Foundation Spatial Data
Ensuring decision makers, investors and the community have access to the best available elevation data describing Australia's landforms and sea bed to address the needs of today and the decades ahead.
National Location Information - Digital Elevation Data
Digital elevation data which describes Australia's landforms and seabed is crucial for addressing issues relating to the impacts of climate change, disaster management, water security, environmental management, urban planning and infrastructure design.
Geophysical Archive Data Delivery System
This system provides magnetic, radiometric, gravity and digital elevation data from Australian National, State and Territory Government geophysical data archives.
Global Map - International Steering Committee for Global Mapping
Digital geographic information in 1 km resolution covering the earth's surface with standardized specifications
SRTM-derived 1 Second Digital Elevation Models (DEM) v3
DEM represents ground surface topography, with vegetation features removed using an automatic process supported by several vegetation maps. This provides substantial improvements in the quality and consistency of the data relative to the original SRTM data, but is not free from artefacts. Man-made structures such as urban areas and power line towers have not been treated. The removal of vegetation effects has produced satisfactory results over most of the continent and areas with defects identified in supplementary layers distributed with the data, and described in the User Guide.
SRTM 90m Digital Elevation Data
Many applications display KML, including Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Maps for mobile, NASA WorldWind, ESRI ArcGIS Explorer, Adobe PhotoShop, AutoCAD, and Yahoo! Pipes.
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Australia derived from LiDAR 5 Metre Grid
The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) 5 Metre Grid of Australia derived from LiDAR model represents a National 5 metre (bare earth) DEM which has been derived from some 236 individual LiDAR surveys between 2001 and 2015 covering an area in excess of 245,000 square kilometres. These surveys cover Australia's populated coastal zone; floodplain surveys within the Murray Darling Basin, and individual surveys of major and minor population centres.
Topographic Mapping
Geoscience Australia's National Geographic Information Group is the Australian Government's national mapping agency. We provide authoritative geographic information services and products to enable evidence-based decision making, deliver government policy, assist industry development needs and support community wellbeing.
National Elevation Data Framework
Ensuring decision makers, investors and the community have access to the best available elevation data describing Australia's landforms and sea bed to address the needs of today and the decades ahead.
2011 Audit of High Resolution Coastal Elevation Data in Australia
An audit of high resolution elevation data capture in relation to densely populated areas.
2011 National Elevation Data Audit
The 2011 National Elevation Audit is a series of maps illustrating the areas where elevation data has been captured or will be completed until the end of 2012 and their relative vertical accuracy.

National (Australia) Environmental Information Infrastructure
API graphical interface to earth and meteorological weather data. Browse the Data Catalogue
The National Meteorological Library
Specialised collection of books, reports and journals related to meteorological and related sciences, including oceanography and hydrology. While most of the library's collection is 20th and 21st century material, some historical documents, particularly statistical climate data for Australia, date from the 1850's.
Head Office, 9th Floor West, 700 Collins Street, Docklands, Victoria 3008
Bureau of Meteorology, Australia
The Bureau of Meteorology is Australia's national weather, climate and water agency.

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Through regular forecasts, warnings, monitoring and advice spanning the Australian region and Antarctic territory, the Bureau provides one of the most fundamental and widely used services of government.
Australian Climate Maps - average conditions
Use these maps to explore the variability of the Australian climate.
Rainfall, Temperature, Wind, Humidity, Evaporation, Sunshine, radiation & cloud, Cyclones & thunderstorms.
Australian long-range weather climate data and maps
These reports provide severe weather information that complements the Bureau's warnings and forecasts and to help Australians understand the current weather situation.
Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR)
The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research is a partnership between Australia's leading atmospheric and oceanographic research agencies: the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO. Includes links to experimental data and results in the areas of model development, data assimilation, climate dynamics, weather forecasting, climate forecasting and ocean & marine forecasting.
National Drought Map
The National Drought Map is an online tool that brings together information on drought conditions and associated support measures.

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The National Drought Map visually displays information relevant to a particular area and can be used as a decision support tool. This includes rainfall patterns, soil moisture, agricultural types and employment by industries. In many cases and depending on the underlying data, data can be examined down to local government area.
BOM High-definition satellite images
Please note that depending on the requested data and the proposed use, the data retrieval may carry a cost recovery charge.
Climdex portal
Explore, download and analyse indices of observed and modelled climate extremes. The Climdex indices can help us understand patterns in temperature and precipitation extremes: how they change from year to year or from place to place.

Geology and Geophysics spatial data
Geoscience Australia provides pre-competitive geoscience information to address greenfield exploration challenges and identify new mineral provinces within Australia.
Geoscience Australia - Energy & Minerals
This pre-competitive information is acquired through integrated programs of national strategic importance, such as the Unlocking Australia's Hidden Mineral Resource Potential Program which commenced in July 2013.
TERN Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia
Researchers from across Australia have joined together to develop detailed digital maps of the country’s soil and landscape attributes.
3D Interactive Spatial Models
Includes national data sets: Radiometric Map of Australia and detail areas, Gravity Anomaly Map of the Australian Region, Magnetic Anomaly Map of Australia & National ASTER geoscience maps

1259.0.30.001 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Digital Boundaries, Australia
Final edition of Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC).
ABS Table Builder 2006, 2011, 2016
TableBuilder is an online self-help tool designed for users who have a knowledge of Census concepts and some experience using Census data. You are able to create your own custom areas and to view your Census data in tables, graphs and maps.
ABS Data Packs
Designed for clients who have existing databases or analysis systems, for example Geographic Information Systems or other mapping and tabulation systems.
Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Digital Boundaries
ABS downloadable boundaries going back to 1981
Download Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2016
1270.0.55.001 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2016
Download Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2011
1270.0.55.001 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011
Statistical Geography - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), Digital Boundaries , 2006
Including Census Collection District boundaries Local Government Areas, State boundaries & Statistical areas. Available in MapInfo GIS files.
For use with Cenuses data collected 2006.
2006 Social Atlases
Free PDF downloadable issues of all of the demographic atlases for Australian capital cities.

National Surface Water data
A core information requirement for managing Australia's water resources is knowledge of the spatial location, relationships and characteristics of the hydrological features: the catchments, streams, aquifers, storages, wetlands and man-made structures that make up the hydrological system.
Seamap Australia
Seamap Australia brings together a range of data from infrastructure such as cabling and pipelines, seafloor habitats, mineral resources and fisheries.
Oz Coasts
Provides comprehensive information about Australia's coast, including its estuaries, coastal waterways and climate change impact.

International sources of GIS data

OS Open Data
UK Data - Regularly updated products that enable you to analyse your data, build interactive websites and create stunning visuals – and they're all free. All we ask is an acknowledgement.
Open Street map
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world.
OpenStreetMap Data Extracts - Downloads
The OpenStreetMap data files provided on this server do not contain the user names, user IDs and changeset IDs of the OSM objects because these fields are assumed to contain personal information about the OpenStreetMap contributors and are therefore subject to data protection regulations in the European Union.
Open Topography
OpenTopography facilitates community access to high-resolution, Earth science-oriented, topography data, and related tools and resources. Mostly of USA
VMAP0 - Vector Map (VMap) Level 0
Vector Map (VMap) Level 0 is an updated and improved version of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA) Digital Chart of the World (DCW®). The VMap Level 0 database provides worldwide coverage of vector-based geospatial data which can be viewed at 1:1,000,000 scale

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The complete database is organized into 10 thematic layers. The top level thematic layers are: Boundaries, elevation, hydrography, industry, physiography, population, transportation, utilities and vegetation. In addition, there are various layers underneath each top level category.
Natural Earth
Natural Earth is a public domain map dataset available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and 1:110 million scales
SRTM 90m Digital Elevation Data
Many applications display KML, including Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Maps for mobile, NASA WorldWind, ESRI ArcGIS Explorer, Adobe PhotoShop, AutoCAD, and Yahoo! Pipes.
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map V3
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) GDEM is an easy-to-use, highly accurate DEM covering all the land on earth, and available to all users regardless of size or location of their target areas. Anyone can easily use the ASTER GDEM to display a bird's-eye-view map or run a flight simulation, and this should realize visually sophisticated maps.
Railway Map of the world
OpenRailwayMap (previously called "Bahnkarte") is a detailed online map of the world's railway infrastructure, built on OpenStreetMap data.
GEOnet Names Server - National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
The Geographic Names Server is the official repository of standard spellings of all foreign place names, sanctioned by the United States Board on Geographic Names. The database also contains variant spellings (cross-references), which are useful for finding purposes.
International Programs - U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts demographic, economic, and geographic studies of other countries and strengthens statistical development around the world through technical assistance, training, and software products.
Global Health Observatory (GHO)
NASA Earth Data
NASA's Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) program oversees the life cycle of NASA’s Earth science data—from acquisition through processing and distribution. The primary goal of ESDS is to maximize the scientific return from NASA's missions and experiments for research and applied scientists, decision makers, and society at large.
USGS
United States Geological Survey. U.S.Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment.
LandScan
ORNL’s LandScan™ is a community standard for global population distribution data. At approximately 1 km (30″ X 30″) spatial resolution, it represents an ambient population (average over 24 hours) distribution. The database is refreshed annually and released to the broader user community around October.
European Data Portal
EuroGlobalMap
EuroGlobalMap is a 1:1 million scale topographic dataset covering 45 countries and territories in the European region.
Global Map - International Steering Committee for Global Mapping
Digital geographic information in 1 km resolution covering the earth's surface with standardized specifications
AfricaMap
Africamap is housed at the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University with an initial grant from the Harvard Provosts Fund for Innovative Computing and ongoing support from the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute, the Department of African and African American Studies and the Committee for African Studies at Harvard University. AfricaMap grew out of a project, called Baobab, funded by the Seaver Institute.
North America Open Data Portal
The home of the U.S. Government’s open data
Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations
JAXA Global rainfall watch
We offer hourly Global Rainfall Map (GSMaP), using the JAXA Global Rainfall Watch System. The system is based on the combined MW-IR algorithm using GPM-Core GMI, TRMM TMI, GCOM-W AMSR2, DMSP series SSMIS, NOAA series AMSU, MetOp series AMSU, and Geostationary IR developed by the GSMaP (Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation) project.

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User Guide https://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP/guide.html

Open StreetMap data downloads

OpenStreetMap data download locations

Asia Openstreet map download
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region
Africa
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region
Antarctica
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region
Australia and Oceania
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region
Central America
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region
Europe
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region
North America
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region
South America
Download OpenStreetMap data for this region

Specialised data collections

Sites providing online access to specialised subject data

JAXA’s Global ALOS 3D World
Registration Required. The ALOS World 3d is a 30-meter spatial resolution digital surface model (DSM) constructed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA). This DSM has been made available to the public.
Open Topography
OpenTopography facilitates community access to high-resolution, Earth science-oriented, topography data, and related tools and resources. Mostly of USA
Climate Data Guide
The Climate Data Guide provides concise and reliable information on the strengths and limitations of the key observational data sets, tools and methods used to evaluate Earth system models and to understand the climate system. Citable expert commentaries are authored by experienced data users and developers, enabling scientists to multiply the impacts of their work and the diverse user community to access and understand the essential data.
Global Health Observatory (GHO)
The Global Health Observatory theme pages provide data and analyses on global health priorities. Each theme page provides information on global situation and trends highlights, using core indicators, database views, major publications and links to relevant web pages on the theme.
Marine Regions - Spatial Downloads
Marine Regions is an integration of the VLIMAR Gazetteer and the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase.
3D Visualisation of Geophysical and Geological Data
Interactive Plate Tectonic Reconstructions
Interactive Surface Dynamic Topography
PyGPlates Reconstruction Services
Allied Geographical Section Southwest Pacific Area WWII Special Reports
In 1942, after a series of directives from General MacArthur’s Headquarters, the Allied Geographical Section (AGS) was formed with the task of compiling all the available geographical intelligence on the largely unmapped and underexplored south-west Pacific area (SWPA).
Open data portals of the world
Crowd sourced list of open data portals around the world to all sorts of material

Remote sensing earth observation

Free satellite imagery data sources

Digital Earth Australia
Digital Earth Australia is a program of Geoscience Australia, an agency of the Australian Government. We create free and open satellite data products for the benefit of Australia.
ESA’s Sentinel Mission
Registration Required. Sentinels Scientific Data Hub is the official download headquarters for the European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellite data.
Copernicus
Provides complete, free and open access to Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 user products, starting from the In-Orbit Commissioning Review (IOCR).
NOAA CLASS
Registration Required. Atmospheric data sets and more.
NASA Earth Science data & analyses platform - MAAP
The Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP). MAAP provides access to NASA and ESA Earth science data and is a model for open-source science collaboration and analysis.
Earth Observation Link (EOLi)
Registration Required. European Space Agency’s client for Earth Observation Catalog and Ordering Services. A bit dated. Select the scene you want to download, and click the order button (shopping cart).
Earth Explorer (GLIS) / USGS
Query and order satellite images, aerial photographs, and cartographic products through the U.S. Geological Survey.

Map Libraries, Blogs & Societies

New Zealand - Land Information - LINZ Data Service
Provides access to nationally significant geospatial datasets that include topographic, hydrographic, survey, titles and geodetic data.
New Zealand - Land Information - Map Chooser
Find the map you need at 1:250,000 (Topo250) or 1:50,000 (Topo50) scale by selecting the relevant region.
British Library - Map Library
The Map Library is the national map library of Great Britain, with a collection of over 4.25 million atlases, maps, globes and books on cartography, dating from the 15th century to the present day.
Library of Congress Digital Collections - Geography and Map Division
The largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world.
David Rumsey online map collection
The historical map collection has over 28,000 maps and images online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North American and South American maps and other cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented.
National Library of Scotland - Map Collection
With around two million cartographic items, our map collection is the largest in Scotland and one of the biggest in the world. Our holdings cover all parts of the globe, through some 700 years, from medieval manuscript maps to current digital mapping.
National Library of Ireland
The collection is predominantly Irish but there are maps which relate to Britain, Europe and the world at large.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Maps and Atlases
World Maps - Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection -University of Texas Libraries
The PCL Map Collection includes more than 250,000 maps,
Second half 20th Century digitalised topographic maps
University of Texas Library. 1:1million, 1:500K, 1:250K topographic maps of the world
Osher Map Library
The Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education University at the University of Southern Maine (USA)

Map Blogs

The Map Room (current)
The Map Room is a blog about maps by Jonathan Crowe, and covers everything from antique map collecting, exhibitions, essays, to the latest in geospatial technology.
GIS Cafe forum
Forum section of the GIS Cafe web site concerning current events.
Google Earth Blog
The latest news, updates, links and downloads concerning Google Earth.
Cartophilia: Maps and Map Memorabilia
Stamps, postcards, advertising, coffee mugs, shirts, and other ephemera.
Journal of Maps
The Journal of Maps is an inter-disciplinary online, electronic, journal that aims to provide a forum for researchers to publish maps and spatial diagrams. Using full peer review and a reverse publishing method (where the author pays for the review process), all published maps are freely distributed to anyone wishing to view them.
The Antique Maps and Prints Blog
A public blog about antique maps & antique prints. Presenting news, views, announcements and discussions about the world of antique maps and antique prints.
Strange Maps
Cartographic curiosities.
"Each map tells a story, but the stories told by your standard atlas for school or reference are limited and literal: they show only the most practical side of the world, its geography and its political divisions. Strange Maps aims to collect and comment on maps that do everything but that - maps that show the world from a different angle."
Eastview Geospatial Blog
The latest & greatest in the geospatial industry. We are eager to share fascinating insights and thought-provoking content for our readers

Cartographic Societies and Groups

Australian New Zealand Map Society (ANZMapS)
Promotes all aspects of cartography to a wide range of potential users. ANZMapS was created from the merger in March 2009, of the Australian Map Circle (formed 1973) and New Zealand Map Society (formed 1977). It is dedicated to exploring and developing the world of maps.
Mapping Sciences Institute Australia (MSIA)
A learned society established in 1952 to engender the professional development of individuals and organisations involved in the mapping sciences.
Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives
ACMLA actively serves as the representative professional group for Canadian map librarians, cartographic archivists and others interested in geographic information in all formats.

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Since its inception in 1967, the achievements of the Association have been notable, including a vigorous publishing program, development of professional standards and international cataloguing rules, and efforts to increase national awareness of issues concerning spatial information and recognition of the contribution of map libraries and cartographic archives.
Map and Geography Round Table, American Library Association (MAGERT)
The Map and Geospatial Information Round Table (MAGIRT) is one of 18 round tables in the American Library Association. Formed in 1980, MAGIRT--with close to 400 members the world's largest map library organization--provides a forum for people interested or involved in any aspect of map or geography librarianship.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.

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Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927 at an international conference, we celebrated our 75th birthday at our conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2002. We now have 1600 Members in approximately 150 countries around the world. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in 1971. The Royal Library, the national library of the Netherlands, in The Hague, generously provides the facilities for our headquarters.
International Map Industry Association (IMIA)
Dedicated to fostering the growth of the mapping industry through the exchange of ideas and information, the education of industry trends and technologies, and access to a wide spectrum of mapping leaders.
Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML)
The Western Association of Map Libraries is an independent association of map librarians and other people with an interest in maps and map librarianship. Membership in WAML is open to any individual interested in furthering the purpose of the Association, which is "to encourage high standards in every phase of the organization and administration of map libraries."
The International Map Collector's Society (IMCS)
Membership of the society is comprised of academics, map dealers, institutions such as libraries and museums, and - for the most part - of cartophiles, suffering from a potentially contagious disease, called love of maps.
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
A non-profit, international, voluntary consensus standards organization that is leading the development of standards for geospatial and location based services.
CGIAR Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI)
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.
Geoscience Information Society (GSIS
The Geoscience Information Society (GSIS) in the USA facilitates the exchange of information in the geosciences through cooperation among scientists, librarians, editors, cartographers, educators, and information professionals.

Historical

Old maps online
The easy-to-use getaway to historical maps major libraries from around the world. A search engine for historical maps
David Rumsey online map collection
The historical map collection has over 28,000 maps and images online. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North American and South American maps and other cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented.
Map History : History of Cartography / Tony Campbell
Aims to be the Internet gateway for the History of Cartography.
History of Cartography Project / David Woodward
The History of Cartography Project is a research, editorial, and publishing venture drawing international attention to the history of maps and mapping. The Project treats maps as cultural artifacts created from prehistory through the twentieth century. Its major work is the multi-volume History of Cartography series.
British Library Map Collection
One of the largest collections of maps, plans and topographical views in the world, numbering some 4.5 million, with a chronological spread of over 2,000 years.
A Vision of Britain through Time
Historical boundary information for counties, parishes, and constituencies for England, Wales, and Scotland, 1800s and 1900s.
Allied Geographical Section Southwest Pacific Area WWII Special Reports
In 1942, after a series of directives from General MacArthur’s Headquarters, the Allied Geographical Section (AGS) was formed with the task of compiling all the available geographical intelligence on the largely unmapped and underexplored south-west Pacific area (SWPA).
Euratlas
Euratlas is a website dedicated mainly to the historical geography of Europe.
Review and Atlas of Palaeovegetation
Preliminary land ecosystem maps of the world since the Last Glacial Maximum.
The Interactive Noli Map Website
The 1748 Map of Rome, by Giambattista Nolli is widely regarded by scholars as one of the most important historical documents of the city ever created.
Maps & Images
Maps and images hosts collections of outstanding value either for their contents or rarity. At the moment the acquisition of Vladimiro Valerio’s cartographical collection is in progress; 280 images, of this collection, belonging to ten atlases and four large scale maps, are already on line.
Book of Curiosities
In June 2002, the Bodleian Library acquired an illustrated manuscript of a hitherto unknown Arabic cosmographical treatise, the Kitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn, known as the Book of Curiosities. The treatise is extraordinarily important for the history of science, especially for astronomy and cartography, and contains an unparalleled series of diagrams of the heavens and maps of the earth.
China Historical GIS
Free downloads of historical GIS data for China data of a database of populated places and historical administrative units for the period of Chinese history between 221 BCE and 1911 CE.
HKUST Antique Maps of China Database
From the Special Collections of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library. It includes more than 180 maps, charts, pictures, books and atlases. It represents almost all samples of China maps produced by European cartographers from the 16th to 19th centuries.
Virtual Shanghai
The Institut d’Asie Orientale has collected a large number of maps of Shanghai in the course of a research project on the history of the city in the 19th-20th centuries. The collection includes original maps, photographic reproductions, slides and sometimes even Xerox copies.
Japan Historical GIS
Historical boundary data from the 1500s to 1800s for Japan for download.
Japanese Historical Maps
The Japanese Historical Map Collection contains about 2,300 early maps of Japan and the World. Represented in this online collection are over 1100 images of maps and books from this collection.
Holy Land Maps
This beautiful collection of ancient maps of the Holy Land is part of a much larger collection that includes ancient maps of the world, early printed atlases and travel books. The National Library of Israel.
Pleiades - Historical geographic information
Pleiades has extensive coverage for the Greek and Roman world, and is expanding into Ancient Near Eastern, Byzantine, Celtic, and Early Medieval geography.

GIS Spatial Software (inc. ArcGIS)

UniMelb Installation

For PC users UniMelb students can get ESRI ArcGIS for remote installation on personal devices from https://studentit.unimelb.edu.au/software. Click on ArcGIS in the app list and follow the instructions.

Alternatively, use the online UniApps version from any computer operating system. Remember to save your work out of MyUniApps as it deletes everything on logging out.

ArcGIS Training and Tutorials

Getting Started with GIS
A GIS helps people visualize and create information that can be used to make decisions and solve problems. Get an introduction to the basic components of a GIS. Learn fundamental concepts that underlie the use of a GIS with hands-on experience with maps and geographic data.
Get Started with ArcMap
In 2011, a Brazilian judge prohibited the construction of a road that would have traveled through a large stretch of protected land. In this project, you'll use ArcMap to estimate how much deforestation was prevented by prohibiting a proposed road then communicate the results to others by designing a map.
Getting Started with ArcGIS StoryMaps
Looking to create your first story map? Here's a step-by-step guide to using the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder.
Full ESRI training catalogue
Select free training courses
The Power of Maps
Maps can be used to provide windows into information, tell stories, perform geographic analysis, and so much more. Try these lessons to explore for yourself how GIS maps work, and learn what you can do using different types of maps and apps.
Getting Started with Spatial Analysis
Spatial analysis helps you to understand your world. Explore how the six categories of spatial analysis can help you answer geographic questions. Navigate these questions using the spatial analysis workflow and learn how to apply it to your own projects.
Exercises can be completed with either ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, or ArcGIS Online.
Getting Started with ArcGIS Pro
Learn the essential concepts you need to jumpstart your productivity with ArcGIS Pro. This course introduces the ribbon-style interface, project-based organization, key capabilities, and ArcGIS Pro terminology.
Official GDA2020 Forum
This forum is a place to discuss, share experiences and find answers to questions relating to the modernisation of Australia’s datum.
Going Pro: ArcGIS Pro Essentials for ArcMap Users
Are you an experienced ArcMap user preparing to migrate to ArcGIS Pro? There are many things to love about ArcGIS Pro, and this seminar will help you be productive right away. You will learn essential ArcGIS Pro terminology and get familiar with the ribbon-based user interface. The presenters highlight key differences in mapping, editing, and geoprocessing workflows and demonstrate new and streamlined capabilities that will help you complete your GIS work more quickly and easily than ever before.
ArcGIS Editor for OpenStreetMap
Access, Edit, and Analyze OpenStreetMap Data
ArcGIS API for JavaScript
Esri has created web mapping APIs that fit into its ArcGIS platform. The APIs support multiple languages and platforms, such as JavaScript, Flex, Silverlight, iOS, and Android.
ESRI Story Mapping tool
Esri Story Maps let you combine authoritative maps with text, images and multimedia content to engage and inspire your audience. Everyone has a story to tell.

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https://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/app-list/

Quantum GIS
Quantum GIS (QGIS) is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). It runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, and Windows and supports numerous vector, raster, and database formats and functionalities.

A Free and Open Source Geographic Information System

Download QGIS
QGIS is available on Windows, MacOS X, Linux and Android.
Learn GIS basics in 'A gentle introduction in GIS'
If you're totally new to using GIS spatial data to make maps this is a good place to start. Many other tutorials assume a base knowledge and can quickly become overwhelming
Official QGIS Training Manual
19 modules, this manual provides a comprehensive introduction to QGIS from the basics of loading and styling data to performing analyses with vector and raster data.
QGIS Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP)
download satellite imagery directly in the plugin such as: Sentinel, Landsat, ASTER and MODIS.
It also provides tools for its pre-processing and post-processing of imagery.
QGIS Support for GDA2020
To transform existing files to/from GDA2020 install a QGIS plugin supplied by the ICSM. This will ensure accurate transformation using the recommended grid transformation file.
Select the ICSM NTv2 Transformation under Plugins.

Mapbox
Whether you are visualizing millions of rows of data, tracking assets in real time, routing fleets around traffic, or making your app look beautiful, we're a platform that powers location and lets you build the experience in your app.
GRASS - Geographic Resources Analysis Support System
Commonly referred to as GRASS, this is free Geographic Information System (GIS) software used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization.
MapInfo ProViewer 17
Use this free utility with MapInfo Professional to share your work with your colleagues
SAGA GIS: System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses
SAGA has been designed for an easy and effective implementation of spatial algorithms, offers a comprehensive, growing set of geoscientific methods, provides an easily approachable user interface with many visualisation options, runs under Windows and Linux operating systems, is a Free Open Source Software (FOSS)
Whitebox Geospatial Analytical Tools (GAT)
LiDAR support, maps, terrain analysis, geospatial statistics, vector overlay, image processing, similar look and feel to Esri ArcMap
ILWIS: Integrated Land and Water Information System
Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS) is a remote sensing and GIS software which integrates image, vector and thematic data in one unique and powerful package on the desktop.
ORFEO: Optical and Radar Federated Earth Observation
For remote sensing images processing. It can process high resolution optical, multispectral and radar images at the terabyte scale
Map Wrapper
Online tool for geo-referencing raster images. Sponsored by New York Public Library
Leaflet
Leaflet is the leading open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. Weighing just about 38 KB of JS, it has all the mapping features most developers ever need.
Google Maps interface
View maps of the world and find local businesses on an internet web browser.
Google Maps API Family
Google Maps has a wide array of APIs that let you embed the robust functionality and everyday usefulness of Google Maps into your own website and applications, and overlay your own data on top of them
Google Earth Pro
You'll need to download and install a small interface but you get the benefit of a DEM (Digital Elevation Model) under the imagery.
Google Earth Studio
Earth Studio is a web-based animation tool for Google Earth imagery. Google Earth has a massive store of satellite and aerial (3D) imagery from large-scale geological features to individual city buildings. Earth Studio is the easiest way to leverage this imagery for still and animated content.

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Earth Studio and Google Earth serve different purposes. Google Earth enables you to travel and learn about the world through a virtual globe. You can view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings and much more. Earth Studio, on the other hand, is a tool for animating geospatial information to create still and video content. They both share the same imagery dataset and use the same 3D rendering engine but have different features.
Microsoft BING maps
An API browser mapper from Microsoft. Different imagery from Google maps and some times more detailed.
Yahoo Maps
Simple mapper without the added features of other. It just works.
Touch Mapper
Tactile maps are a great aid for people who are blind or partially sighted, helping them to orient themselves and to plan routes. Using Touch Mapper, you can easily create custom outdoor maps for any address of your choice.
Map2stl
Create and download 3d printable STL models of any land region on Earth. Includes vertical exaggeration

R programming
Python programming for beginners
Documentation for how to get started working with Python
Julia - programming language
The official website for the Julia Language. Julia is a language that is fast, dynamic, easy to use, and open source.

Some examples of FOSS web mapping APIs for building browser-based apps with HTML and JavaScript.

OpenLayers
JavaScript API. It has an extensive collection of documentation and samples, although some of the materials can be difficult for beginners. Mature and richly featured it has a large developer community.
D3.js
Frequently used for charting but also contains many map examples. It binds data elements to the page's document object model (DOM)
Polymaps
Simple API primarily designed for mashing up map tiles with vector features drawn from GeoJSON and other sources. However, the developer examples also show how Polymaps can transform and overlay a raster image.
ModestMaps
Lightweight FOSS API for displaying tiled maps. By design (link is external), it lacks a lot of the functionality of the other APIs mentioned above. Running JavaScript code requires transferring that code to the browser. Why load hundreds of functions if you know that you just want to display a map?

Web mapping APIs created by commercial software companies have become very popular. In this context, "proprietary" means that the API's source code cannot be downloaded and/or is not permitted to be modified and/or cannot be deployed without paying a royalty.

Microsoft deverlopment apps including Bing Maps APIs
Gives developers the opportunity to utilise a range of mapping apps designed to work on Microsoft systems

Software for UniMelb Students
Suites of software which The University of Melbourne students are able to obtain access to
How to import Arc SHP files to AutoCAD
ESRI SHP files store both geometry and attributes (data) for features. A single shape can have as many as five physical files with the same filename, but different file extensions.

Spatial software support

Dictionary of Abbreviations and Acronyms in Geographic Information Systems, Cartography, and Remote Sensing
This dictionary decodes abbreviations and acronyms found in various publications including maps and websites. These abbreviations or acronyms, therefore, are not necessarily authoritative or standardized in format or content
Official GDA2020 Forum
This forum is a place to discuss, share experiences and find answers to questions relating to the modernisation of Australia’s datum.

Cartographic referencing and citation

Need help with referencing and citing cartographic material? Visit our Cartographic Citation Guide below:

Visit the Cartographic Citation guide

Contact Us

David Jones

Email Me

Contact:

UniMelb Library Map Collection

8344 8416