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Chicago Metro Area and State of Illinois GIS and Data open source resources
Cook Central: Centralizing Maps, Apps, and Data from Cook County Government
"Cook Central is the public portal for Geographic Information Systems showcasing open spatial data, interactive mapping applications and an application programming interface for community members to pioneer unique, innovative applications with Cook County’s authoritative data. Cook Central is built on the ArcGIS platform by Esri, Inc."
Open Data Portal from the Cook County GIS MapCenter
The Cook County GIS MapCenter makes selected datasets available through its Open Data Portal.
Custom data are available "at reasonable rates". To learn more contact gisstore@cookcountyil.gov.
Data ISA: South Holland, Illinois
From Data USA: Data USA puts public US Government data in your hands. Instead of searching through multiple data sources that are often incomplete and difficult to access, you can simply point to Data USA to answer your questions. Data USA provides an open, easy-to-use platform that turns data into knowledge. It allows millions of people to conduct their own analyses and create their own stories about America – its people, places, industries, skill sets and educational institutions. Ultimately, accelerating society’s ability to learn and better understand itself. Data is from the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS) dataset mostly from the dataset for demographics on the Geography profiles. Data can be searched, found by map, compared with data from another city, and downloaded.
Illinois Geospatial Data Clearinghouse from the UIUC Prairie Research Institute
"The Illinois Natural Resources Geospatial Data Clearinghouse (Illinois Clearinghouse) is an established node of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Clearinghouse Network. Hosted by the Illinois State Geological Survey since July 1, 1997, the Illinois Clearinghouse has become the de facto starting point for the GIS and remote sensing user communities in Illinois."
Illinois Free GIS data
Illinois GIS data that is available for free compiled by Image Trader.
Other GIS and data open source resources
Quantum GIS (QGIS)
Open source tool to create, edit, visualize, analyze and publish geospatial information.
Generic Mapping Tools (GMT)
Open source collection of tools used to manipulate geographic and Cartesian data sets.
GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System)
OPen source GIS suite of tools for "geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics and maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization."
Landserf
Open source GIS.
OpenLayers
Open source tool for putting dynamic maps into webpages.
OS Geo Live
Self-contained open source GIS on "bootable DVD, USB thumb drive or Virtual Machine"
uDIG
User-friendly Desktop Internet is open source tool for desktop GIS data access, editing, and viewing.
Data sources licensed by the Univesrity Library
Data Citation Index This link opens in a new window
Data Citation Index provides access to research data from repositories across disciplines and around the world. Through linked content and summary information, this data is displayed within the broader context of the scholarly research, enabling users to gain perspective that is lost when data sets or repositories are viewed in isolation. These connections allow researchers to access an array of data across subjects and regions.
Scholarly Commons Data Discovery assistance
"A joint project of the University Library and the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) Data Analytics Program and is available to everyone on campus, the services include: acquiring data sets needed for teaching and research; locating, downloading, and preparing data for secondary analysis; and identifying and creating course materials and teaching tools."
SimplyAnalytics formerly SimplyMap
SimplyAnalytics is a web-based mapping application that lets users quickly create professional-quality thematic maps and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data for the United States.
Social Explorer
Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. The easy-to-use web interface lets users create maps and reports to better illustrate, analyze and understand demography and social change. In addition to being a comprehensive data resource, Social Explorer also offers features and tools to meet the needs of both demography experts and novices.;This interactive website includes the entire US census history from 1790 to 2010, the American Community Survey (ACS) from 2005 to 2012, the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS) from 1980 to 2010 (the most complete census available on religion in the US), InfoGroup data on religious congregations in the US for 2009 and 2010, and carbon emissions data for 2002 from the Vulcan Project. Overall, the site contains 39 billion data points, 200,000 variables, and 15,000 interactive maps.