Maps and Geospatial Information

The Colorado School of Mines has a site license for Esri products including ArcPRO.  This software may be accessed from any campus lab computer.
QGIS is an open-sourced GIS that is free to download.  It is a robust package.

Colorado Data:

• Colorado Information Marketplace (CIM) by state of Colorado.  CIM is not only a place to discover GIS data, it is also a gateway for other non-geospatial data and information produced by state agencies of Colorado.
• Colorado Data Engine -- an open-source hub that unlocks neighborhood-scale public data in a standardized, geolocated format.
• GIS Colorado -- various infrastructure layers including transportation and broadband
• GeoLibrary -- hundreds of datasets.  Site by University of Colorado, Boulder.
• Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT)
• Denver Regional Council of Governments (DrCOG) data -- a repository of open data that supports communities in making informed, data-driven decisions in areas including mobility, land use, and changing demographics.  Includes LiDAR data, boundaries, etc.
• Denver Open Data Catalog -- from the City of Denver
• Jefferson County, Colorado GIS products

U.S. Data:

• The National Map -- the official map of the United States includes various data layers.
• National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC).-- a nationwide effort to inventory U.S. local, state, and tribal authoritative geospatial data, irrespective of software platform.  It also includes a directory of the geospatial professionals and organizations.  
• United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service
• Emergency Response -- data by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) -- Explore critical pre- and post-disaster satellite and aerial images and datasets online for immediate viewing and downloading.
• Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) Geospatial Services
• FS Geodata Clearinghouse -- data by the U.S. Forest Service.
• Geospatial Data Gateway (GDG) -- co-operative project between the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Farm Service Agency (FSA), and Rural Development (RD); includes environmental and natural resources data
• Data.gov -- Contains hundreds of GIS data sets.
• Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS) -- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) -- a collection of imagery and documents designed to assist in the response to natural and artificial disasters.
• Mineral Resources On-Line Spatial Data by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
• National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) -- provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2000.
• National Hydrography Dataset -- A comprehensive set of digital spatial data of the USA that contains information about surface water features.
• National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Data Catalog -- offers interactive mapping tools that allow users to locate NOS products in any area in the United States and its territories through a metadata catalog.
• National Wetlands Inventory -- data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
• National Pipeline Mapping System by the U.S. Department of Transportation
• WebGIS -- dowloadable GIS data

Worldwide GIS links:

• Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU) of the U.S. State Department -- maps and data of humanitarian crisis around the world

General GIS links:

• GIS links from Colorado State University
• The Basis of GIS from Dartmouth College
• 600+ Federal, State, County, and City GIS Servers with Open Data -- list compiled by Joseph Elfelt, updated regularly
• General GIS links from the University of Reading, England
• Free GIS data -- worldwide coverage
• ESRI -- Maker of ArcInfo and ArcView

GIS/spatial-base research:

• Center for Spatial Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara -- The Center's mission is to engage in interdisciplinary research and education in how people and technology solve spatial problems in the natural and social sciences, as well as in engineering, the humanities, and the arts.
• Center for Spatial Data Science at the University of Chicago -- The Center for Spatial Data Science (CSDS) addresses research questions where location represents an important dimension of the research problem. Application areas include a range of substantive fields where space matters, such as economic geography, environmental economics, sociology, criminology, public health, and other social sciences. The site includes data regarding public health.

GIS education and lessons:

• QGIS training FREE.  Basic training and in-depth modules.  Open sourced materials.
• Esri training for ARC products.  Some of these modules are free.
• FREE  "A complete first course in Modern Web-based GIS" by Joseph Kerski, PhD, GISP, Geographer – Education Manager at Esri.  "Modern Web-based GIS embraces the web GIS platform and paradigm, and includes data as services, field apps that can be crowdsourced, communicating with web mapping applications such as story maps, coding and scripting, symbolizing, classifying, performing spatial analysis, and other components of the web infrastructure as manifested in ArcGIS Online."
• Joseph Kerski -- Esri training and education guru.  He posts numerous texts and videos regarding teaching GIS.