Free For All – AidData.org
When I started my adventure called grad school, I was actually a human geography major with a focus on African development. As such, my Free for All for this month is a shout out to the world of development. The folks at AidData.org seem to be obsessed with mapping development projects and I applaud their efforts as maps are the best! On their website, you will find a plethora of data, online maps, APIs and much more–in fact, it seemed the more I explored their website, the more I found.
Here are a few highlight of AidData.org website, I suggest you explore a bit more to find what might interest you:
An example of a map you can make with AidData.org, this one shows global food security statistics.- Geocoded datasets of the locations of various UN, World Bank, etc. development efforts. Many of the datasets are downloadable as geocoded XLS files that will need to be converted to shapefiles in a GIS application.
- Various online maps that can be customized and then you can download the data used to create them.
- An API to access the GIS data AidData.org maintains.
- A variety of development centric publications, many of which can be downloaded.
As a quick heads up, do not add in the “www.” if you type in your own URL as it will fail!
Until my next edition of the Free For All, happy hunting for free geospatial goodies!
Brock Adam McCarty
Map Wizard
(720) 470-7988
brock@apollomapping.com
