Online data sets

The following websites can be used for downloading spatial data.

Satellite Imagery

• Earthdata  

URL: https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search 

Account required: yes (free) 

Imagery: similar to the USGS Earth Explorer but focused on earth observation 

• Earthdata Worldview 

URL: https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/ 

Account required: no 

Imagery: Terra, MODIS 

For additional help visit https://earthdata.nasa.gov/faq/worldview-gibs-faq#ed-worldview-faq-image-for-gis

• JAXA ALOS  

URL: https://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ALOS/en/aw3d30/index.htm 

Account required: yes (free) - register at https://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ALOS/en/aw3d30/registration.htm 

DEM: 30m global 

• DEM Copernicus Open Access Hub 

URL: https://scihub.copernicus.eu/  

Complete, free and open access to Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-5P user products, starting from the In-Orbit Commissioning Review (IOCR).  

See also: https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/sentinel-data-access

•  USGS Earth Explorer 

URL: https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

Account required: yes (free) 

Imagery: Landsat archive up to Landsat 8, Sentinel 2, IKONOS-2, Orbview-3 DEM: STM 1-arc, GOTOPO30, ASTER Land cover: GLCC

Vector Data 

• CDNGI geospatial portal (National Geo-Spatial Information) 

URL: http://www.cdngiportal.co.za/cdngiportal

 All datasets available from the Surveyor General of South Africa (raster and vector, vector at 1:50 000 scale) 

• DIVA-GIS 

URL: https://www.diva-gis.org/gdata

Account required: no 

Data: general data per country 

• Department of Environmental Affairs EGIS 

URL: https://egis.environment.gov.za/

Account required: yes (free) 

Data: NLC, marine protected areas, protected areas, conservation areas 

• Department of Water and Sanitation geospatial data 

URL: http://sarva2.dirisa.org/metadata/department-of-water-and-sanitation

Account required: no 

Data: hydrology related Groundwater data available at: http://www.dwa.gov.za/Groundwater/data.aspx

• Municipal Demarcation Board 

Account required: no 

URL: http://www.demarcation.org.za/site/shapefiles/

Outlines of municipal boundaries (district, metro, ward, etc.​) 

• Open Data Portal 

URL: https://openup.org.za/tools/dataportal.html, access the data provision section directly at https://datahub.io/pi

Account required: no 

Data: a wide range of freely-available datasets 

• Open Street Map 

URL: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/-28.676/24.677

How to download the data: https://learnosm.org/en/osm-data/getting-data/

 Data: crowdsourced topographic data 

• SANBI Biodiversity GIS 

URL: http://bgis.sanbi.org/

Account required: no 

Data: biodiversity related data 

• SA Risk and Vulnerability Atlas

URL: http://sarva2.dirisa.org/resources/search-data

Account required: depends, the resource also links to external datasets 

Data: anything related to hydrology and vulnerability 

Additional sources

• openAFRICA

URL: https://open.africa/dataset/africa-shapefiles 

• MapCruzin

URL: https://mapcruzin.com/free-gis-software-tools.htm 

• DIVA-GIS

URL: https://www.diva-gis.org/Data

• Department of forestry, fisheries and the environment

URL: https://egis.environment.gov.za/data_egis/data_download/current