The ISU GIS Facility provides access to a variety of geospatial data, including aerial imagery, topographic maps, land cover data, and LiDAR-derived hillshade imagery for Iowa. These datasets are available through the Iowa Geographic Image Map Server and can be downloaded or accessed via web map services. The facility also offers public data produced by the DNR and campus research, as well as restricted ESRI data available to ISU users for educational and research purposes. For up-to-date data, users are encouraged to visit the Iowa Geodata clearinghouse.
Geospatial Data
The Iowa Geographic Image Map Server (OrthoServer) provides a wide variety of image products via download or through web map services (WMS). Data coverage includes the entire state of Iowa. Products include:
- 2004 – 2011, 2013 – 2021 natural color and infrared photos
- 1930s – 1980s decadal gray scale photos
- Hillshade from LiDAR data, 2007-2010 and 2019-2021
- Early 1990s gray scale photos
- 1:24000 and 1:100000 topographic maps (USGS DRGs)
- 1992 and 2002 land cover/ land use maps
The GIS Facility provides data produced by the DNR and data developed by research on campus. To obtain this data, visit here. The data is zipped so you will need to download the data onto your machine and unzip. The data that is provided by the DNR can also be found at Iowa Geodata, the State’s geospatial data clearinghouse. The most complete and up-to-date data can be found there as we do not provide an exact copy of the current data.
The GIS Facility provides data produced by ESRI that is included with our site license. Only those people with an ISU username will be able to access the data. The GIS Facility allows a user to download the data from CyBox or to connect to the data directly from a server. Click here to download.
Esri Data for Education Programs contains demographic, lifestyle segmentation, and consumer spending data for a variety of geographic levels in the United States. They are in File Geodatabase Format for use with Esri ArcGIS software. For more information on the methodology used to derive these products, visit Esri Demographics.