FIGURE 14.1. The Twin Cities Metropolitan area supports many GIS-related services and operations, especially coordination and data access. DataFinder is an example of a portal to GIS data used by professionals, government staff, and others to gain access to data for the area. Courtesy of Metrogis.org. From A Primer of GIS, 2nd edition, by Francis Harvey. Copyright 2016 by The Guilford Press.

FIGURE 14. 3. Government agencies provide important mapping resources FIGURE 14.3. Government agencies provide important mapping resources. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) provides online mapping support to make maps of widespread diseases, among many other types of online mapping services and support. From A Primer of GIS, 2nd edition, by Francis Harvey. Copyright 2016 by The Guilford Press.

FIGURE 14.4. Infoamazonia is a nonprofit group that provides mapping services and information to help people in Amazonia and other parts of the world understand environmental and economic changes in Amazonia. The stories it provides help people gain better understandings of these changes through the presentation of specific issues. Courtesy of infoamazonia.org. From A Primer of GIS, 2nd edition, by Francis Harvey. Copyright 2016 by The Guilford Press.

FIGURE 14.5. Many online mapping resources provide access to data and online maps in different forms. The USGS Emergency Operations website provides imagery downloads, an interactive map viewer, GIS resources, and a digital library with additional information. From A Primer of GIS, 2nd edition, by Francis Harvey. Copyright 2016 by The Guilford Press.

FIGURE 14.6. While many government agencies provide online data and mapping, the costs for collecting and preparing data have become low enough to allow groups of people to collect their own data (e.g., Open Street Map, osm.org) and increasingly even more detailed data. This picture shows part of a car equipped with sensors to record continuous georeferenced imagery from the roof of a car. From A Primer of GIS, 2nd edition, by Francis Harvey. Copyright 2016 by The Guilford Press.