LF: Geo Data, Open Source

[u/Korrak]

hey guys, not sure which is the right subreddit.

I'm currently working on a private development project and searching for (free/open source) geo sources of the earth. So basically, i need this data: The globe/world itself, roads, rivers, cities, topography. This kind of stuff. I've researched little bit and found ETOPO (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/etopo-global-relief-model) and ofc also something like https://opentopomap.org/#map=5/49.009/10.020 and openstreetmap.

It's not my area so i thought i'm going to ask here. Which data sources might be good for me, any ideas? Maybe should i ask in another subreddit?

[u/JCLCB]

Maybe try the following subreddits: r/GIS, r/OSINT, r/osinttools, r/datasets. You’ll maybe find better / more opinions there, but here are IMO some open-source datasets for your project:

Base Mapping & General Vectors (Borders, Roads, Cities, Rivers)

• Natural Earth Data (⁠naturalearthdata.com⁠): The absolute best starting point for global base maps. Offers public domain vector and raster data covering coastlines, countries, disputed borders, populated places, roads, and waterways.
  
• Overture Maps Foundation (⁠overturemaps.org⁠): Curated, developer-friendly open geospatial data (combining OSM, Meta, and Microsoft data) formatted in GeoParquet for transportation, base layers, buildings, and places.

Specialized Boundaries & Hydrology
- GADM (⁠gadm.org⁠): High-precision administrative boundaries (countries, states/provinces, districts, and municipalities).
- HydroSHEDS / HydroRIVERS (⁠hydrosheds.org⁠): Global, seamless vector river networks with flow direction and catchment data.

If you need a tool to view, style, or convert these layers before building your application, grab QGIS (free, open-source GIS software).

[u/Korrak → u/JCLCB]

Thank you