Geospatial Data and Mapping
Whether you’re studying cities or the environment, researching an infectious disease, or deciding where to site a new health clinic, accessing and using geospatial data can help you better understand an issue, make decisions, problem solve, and more.
For example, you might be:
- A health professional who wants to show where and how many people within a particular ZIP code have a reported diagnosis of lead poisoning
- An environmental studies student who wants to map the location of chemical factories near a river that provides a population's drinking water
- An urban planner investigating bicycle-related traffic accidents along a popular travel route, to guide decisions about where to add protected bicycle lanes
How we can help
Whether you’re an experienced user of geospatial data and geographic information systems (GIS) or are just starting out, we can connect you to the services that can help you get your work done. This can include:
- Finding and accessing geospatial data, including natural environment and topographic (elevation) data, U.S. Census information, regional political data, and more
- Managing and converting your data, which might be in a format that requires a special computing program to analyze and interpret
- Using the digital mapping software we have available at the library, including ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, Carto, and others
- Getting support for data visualization and visualization-related software to make graphs, network diagrams, and more
Make an appointment
We offer one-on-one consultations, course-related instruction, and workshops in geospatial data and mapping.
- Make an appointment at the Clark Library on Central Campus, or the SAND North Lab on North Campus to get customized help.
- Email us at clarklibrary@umich.edu to let us know what kind of help you’re looking for and potential times you can meet.
Join a workshop
Come to one of our workshops to learn in a welcoming group setting. Please note that there may be few to no workshops held during the summer term.
Explore our guides
Our guide, Learning GIS, can help you understand and work with geospatial data and GIS tools on campus.
We also have guides to help you find and use aerial imagery, census and demographic information, and other data and mapping resources.