Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Extreme Weather, Natural Disaster, Weather Warning, Climate Change Maps, GIS Shapefiles & Resources

Scientists say solar activity is decreasing. Does this mean a new ice age is coming?

The weather this winter and spring has been quite dramatic around the globe. I've gathered some resources that you can use to help prepare yourself for and understand these extreme climate events. Some of these include space weather, climate change impact assessments, natural disaster shapefiles, extreme weather maps, NOAA national warning maps...

Click here to access extreme weather maps, shapefiles and resources.

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Free International ArcGIS Shapefiles & Adobe Illustrator Maps Updated - Download Now

Cloudmade has recently updated their international shapefiles. These are derived from the Openstreetmap project. Each country set contains seperate shapefiles for the following:

  • highways (roads, footpaths)
  • natural, (park and forest area polygons
  • points of interest (amenity and tourist attraction points)
  • administrative boundaries
  • coastlines
  • water bodies.
Cloudmade also provides free:
  • OSM XML extracts by country
  • Garmin Map Files (OSM.err edition)
  • Osmosis country bounding polygon
  • Navit maps by country
  • GPX POI by country
  • TomTom POI by country
  • OSM XML feature extracts by country
  • Adobe Illustrator format country maps
Download Free Cloudmade OpenStreetmap GIS Shapefile Map Layers of the World by Country. Mike Meuser GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

Monday, June 13, 2011

Maps for Wildfire Season

All the precipitation in the West means increased fuel for wildfires. We've collected quite a few resources that should be of interest. Here's an example maps:



Check here for more wildfire related mapping and GIS resources

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Getting a Handle on Climate Change and What it Means for OUR FUTURE

It's been an amazing year. Tornadoes, floods, cold snaps, record rain and snowfall. I live in California and last week 4 tornadoes touched down in the Sacramento Valley and one twisted around for an hour flinging almond trees all over the place. We don't see many tornadoes in California. Winter is still here. We actually had a few days of spring last month, but been below freezing at 4,000 feet every night where I live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

And, of course, to add insult to injury so to speak, the record precipitation is bringing all the radioactivity from the 3 Fukushima meltdowns right down to the ground where we all live - why isn't this in the news everyday? Well, that's another story.

OH, and by the way, the world is also creating more CO2 than ever before - another record!



It's time to get a handle on climate change and what it may mean for our future. The damage has been done and we've got to be as ready as we can. I've created some GIS shapefiles based on the most recent IPCC data. I used the A2 scenario because it seems to be the most likely to me. You can find out more about the IPCC scenarios here. With these shapefiles I can look at and compare various changes and scenarios for each decade from 2010 through 2099. I can:

  • Compare temperature changes throughout the year, month by month.
  • Compare precipitation changes throughout the year, month by month.
  • Combine the above and see where and when it's likely to snow or rain.
  • Look at temperature changes and determine when a heavy snowpack might thaw quickly and early resulting in flooding.
  • Look at temperature changes and detemine what might be the best vegetables to grow.
  • Examine temperature changes and see what affect that might have on my land - wildlife and plantlife changes over time.
These are just a few examples. To learn more, check out the climate change GIS shapefiles I have created. You don't have to be an expert GIS guru. I provide a free GIS Tutorial and Atlas. It comes with access to free GIS software and it will get you up to speed quickly so that you can make your own climate change digital maps. Best of Luck - We're Going to Need It, Mike Meuser GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Sunday, May 29, 2011

U.S. Elementary, Secondary and Unified School District Shapefile Download

Now available for download are U.S. (50 states plus Puerto Rico) elementary, secondary and unified school district GIS shapefiles. Theses are the most current, based on the U.S. 2010 Census.

Download the school district shapefiles

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming