ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an organized guide to finding and getting, collecting, or converting and organizing different types of geospatial data for a Geographic Information Systems project. Most projects begin with a search for geospatial data. Taking the time to establish some baseline categories and characteristics of the required mapping data at this point can help organize and simplify this search and make later stages of the project easier. Geospatial data subscription services have many obvious advantages. Users have access to a defined set of data giving near immediate startup for projects, initiatives, and other client services. Private sector geospatial services and data is a broad and rapidly expanding field that will only be briefly covered. A discussion of these data can be divided into a few categories that may help users who are considering using commercial services for data discovery, acquisition, and deployment.
