Geographic Information Systems (GIS): New York & Local GIS Data
This guide describes how the UB Community can obtain ArcGIS Software and access free tutorial course offerings. Sources for GIS data are included in this guide.
Last Updated: Jan 22, 2024 4:20 PM
Frequently Requested Data
Commonly Requested Data for Buffalo
Building Footprints
Buffalo & Erie County
- Microsoft Building Footprints, Erie County NY, 2018 (Cornell University Geospatial Information Repository)
- Unofficial data derived from Microsoft Bing imagery.
United States
- US Building Footprints (Microsoft Maps)
Economy
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Retail Food Stores (data.ny.gov)
Education
- Public Schools (2018-2019, Open Data Buffalo)
- Pre-K Programs (Open Data Buffalo)
- Please note: As of September 2021, it appears Open Data Buffalo no longer makes the shapefile dataset for this available.
Neighborhoods/Zoning/Districts
- Historic Districts(Open Data Buffalo)
- Assessment Residential Neighborhoods (Open Data Buffalo)
- National Register of Historic Places Map (data.ny.gov)
Parks and Green Spaces
- Parks (Open Data Buffalo)
- State Park Facilities Points Map (data.ny.gov)
- Tree Inventory (Open Data Buffalo)
- Please note: As of September 2021, it appears Open Data Buffalo no longer makes the shapefile dataset for this available.
Transportation
- Streets/Roads (Open Data Buffalo)
- Railroads (Open Data Buffalo)
- Bike Lanes (Open Data Buffalo)
- Parking (Property-Type Classification) (Open Data Buffalo)
- Please note: As of September 2021, it appears Open Data Buffalo no longer makes the shapefile dataset for this available.
- Parking Meters (Open Data Buffalo)
- Route Shapefiles (Most Recent) (Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority)
Western New York
Erie County
- Erie County Internet Mapping System (ECIMS). Designed to provide access to the most popular layers of digital maps in the Erie County's Geographic Information System (GIS). Through this interactive system, users can create and print their own maps, and locate information, on a variety of subjects. Property parcels, roads, parks, schools districts, and environmental data are examples of the types of maps included in the Internet Mapping System.
- Office of Geographic Information Services
Niagara County
- Niagara County, NY GIS
- NYS Clearinghouse Data for Niagara County
Local Cities and Towns
- City of Buffalo GIS
- Open Data Buffalo
- Mapping Metrics for Buffalo Niagara (One Region Forward). Display and create maps focusing on development in the Buffalo-Niagara Region.
- Mapping Waste. Maps of waste sites (hazardous, radioactive, and solid waste) in Erie, Niagara and Chautauqua counties.
- Eden
- Tonawanda
Regions Outside Erie and Niagara Counties
- Community GIS. Villages and towns in the Southern Tier (Chatauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany Counties) GIS sites. Includes villages and towns of: Allegany, Busti, Cattaraugus, Cuba, Delevan, East Randolph, Ellicott, Franklinville, Gowanda, Hume, Limestone, New Albion, Perrysburg, Portville, Randolph, South Dayton, and Wellsville.
- Monroe County GIS. Monroe County, including Rochester. Also has pdfs of main towns in the county. Other thematic maps include agriculture, fire, emergency, flood, land use, soils, population, etc.
New York State
- GIS.NY.GOV. State GIS services; includes:
- NYS GIS Clearinghouse. Some data requires a password to download. Please contact Kim Plassche for the password.
- CUGIR (Cornell University)
- NYS Gazetteer and GeoData Collection
- New York State Museum
- NYC Dept of City Planning
Southern Ontario (Canada)
Ontario (Canada)
- Niagara Falls, Canada Open Datasets.
- Ontario Basic Mapping. GIS for entire province.
Great Lakes
- Spatial Database (Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Framework)
- Great Lakes and Watersheds Shapefiles (USGS)
- Great Lakes Bathymetry and Shoreline Data (NOAA GLERL)
- Great Lakes GIS (Great Lakes Commission)