1.1.4. Data Sources

Often, you do not receive any data from your employer. Therefore you have to start a search for data.

Depending on the application the search is easier or not.

For a simple personal Web Page you normally possess already all the needed information. Perhaps you have to create some illustrations or sort some pictures but the expenditure of time will not be that big.

When developing a multimedia application in the field of cartography, the resource search is more complex. Because normally a map is included in the application, geometry data such as administrative boundaries, hydrography, transport network, etc. has to be organized. The organisation differs from country to country depending on the country's law:

United States of America: All data is free to download on the homepage of the national atlas which is provided by the US government: National Atlas of the U.S.

Logo National Atlas of the U.S. (National Atlas of the U.S.)

Switzerland: The Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo) creates, maintains and revises the basic geodetic and topographic data for the whole of Switzerland. This data has to be ordered and paid for: Swisstopo Products

Logo Swisstopo (Swisstopo)

Needless to say, this list is not complete and the listed items are just examples.

Often the geometry data has to be extended by thematic data such as inhabitants of the countries, etc. This data is often not delivered with the geometry data and has to be organised separately. You sometimes are lucky and find the right information on the Internet and free to download. But sometimes you have to pay for the data and therefore contact some private or public offices to get the data.

Examples of addresses where you find free thematic data are:

• The CIA World Factbook
• U.S. Census Bureau
• The United Nations Statistics Division
• Eurostat
• Swiss Federal Statistical Office

The located data (geometric and thematic) has to be checked for its quality (see list in chapter "Data Quality") to get information about its usability and the time that has to be invested for the data preparation.
Again: If you would have to spend too much of the available time for the data preparation, you have to doubt the feasibility of the project.