About Find GIS
Find GIS is a catalog of free and open GIS data from the agencies that publish it. It is an index. Each row points at the publisher of that dataset. When CartaTerra carries the layer, the detail view also links to the map with that layer on.
Find GIS does not host the files. It does not own the data, and it does not set the license. The publisher does. If a link and a publisher page disagree, follow the publisher.
On the homepage you can search and filter. The up and down arrow keys move through the rows and update the detail panel without a click. Each dataset also has its own page. Category pages and region pages collect the same records, so you can start from a subject or a region. Those pages are generated from the data. Adding a dataset does not require a new hand-written route.
The catalog currently lists 1128 datasets, 20 categories, and 16 regions. That is a starter set. The aim is a much larger catalog, on the order of thousands of datasets, with the same kind of page for each one.
Free to download does not mean every dataset is open for any use. A few records are non-commercial, and some say to check the publisher. The license word on a row is a short label. It is not the license. Read the licensing page, then read the publisher. Rows that say non-commercial are marked with a badge. The terms explain what this website does and does not promise.
A checked date means a stored link responded when this project last requested it. Most links in the current list were checked on 27 Oct 2026. TIGER/Line now points at the Census file directory, which responded. The Cropland Data Layer now points at the NASS release page, which responded. The old Census HTML page still timed out, and the old CropScape host still failed a certificate check. A response is not a review of the file, and it is not a promise that the file is complete or current.