7 replies to this topic

[Jennifer]

Does anyone have any leads/ideas on free data or imagery for Mexico? I need to create a map (for print in a magazine) in Illustrator that shows the following:

Continental Divide
some villages, towns and cities
major roads
state borders
mountain ranges and water
some of the southwestern U.S.

The end product will not be extremely detailed but needs to be fine enough to illustrate the journey of cyclists from Nueva Casas Grandes to Zacatecas.

My GIS capabilities are limited at this time but could hopefully use something in that format if a source were found.

Many thanks in advance.

.Jenn.

[sitesatlas]

Hi Jenn,

I'd first check INEGI, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. If you click on "Descargas Gratuitas" (free downloads) on the left side, there's a good selection of data there. You'll need to register to download.

For what it's worth, the site's terms of use say that the data cannot be used for commercial purposes, but the metadata for the 1:1,000,000 data says there are no usage restrictions.

There is also some data for both the U.S. and Mexico at the FHWA website: http://www.borderpla...ov/data_gis.asp.

Good luck!

[Jennifer]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm following up on them now.

.Jennifer.

[19° norte]

Generally INEGI is a good, if not the best, source of information, though free data is difficult to come by. The 1:1 million data is partly free but officially not authorized to be used for commercial purposes.
At INEGI's site there are also census data tables available, which contain Lat/Lon coordinates to locate the nearly 300,000 localities of the country.

For more detailed information on roads, rivers, and towns you also might look at VMAP0 and VMAP1 data. This data also has information on the other side of the border, whereas INEGI information (almost) always is literally empty on the US side (but also in Guatemala and Belize).

You might also want to look at the Atlas Nacional de México, published by the UNAM (Universidad Autónoma de México).

And... -well, the easiest source of information might be Google Maps. Copy the map image from the screen and retrace the parts you're interested in in Illy.

HTH

[Martin Gamache]

You may also want to check the data from Open Street Map. There are a couple websites repackaging it for download in the shapefile format by country.

[Jennifer]

You may also want to check the data from Open Street Map. There are a couple websites repackaging it for download in the shapefile format by country.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it. I often forget about that resource.

.Jenn.

[Dennis McClendon]

And... -well, the easiest source of information might be Google Maps. Copy the map image from the screen and retrace the parts you're interested in in Illy.

Yes, for such a small area and moderate detail, this would certainly be the approach I would take. Rather than spend two days chasing after datasets and figuring out how to use them, I'd just trace the few roads and towns I needed from a Mercator-like source such as Google or Bing Maps, eyeball where to place lat-long lines based on a good atlas or paper map, and then drop in the shaded relief based on those lat-long lines and other clues. Draw or redraw your rivers so they drop into the valleys properly. Adjust peak markers. Go home for the weekend.

[Jennifer]

And... -well, the easiest source of information might be Google Maps. Copy the map image from the screen and retrace the parts you're interested in in Illy.

Yes, for such a small area and moderate detail, this would certainly be the approach I would take. Rather than spend two days chasing after datasets and figuring out how to use them, I'd just trace the few roads and towns I needed from a Mercator-like source such as Google or Bing Maps, eyeball where to place lat-long lines based on a good atlas or paper map, and then drop in the shaded relief based on those lat-long lines and other clues. Draw or redraw your rivers so they drop into the valleys properly. Adjust peak markers. Go home for the weekend.

Thanks, Dennis. I'll be taking your advice to heart. Especially that last bit...=)

This project will go into next week (after the appropriate three day holiday break) but not much if I can help it.

Have a good one all.

.Jenn.