Spatial Data

U-Spatial provides access to a number of spatial data resources for research and learning. These include recent National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery; imagery from Hennepin and Ramsey Counties; and Minnesota elevation data including LiDAR and digital elevation models (DEMs). Students, faculty, and staff can access the data at \\files.umn.edu\us\gis\U-Spatial\UMN_Users\data by following the steps in Connect to a Shared Drive or Network folder.

Contact the U-Spatial Help Desk for assistance.
 

Planet Labs Imagery

U-Spatial manages the University of Minnesota subscription to Planet.com's daily PlanetScope imagery and automated monthly and quarterly composite basemaps and tile-services. This service provides daily 4- and 8-band high-resolution (3m) PlanetScope imagery for the entire globe. This imagery service is available to all UMN students, faculty, and staff for their research and coursework.

Submit this form to request access to Planet.com: Planet.com Access Request Form.

Interested to participate in a Planet Community of Practice (CoP)? Fill out this form to join the conversation! Learn something new, share your skills, and meet others using the Planet archive. 

Authorized User Terms of Service

Access to the Planet API is subject to the Master Content License Agreement between Planet Labs Inc. and the University of Minnesota. Please review the University of Minnesota Authorized User Terms of Service, Master Content License and agriculture segment terms. 

The UMN Planet contract has negotiated the following for use of these data resources. Please read to inform your use of the Planet imagery products:

  • Basemap services are un-metered and do not count against the quota limit.
  • Downloaded scenes from the PlanetScope Daily Imagery archive may be redistributed, internal to UMN affiliates, in perpetuity.
  • Downloaded scenes from the PlanetScope Daily Imagery archive may be retained on UMN computing infrastructure, in perpetuity, in support of peer-review publication and other products of research. Access to these data products may only be provided within the UMN IP.

Planet Resources and User Guides

About Planet Products
Training: Planet School
User Guides: Developer Resource Guide
A primer to getting started with Planet on MSI systems: MSI Planet on GitHub

Desktop software Add-ins:

Planet Webinar (November 4, 2022)
Introducing Planet Labs Imagery and the UMN Subscription
This webinar starts with an introduction to Planet, examples of use, and then moves into an interactive demo of Planet Explorer and Planet APIs.
Recording available

    Aerial Imagery

    National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP)
    Minnesota NAIP imagery for 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019

    Hennepin County
    High-resolution imagery for 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018

    Ramsey County
    High-resolution imagery for 2015, 2017, 2018

    Twin Cities
    High-resolution imagery for 2005 and 2016 (both years include a near-infrared band)
     

    MN Geospatial Commons

    The Minnesota Geospatial Commons is a collaborative space for users and publishers of Minnesota's geospatial resources. Find statewide and county datasets in 18 categories.

     

    MN County Parcels

    There is a public statewide parcel dataset found on Minnesota Geospatial Commons site that includes aggregated parcel data for counties that have opted-in to share their data. Individual counties post current parcel data here as well.

    U-Spatial has an agreement with MnGeo to provide county parcel data that includes many counties that do not have open data. Additionally, there is an aggregated statewide dataset including these counties. These datasets are available directly to the University of Minnesota system community for research, teaching, administration, and outreach. If you are interested in obtaining MN parcel data, please fill out this form to request access to the secure storage location. Please contact the U-Spatial Help Desk with any questions.

     

    MN Natural Resources Atlas

    The interactive map-based Minnesota Natural Resources Atlas provides a basic set of GIS tools for exploring, visualizing, and analyzing spatial data. Users have access to over 450 multidisciplinary data layers across the state of Minnesota and the ability to measure, access attribute data, conduct basic summaries, query features, and view different combinations of these data. Information can be shared by exporting analysis results and map images or by creating a unique URL that other users can follow to your custom map. The Atlas is offered as a free public resource.

     

    Borchert Map Library

    The Borchert Map Library is a great place to look for geospatial data. Staff curate and maintain access to a variety of geospatial datasets that include historical scanned maps, plat maps, aerial photographs, access to licensed databases containing thousands of geospatial layers, and other tools for finding data such as the Big Ten Academic Alliance Geoportal.