from AnyGeo, via Donna:

There's a very easy way to search for all KMLs [Google Earth] available on the web. Using Google Search, simply type in the following string to search for a KML for Vancouver:

filetype:kml brooklyn

or

filetype:kmz milwaukee

note the vast number of results… you can refine your search or add even more detail if you'd like better results. Similarly, if you'd like to locate an AutoCAD DWF format file try this search string:

filetype:dwf brooklyn

Q: [1] Does anyone have what they deem to be accurate zip code boundaries? [2] If so, where did you get them or how did you build them? I have not yet found a reliable source of zip code boundary data… including the Post Office.

(more…)

the labs have begun work on an nyc database. while ultimately we'd like our database to be geo-enabled, at the moment it will consist strictly of tabular data. hard at work compiling and geocoding the location of all community gardens and surveillance cameras in brooklyn, our initial offering [meager we know, yet the base] consists of new york boroughs, neighborhoods, and subneighborhoods. at the moment, we include all five boroughs, but only brooklyn and the bronx are represented at the neighborhood and subneighborhood level.

the boroughs are common knowledge, but the neighborhood and subneighborhood names were drawn from two different sources. brooklyn neighborhoods were drawn from citizens for nyc's excellent the neighborhoods of brooklyn. note that their neighborhoods do not match the new york city department of city planning's brooklyn neighborhoods, but we feel the neighborhoods of new york listing is more comprehensive, provides more detailed maps, and was more thoroughly researched. for bronx neighborhoods, we used wikipedia. of the two sources, we consider the neighborhoods of brooklyn more authoritative and therefore the brooklyn data are more reliable.

the database is currently available as an sql script. the script was written for mysql and may require some adaptation to work with other database engines [sorry!]. at some future date, we'll probably also make a microsoft access version available. if you must have one now, contact us.

→ the database [sql, 51 KB]

New and pretty cool: WikiLoc beta, a website where an open community of GPS enthusiasts share their GPS data from around the world. It's completely free, based on the Google Maps API & Google Earth, and allows one to visualize GPS data overlaid on maps coming from any freely accessible OpenGeospatial Web Map Service [WMS].

If anyone start using this site, we'd love to hear about it. The developer, Jordi L. Ramot, notes that there's a lot of room for improvements and welcomes any suggestions.

BYTES of the BIG APPLE is a family of software, data, and geographic base map files for the City of New York. Here's what you can get for free:

• Administrative and Political Districts—MapInfo table and ArcView shapefile.
  
  • Political & Election Districts: New York State Assembly Districts, New York City Council Districts, U.S. Congressional Districts, New York State Senate Districts, New York City Election Districts and New York City Municipal Court Districts.
  • Borough & Community Districts: Borough Boundaries [with and without Water Area], and Community Districts.
  • School, Health, Fire & Police: School Districts, Instructional Regions, Police Precincts, Fire Companies, Health Areas, and Health Center Districts.
  • 2000 Census Blocks & Tracts: [with and without Water Area]
• DCPLION—A single line street base map representing the city’s streets and other linear geographic features such as shorelines, surface rail lines and boardwalks, along with feature names and address ranges for each addressable street segment. MapInfo tables or ArcView geodatabase.
• Selected Facilities and Program Sites—Data providing the location, type and capacity of public and private community facilities in New York City, including schools, parks, libraries, public safety, day care, foster care, special needs housing, health and mental health facilities and programs. ASCII delimited text files or Microsoft Access database.
• Tax Block Base Map Files—Geographic base files of tax blocks in New York City. MapInfo table, ArcView shapefile, or Adobe Illustrator file.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission provides the following data as ESRI^tm shapefiles [.shp]:

• boundaries of the historic districts [polygons]
• locations of individual landmarks [points]
• locations of interior landmarks [points]
• boundaries of scenic landmarks [polygons]

These data can be downloaded here.

The DIME file (street centerlines) and parcel outlines are now available for free download from the City of Milwaukee's website at city.milwaukee.gov/display/router.asp?docid=3497! This is pretty huge and it's been a long time coming… I wonder why they finally realized it?

→ links to Milwaukee map data