GIS, GPS, and map resources
GIS resources at Michigan Tech: gis.mtu.edu
GIS data Sources
List of Public GIS Servers (updated weekly)
Cartolab GIS Servers Site (made from the list above, updated Thursdays at 0400 EST)
OFFLINE as of August 2025
State of Michigan GIS Open Data Portal - authoritative data from Michigan
NRCS Geospatial Data Gateway - county level or custom area data sets from the NRCS
NRCS NAIP data direct download: National Aerial Imagery Program downloads
USGS Earth Explorer: find satellite imagery, aerial photos, more. Account needed for download
The USGS National Map Viewer: download water resource data, land cover layers, DEM data and derived products, and more
AGO and field maps guides
by Geospatial Training Services (on YouTube)
Miscellaneous Resources
Blue habitat guide (PDF, 12 MB)
Michigan Projections and Coordinate Systems
Michigan Georef .prj file
The parameters for the Michigan Georef projection are included with
ArcGIS and may be found under
Coordinate Systems : Projected
Coordinate Systems : State Systems: NAD 1983 Michigan GeoRef
(Meters).prj (ArcGIS 9.2 and later and ArcGIS Pro)
Coordinate Systems : Projected
Coordinate Systems : National Grids: NAD 1983 Michigan GeoRef
(Meters).prj (ArcGIS Pre-9.2)
More
information on Michigan-specific projected coordinate systems is
available from the Michigan
DNR
or from Dave
Lusch at MSU
PDF maps
see the Google Drive links at right for PDF maps of the Ford Center (2020 aerial
imagery background ) (2022 aerial imagery). These can be used in Avenza Maps for navigation. The Overview maps cover all of the Ford Center lands near Alberta. There are individual section maps available too.
If you are looking for Historic topographic maps, see topoView, run by the USGS. They have both current and historic topo maps available for download. You can search using a map interface, and filter results by map scale. Downloads are available in jpeg, GeoTiff (ArcGIS), KMZ (Google Earth), and GeoPDF (Avenza Maps) format. Click the topoView link, then View and Download. You can then view and search by location (using a location or map's name or a map interface), filter by map scale and date, and more.