GIScience (Geographic Information Science)

The citation of geospatial data produced by others provides linage of your research in support of its reproducibility and reuse.

Citing geospatial data of others should be included within the map produced and in the bibliography of your research paper.

Below is some general guidance on geospatial data citation.

The elements of geospatial data citation are as follows:

• Authors (period separated)
• Publish Date - if known
• Title
• Format (e.g shapefile, GeoTIFF, JPEG, TIFF, ArcGRID, Paper Map, Geodatabase, JPEG, etc.)
• Publisher
• Source URL

These elements can then be combined in the following manor for citation
{Authors}. ({Publish Date}). {Title}, [{Format}]. {Publisher}. Retrieved from {Source URL}

Replacing the elements enclosed by curly braces

E.g United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. United States. Department of Commerce. United States. National Ocean Service. Coastal Services Center (U.S.). (2011). 1 Degree Graticule, Northeast United States, 2010. [Shapefile]. Coastal Services Center (U.S.). Retrieved from https://earthworks.stanford.edu/catalog/stanford-gd672hm7648

Where available, use DOI's or permalinks instead of address bar URLs to avoid link rot.

Basemaps

It is quite common to use a basemaps to present your data atop of. These basemaps often appear on websites and include attribute information on the bottom right corner of the web map. Guidance on citing basemaps can be found here https://support.esri.com/en/technical-article/000012040 and includes some additional elements than those listed in the above example.

{Authors}. “Map title”, [basemap]. {Scale}. "{Document or website title}". {Source URL} ({date viewed})

• Scale - if not available use "Scale Not Given"
• Document or website title - can be obtained by looking at website source code HTML title tag.

E.g Esri. "Topographic" [basemap]. Scale Not Given. "World Topographic Map". February 19, 2012. http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=30e5fe3149c34df1ba922e6f5bbf808f. (May 25, 2017)

Real-time Data

For Real-Time map data, be sure to include the time and timezone. Use format, "Month day, year, HH:MM Timezone".

E.g PurpleAir. "Real-time air quality map". September 10, 2021, 09:20 MDT. https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#11/40.5377/-105.0546.

Additional Resources

For an in-depth list of examples for citing geospatial data, please see the guide Citing Geospatial Resources (University of Waterloo) by Alberta Auringer Wood.