Spatial Data Citation

You cite the Intellectual Property (IP) of others when it is in the form of a published paper. Published geospatial data is also IP and should be cited appropriately when your work relies on it.

Your first point of reference should always be the licence or agreement you signed when you acquired the data. If the supplier did not specify how they wished to be acknowledged this does not mean you do not have to acknowledge them! Just as with any other reference material used in your research, you need to then check the referencing standard preferred by your School or Institution. Failing that, you need to rely on your common sense.

We have several data sets that are regularly used by researchers here in SAL and have provided their preferred standard citation below. You still need to read your licence/agreement carefully as there are instances where some of these suppliers require that you cite their contributions in different ways, based on how you have used their data!

Click here for information on ESRI Data and Maps Redistribution Rights

For additional information on geospatial data citation please talk to the SAL Tech Staff.