ChatGPT said:
There’s a huge range of free public datasets available across sectors like weather, maps, finance, health, government data, and more. Let me break it down clearly and explain how to access them.
1. Weather & Climate
Dataset | Description | Access method |
---|---|---|
ERA5 (ECMWF) | Global reanalysis (historical weather, high resolution) | Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS) API, NetCDF files |
GFS (NOAA) | Global Forecast System, numerical weather prediction | NOAA FTP/HTTP servers, GRIB2 files |
NASA POWER | Solar, temperature, precipitation data | REST API, CSV download |
Open-Meteo datasets | Derived from ERA5/GFS | API calls (JSON) |
Reading: Most use formats like NetCDF, GRIB2, CSV. Python libraries: xarray
, netCDF4
, pygrib
.
2. Maps / Geospatial
Dataset | Description | Access method |
---|---|---|
OpenStreetMap | Roads, buildings, POIs | OSM API, Overpass API, .osm PBF files |
Natural Earth | Vector/raster map data (country boundaries, rivers) | Shapefiles, GeoJSON downloads |
SRTM / NASA DEM | Digital elevation models | HGT files, GDAL library |
USGS Earth Explorer | Satellite imagery, elevation | Download via web or API |
Reading: GIS tools: QGIS, GDAL, Python: geopandas
, rasterio
.
3. Finance / Economic
Dataset | Description | Access method |
---|---|---|
Yahoo Finance | Stocks, indices, historical OHLC | Python: yfinance , CSV export |
FRED | Economic indicators (GDP, CPI, employment) | REST API |
Quandl (free datasets) | Stocks, commodities, FX | REST API, Python: quandl |
Reading: CSV/JSON via API, Pandas in Python is common.
4. Government / Open Data
Dataset | Description | Access method |
---|---|---|
data.gov (USA) | Census, health, energy, transportation | CSV, JSON, APIs |
data.gov.uk | UK government data | CSV, JSON, APIs |
India Open Government Data (data.gov.in) | Population, health, agriculture, weather | CSV, JSON, APIs |
Reading: Usually straightforward CSV/JSON → Python/Pandas, or via REST APIs.
5. Science / AI / ML Datasets
Dataset | Description | Access method |
---|---|---|
Kaggle datasets | Images, NLP, tabular, finance, healthcare | Kaggle API or download CSV/ZIP |
UCI ML Repository | Classic ML datasets | Direct download |
Open Images / COCO | Image recognition datasets | REST download / scripts |
NOAA / NASA satellite datasets | Weather, climate, Earth observation | FTP/HTTP, NetCDF, HDF5 |
Reading: Python libraries, or download locally.
6. How to read/access them online
-
APIs / REST endpoints
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Many datasets provide JSON, CSV, or XML via simple HTTP requests.
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Examples: Open-Meteo, NASA POWER, FRED, Kaggle.
-
-
FTP / HTTP download
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Large datasets like GFS, ERA5, satellite imagery are served via FTP/HTTP.
-
-
Specialized formats
-
NetCDF / GRIB2 → Python:
xarray
,netCDF4
,pygrib
-
Shapefiles / GeoTIFF → Python:
geopandas
,rasterio
; GIS: QGIS
-
-
Cloud-hosted datasets
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Google Cloud Public Datasets, AWS Open Data Registry, Microsoft Azure Open Datasets.
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Can query directly with BigQuery (GCP), Athena (AWS), or download locally.
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✅ Tips
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Always check the license — some datasets are free for research/personal use, commercial use may be restricted.
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For large datasets, consider cloud-based analysis to avoid high download/storage costs.
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Many APIs provide time-based or spatial subsets, reducing the volume you need to fetch.
If you want, I can make a table of the most useful public datasets specifically for a weather/maps/finance app, including direct URLs and reading instructions, so you can immediately integrate them.
Do you want me to do that?
You said:
If you want, I can make a **table of the most useful public datasets specifically for a weather/maps/finance app**, including **direct URLs and reading instructions**, so you can immediately integrate them.
ChatGPT said:
Here’s a curated table of useful free public datasets for a weather, maps, and finance app, with direct links and notes on how to access them:
1. Weather / Climate
Dataset | Description | Access / Format | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
ERA5 (ECMWF) | Global reanalysis, historical weather | Copernicus Climate Data Store – NetCDF | Use cdsapi in Python; can subset region/time to reduce size |
GFS (NOAA) | Global forecast model, every 6 hours | NOAA FTP – GRIB2 | Python: pygrib , xarray ; hourly/daily forecasts |
NASA POWER | Solar, temperature, precipitation | POWER API – JSON / CSV | REST API; regional queries supported |
Open-Meteo | Free weather forecast API | Open-Meteo API – JSON | Non-commercial free API; commercial requires license |
2. Maps / Geospatial
Dataset | Description | Access / Format | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
OpenStreetMap (OSM) | Roads, buildings, POIs | OSM API / Overpass API | Can query specific areas; data in XML/JSON |
Natural Earth | Vector and raster maps | Natural Earth – Shapefile / GeoJSON | Good for country borders, rivers, coastlines |
SRTM / NASA DEM | Digital elevation models | USGS Earth Explorer – HGT / GeoTIFF | Python: rasterio or GIS tools |
USGS Landsat / Sentinel | Satellite imagery | USGS Earth Explorer | High-resolution imagery; bulk download or API scripts |
3. Finance / Economic
Dataset | Description | Access / Format | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Yahoo Finance | Stocks, indices, historical OHLC | yfinance Python package – CSV / JSON | Free, simple historical and current data |
FRED (Federal Reserve) | Economic indicators (GDP, CPI, unemployment) | FRED API – JSON / CSV | Free API; requires registration for API key |
Quandl (free datasets) | Stocks, commodities, FX | Quandl API – CSV / JSON | Free tier available; Python: quandl package |
Alpha Vantage | Stock / crypto / forex | Alpha Vantage – JSON / CSV | Free API key required; rate-limited |
4. Cloud-hosted / Big Data options
Provider | Description | Access method | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
GCP Public Datasets | Weather, satellite, financial, census | BigQuery | Query large datasets without local download; pay only for query |
AWS Open Data Registry | Satellite imagery, weather, genomics, finance | S3 / Athena | Free data storage; compute costs apply for querying |
Microsoft Azure Open Datasets | Weather, demographics, public health | Azure Blob / Synapse | Pre-processed for analytics; some datasets are CSV / Parquet |
Tips for integration
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Weather: Use APIs like Open-Meteo for forecasts; use ERA5/GFS for historical analysis.
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Maps: Use OSM/Overpass for POIs, roads; Natural Earth for basemap data; SRTM for elevation.
-
Finance: Yahoo Finance, Alpha Vantage, FRED for real-time & historical financial data.
-
Formats & tools:
-
Python:
pandas
,xarray
,pygrib
,rasterio
,geopandas
-
GIS tools: QGIS for shapefiles/GeoTIFF
-
APIs: Always check rate limits & licensing
-
If you want, I can make a ready-to-use workflow diagram for a weather + maps + finance app, showing which datasets to call, when to cache, and how to integrate them efficiently.
Do you want me to do that?
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
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