Costa Rica GIS data sources
- Region
- Central America
- ISO 3166
- CR · CRI
- Sources
- 6
- Themes
- 7
- Last verified
Where to download GIS data for Costa Rica: 6 sources across 7 themes, led by Instituto Geográfico Nacional / Registro Nacional and OCHA / HDX. 3 offer vector downloads such as Shapefile, GeoPackage or GeoJSON. 3 are under an open licence. Every link was last checked on 18 Oct 2026.
Country atlases
- Costa Rica in the LiDAR & elevation atlas None known
- Costa Rica in the aerial & satellite imagery atlas None known
National and OpenStreetMap sources for Costa Rica
Boundaries & admin 2
Administrative boundary data for every country-
Costa Rica subnational administrative boundaries (COD-AB) (opens in a new tab)
Download Cost: FreeOCHA / HDX (INEC Costa Rica)
Common Operational Dataset of admin boundaries with P-codes, sourced from INEC Costa Rica.
- Boundaries & admin
Verified
-
geoBoundaries administrative boundaries (opens in a new tab)
API Cost: FreeWilliam & Mary geoLab
JSON API listing every available admin level with direct download links.
- Boundaries & admin
Verified
Population 1
Gridded population data for every country-
High-resolution population density maps – Costa Rica (opens in a new tab)
Download Cost: FreeMeta Data for Good / CIESIN (via HDX)
Roughly 30 m gridded population estimates derived from building detection, with age and sex breakdowns.
- Population
Verified
Census & statistics 1
Census and statistics data for every country-
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (opens in a new tab)
Portal Cost: FreeInstituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos
National statistical office (from the UN Statistics Division directory).
- Census & statistics
- Population
Verified
Transport 1
Road, rail and transport data for every country-
OpenStreetMap extract – Costa Rica (opens in a new tab)
Download Cost: FreeGeofabrik / OpenStreetMap contributors
Daily OSM extract.
- Transport
- Boundaries & admin
- Hydrology
Verified
Open data portal 1
Open geospatial data portals for every country-
Sistema Nacional de Información Territorial (SNIT) (opens in a new tab)
Portal Cost: FreeInstituto Geográfico Nacional / Registro Nacional
National SDI with OGC services for cadastre, boundaries, 1:5,000 basemap and orthoimagery.
- Open data portal
- Addresses & cadastre
- Boundaries & admin
Verified
Global datasets that cover Costa Rica
Worldwide and continental layers that include Costa Rica, useful where national data is missing, restricted or inconsistent across borders.
- Boundaries & admin
-
- GADM (opens in a new tab) GADM project · Non-commercial only · Free · Verified
- geoBoundaries (opens in a new tab) William & Mary geoLab · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Natural Earth (opens in a new tab) Natural Earth · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Elevation / DEM
-
- ALOS World 3D 30 m (AW3D30) (opens in a new tab) JAXA · Open licence · Free with registration · Verified
- Copernicus DEM (GLO-30 / GLO-90) (opens in a new tab) ESA / Airbus (Copernicus) · Open licence · Free · Verified
- ETOPO 2022 Global Relief Model (opens in a new tab) NOAA NCEI · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Imagery
-
- AlphaEarth Foundations Satellite Embeddings (annual, COG mirror) (opens in a new tab) Google and Google DeepMind (mirror by Taylor Geospatial on Source Cooperative) · Open licence · Free · Verified
- ASF Data Search (Vertex) (opens in a new tab) Alaska Satellite Facility · Provider terms / varies · Free with registration · Verified
- Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (opens in a new tab) European Space Agency / European Commission · Open licence · Free with registration · Verified
- Land cover
-
- Copernicus Global Dynamic Land Cover (CGLS-LC100) (opens in a new tab) Copernicus Land Monitoring Service · Open licence · Free with registration · Verified
- Dynamic World (opens in a new tab) Google / World Resources Institute · Open licence · Free · Verified
- ESA CCI Land Cover (opens in a new tab) European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Buildings
-
- Google Open Buildings (opens in a new tab) Google Research · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Google Open Buildings 2.5D Temporal (opens in a new tab) Google Research · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Microsoft Global ML Building Footprints (opens in a new tab) Microsoft · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Population
-
- Global Human Settlement Layer (opens in a new tab) European Commission JRC · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Gridded Population of the World (GPWv4) (opens in a new tab) CIESIN, Columbia University / NASA SEDAC · Open licence · Free with registration · Verified
- Kontur Population (opens in a new tab) Kontur · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Census & statistics
-
- UNdata (opens in a new tab) UN Statistics Division · Open licence · Free · Verified
- World Bank Open Data (opens in a new tab) World Bank · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Addresses & cadastre
-
- OpenAddresses (opens in a new tab) OpenAddresses · Provider terms / varies · Free with registration · Verified
- Transport
-
- BBBike custom OSM extracts (opens in a new tab) BBBike.org · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Geofabrik downloads (opens in a new tab) Geofabrik · Open licence · Free · Verified
- GRIP global roads database (opens in a new tab) PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (GLOBIO) · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Hydrology
-
- Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) (opens in a new tab) Copernicus Emergency Management Service / ECMWF · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) (opens in a new tab) Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Germany / WMO · Provider terms / varies · Free · Verified
- HydroBASINS (opens in a new tab) WWF / McGill University (HydroSHEDS) · Open licence · Free · Verified
- Open data portal
-
- Registry of Open Data on AWS (opens in a new tab) Amazon Web Services · Provider terms / varies · Free · Verified
- Humanitarian Data Exchange (opens in a new tab) UN OCHA · Provider terms / varies · Free · Verified
- Source Cooperative (opens in a new tab) Radiant Earth · Provider terms / varies · Free · Verified
Tutorials that use this kind of data
- Getting started with GeoPandas: projections, spatial joins and choropleth maps Beginner
- Fast vector geoprocessing in Python: spatial indexes, overlays and modern file formats Intermediate
- Street network analysis with OSMnx: routes, isochrones and walking accessibility Intermediate
- Watershed delineation in Python with pysheds: the River Derwent above Ladybower Intermediate
Neighbouring countries
- Panama GIS data 6 sources · shares a border
- Nicaragua GIS data 5 sources · shares a border
- Honduras GIS data 5 sources
- El Salvador GIS data 4 sources