TechnicalGIS

France GIS data sources

Region
Western Europe
ISO 3166
FR · FRA
Sources
23
Themes
16
Last verified

Where to download GIS data for France: 23 sources across 16 themes, led by IGN and BRGM. 11 offer vector downloads such as Shapefile, GeoPackage or GeoJSON, 4 cover elevation including LiDAR. 19 are under an open licence. Every link was last checked on 18 Oct 2026.

Country atlases

National and OpenStreetMap sources for France

Boundaries & admin 4

Administrative boundary data for every country

  • cartes.gouv.fr data catalogue (formerly Géoservices IGN) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière

    BD TOPO, ADMIN EXPRESS, RGE ALTI, BD ORTHO and LiDAR HD.

    • Boundaries & admin
    • Elevation / DEM
    • Imagery
    • Transport
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage, Shapefile, GeoTIFF, WMTS
    Link
    cartes.gouv.fr

    Verified

  • ADMIN EXPRESS (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    IGN · France

    Communes, departments, regions and EPCI boundaries, updated monthly.

    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage, Shapefile
    Link
    cartes.gouv.fr

    Verified

  • INSEE IRIS statistical units (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    INSEE · France

    Definitions of the IRIS sub-communal statistical units used for census results.

    • Boundaries & admin
    • Census & statistics
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    CSV
    Link
    insee.fr

    Verified

  • geoBoundaries administrative boundaries (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    William & Mary geoLab

    JSON API listing every available admin level with direct download links.

    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    Varies (open; see metadata)
    Formats
    GeoJSON, Shapefile, TopoJSON
    Link
    geoboundaries.org

    Verified

Elevation / DEM 2

Free DEM, LiDAR and elevation data for every country

  • RGE ALTI (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    IGN · France

    1 m and 5 m digital terrain model of France.

    • Elevation / DEM
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    ASCII Grid, GeoTIFF
    Link
    cartes.gouv.fr

    Verified

  • LiDAR HD point clouds (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    IGN · France

    National airborne LiDAR programme with classified point clouds (10 pts/m²) and derived DTM/DSM.

    • Elevation / DEM
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    LAZ, COPC
    Link
    cartes.gouv.fr

    Verified

Imagery 2

Satellite and aerial imagery for every country

Land cover 1

Land cover datasets for every country

  • OCS GE land cover and land use (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    IGN · France

    Large-scale land cover and land use database used to monitor soil sealing.

    • Land cover
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage
    Link
    cartes.gouv.fr

    Verified

Buildings 1

Building footprint data for every country

  • BD TOPO (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    IGN · France

    National 3D topographic vector database: buildings, roads, rail, hydrography, vegetation and admin units.

    • Buildings
    • Transport
    • Hydrology
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage, Shapefile
    Link
    cartes.gouv.fr

    Verified

Population 1

Gridded population data for every country

  • INSEE Filosofi 200 m gridded data (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques

    Population and income statistics on a 200 m grid (carroyage) for metropolitan France.

    • Population
    • Census & statistics
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    insee.fr

    Verified

Addresses & cadastre 3

Address and cadastral data for every country

Transport 1

Road, rail and transport data for every country

Hydrology 2

River, lake and hydrology data for every country

  • Hub'Eau water APIs (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    OFB / BRGM · France

    APIs for river flows, groundwater levels, water quality and fish monitoring.

    • Hydrology
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    JSON, CSV
    Link
    hubeau.eaufrance.fr

    Verified

  • Sandre water reference data (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Office français de la biodiversité · France

    BD TOPAGE hydrographic network, water bodies and water reference datasets.

    • Hydrology
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoPackage, WFS
    Link
    sandre.eaufrance.fr

    Verified

Climate & weather 1

Climate and weather data for every country

  • meteo.data.gouv.fr (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Météo-France · France

    Météo-France open climatological observations and model outputs.

    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    CSV, GRIB
    Link
    meteo.data.gouv.fr

    Verified

Natural hazards 1

Natural hazard data for every country

  • Géorisques (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    Ministère de la Transition écologique / BRGM · France

    Natural and technological hazard databases: floods, earthquakes, clay shrink-swell, polluted sites, cavities.

    • Natural hazards
    • Geology
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    CSV, Shapefile, API
    Link
    georisques.gouv.fr

    Verified

Geology 1

Geology data for every country

  • InfoTerre (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    BRGM

    • Geology
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    WMS, Shapefile
    Link
    infoterre.brgm.fr

    Verified

Agriculture & soils 1

Agriculture and soil data for every country

  • Registre Parcellaire Graphique (RPG) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    IGN / ASP · France

    Annual anonymised agricultural parcels and crop groups declared for CAP payments.

    • Agriculture & soils
    Licence
    Etalab Open Licence 2.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage, Shapefile
    Link
    cartes.gouv.fr

    Verified

Marine & coastal 1

Marine, coastal and bathymetry data for every country

  • data.shom.fr (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    SHOM · France waters

    Bathymetry, nautical charts, coastline (TCH) and maritime boundaries.

    • Marine & coastal
    • Elevation / DEM
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    WMS, WFS, GeoTIFF
    Link
    data.shom.fr

    Verified

Open data portal 1

Open geospatial data portals for every country

Global datasets that cover France

Worldwide and continental layers that include France, useful where national data is missing, restricted or inconsistent across borders.

Boundaries & admin
Elevation / DEM
Imagery
Land cover
Buildings
Population
Census & statistics
Addresses & cadastre
Transport
Hydrology
Climate & weather
Natural hazards
Geology
Agriculture & soils
Marine & coastal
Open data portal

Browse all 127 global datasets

Tutorials that use this kind of data

Neighbouring countries