TechnicalGIS

South Africa GIS data sources

Region
Southern Africa
ISO 3166
ZA · ZAF
Sources
28
Themes
16
Last verified

Where to download GIS data for South Africa: 28 sources across 16 themes, led by South African National Biodiversity Institute and Council for Geoscience. 14 offer vector downloads such as Shapefile, GeoPackage or GeoJSON, 1 covers elevation. 12 are under an open licence. Every link was last checked on 18 Oct 2026.

Country atlases

National and OpenStreetMap sources for South Africa

Boundaries & admin 5

Administrative boundary data for every country

  • Municipal Demarcation Board (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    MDB

    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile
    Link
    demarcation.org.za

    Verified

  • Subnational administrative boundaries (COD-AB) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    OCHA / Humanitarian Data Exchange · National

    Humanitarian common operational dataset of administrative boundaries for levels 0–4 with P-codes; source: South African Municipal Demarcation Board.

    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    CC BY 3.0 IGO
    Formats
    File Geodatabase, GeoJSON, Shapefile, XLSX
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

  • MDB Spatial Knowledge Hub (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Municipal Demarcation Board · National

    Open data hub for official municipal, ward and district boundaries for current and past demarcations.

    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoJSON, CSV
    Link
    spatialhub-mdb-sa.opendata.arcgis.com

    Verified

  • City of Cape Town Open Data Portal (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    City of Cape Town · Cape Town

    Municipal open data including cadastral parcels, zoning, wards and infrastructure for the Cape Town metro.

    • Boundaries & admin
    • Transport
    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Census & statistics
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoJSON, CSV
    Link
    odp.capetown.gov.za

    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

Imagery 2

Satellite and aerial imagery for every country

  • CD:NGI Geospatial Portal (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free with registration

    Chief Directorate: National Geo-spatial Information

    National mapping agency portal for topographic vector data, aerial imagery and elevation; some products require registration.

    • Imagery
    • Elevation / DEM
    • Transport
    • Hydrology
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    ngigeoportal.dlrrd.gov.za

    Verified

  • Digital Earth Africa Map (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Digital Earth Africa · Africa

    Viewer for analysis-ready Landsat and Sentinel imagery and derived products such as water observations, cropland extent and coastlines; data are also open on AWS.

    • Imagery
    • Land cover
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF, WMS
    Link
    maps.digitalearth.africa

    Verified

Buildings 3

Building footprint data for every country

  • GRID3 settlement extents (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    GRID3 / CIESIN, Columbia University · National

    Settlement polygons classified as built-up areas, small settlement areas or hamlets, derived from building footprints and useful for microplanning.

    • Buildings
    • Population
    Licence
    CC BY-SA 4.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

  • Copernicus Global Human Settlement Layer (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    European Commission JRC / Humanitarian Data Exchange · National

    Country clip of GHSL built-up surface, population and degree-of-urbanisation grids derived from satellite imagery.

    • Buildings
    • Population
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

  • Google Open Buildings (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Google Research · Africa, Asia and Latin America

    Building footprint polygons detected from high-resolution imagery, with confidence scores and a 2.5D temporal dataset; download by S2 tile.

    • Buildings
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0 or ODbL 1.0
    Formats
    CSV, GeoJSON
    Link
    sites.research.google

    Verified

Population 3

Gridded population data for every country

  • Subnational population statistics (COD-PS) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    UNFPA / Humanitarian Data Exchange · National

    Sex- and age-disaggregated population statistics for administrative units (reference year 2016), keyed to the COD-AB P-codes for joining to boundaries.

    • Population
    • Census & statistics
    Licence
    CC BY 3.0 IGO
    Formats
    CSV, XLSX
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

  • WorldPop population counts 2015–2030 (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    WorldPop, University of Southampton · National

    Annual gridded estimates of people per ~100 m cell from 2015 to 2030, modelled with random forest dasymetric mapping.

    • Population
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

  • High Resolution Population Density Maps (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Meta Data for Good / Humanitarian Data Exchange · National

    Roughly 30 m population density rasters derived from building detection in satellite imagery, with layers for women, men, children, youth and the elderly.

    • Population
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF, CSV
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

Census & statistics 1

Census and statistics data for every country

  • Statistics South Africa (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Statistics South Africa

    National statistical office (from the UN Statistics Division directory).

    • Census & statistics
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    statssa.gov.za

    Verified

Addresses & cadastre 2

Address and cadastral data for every country

  • Chief Surveyor-General (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Department of Land Reform and Rural Development · National

    Official cadastral authority providing survey records, diagrams and general plans via the Surveyor-General offices.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    PDF
    Link
    csg.dlrrd.gov.za

    Verified

  • CSG cadastral spatial viewer (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Office of the Chief Surveyor-General · National

    Web map for locating land parcels and farm portions and viewing their surveyed diagrams; not a bulk download.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    csggis.dlrrd.gov.za

    Verified

Transport 1

Road, rail and transport data for every country

Climate & weather 2

Climate and weather data for every country

  • Rainfall indicators at subnational level (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    WFP / Humanitarian Data Exchange · National

    Dekadal CHIRPS rainfall totals and anomalies aggregated by administrative unit from 1981, updated regularly.

    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    CSV
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

  • South African Weather Service (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Mixed

    South African Weather Service · National

    National meteorological service; historical climate data are supplied on request and may carry a charge.

    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    weathersa.co.za

    Verified

Natural hazards 1

Natural hazard data for every country

  • Tropical storm tracks (IBTrACS) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    NOAA NCEI / Humanitarian Data Exchange · National

    Historical tropical cyclone tracks and intensities affecting the country, extracted from the IBTrACS archive.

    • Natural hazards
    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    CC BY 3.0 IGO
    Formats
    CSV, GeoJSON
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

Geology 2

Geology data for every country

  • Council for Geoscience downloadable material (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Council for Geoscience · National

    Free downloads including the 1:1 000 000 geology map of South Africa as a shapefile.

    • Geology
    • Natural hazards
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile, PDF
    Link
    geoscience.org.za

    Verified

  • Council for Geoscience interactive web maps (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Council for Geoscience · National

    ArcGIS Enterprise portal with interactive geology, geohazard and seismic maps.

    • Geology
    • Natural hazards
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Web service
    Link
    maps.geoscience.org.za

    Verified

Agriculture & soils 1

Agriculture and soil data for every country

  • iSDAsoil (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    iSDA · Africa

    Predicted soil properties such as pH, carbon, nitrogen and texture at 30 m resolution for two depths, available as cloud-optimised GeoTIFFs and a map viewer.

    • Agriculture & soils
    • Environment
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    isda-africa.com

    Verified

Environment 5

Environmental and protected area data for every country

  • SANBI BGIS (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    South African National Biodiversity Institute

    • Environment
    • Land cover
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile
    Link
    bgis.sanbi.org

    Verified

  • Protected and conserved areas (WDPCA) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    UNEP-WCMC and IUCN / Humanitarian Data Exchange · National

    Country extract of the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas, including OECMs, with designation and IUCN category.

    • Environment
    Licence
    Free for non-commercial use; see UNEP-WCMC terms
    Formats
    GeoJSON, GeoPackage, CSV
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

  • National Vegetation Map 2024 (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free with registration

    South African National Biodiversity Institute · National

    Latest release of the VegMap of South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini; download requires a free BGIS account.

    • Environment
    • Land cover
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile
    Link
    bgis.sanbi.org

    Verified

  • DFFE environmental GIS (eGIS) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment · National

    Gateway to national environmental datasets including the protected areas database (SAPAD) and the South African National Land Cover 2022.

    • Environment
    • Land cover
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoTIFF
    Link
    dffe.gov.za

    Verified

  • SAEON Open Data Platform (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    South African Environmental Observation Network · National

    Catalogue of environmental observation and research datasets, including climate projections and atlas layers.

    • Environment
    • Climate & weather
    • Marine & coastal
    Licence
    Varies by dataset
    Formats
    NetCDF, CSV, GeoTIFF
    Link
    catalogue.saeon.ac.za

    Verified

Global datasets that cover South Africa

Worldwide and continental layers that include South Africa, 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
Environment

Browse all 127 global datasets

Tutorials that use this kind of data

Neighbouring countries