Social Sciences & Humanities
Geography & Urban Planning Research: Data, Funders, Journals
Geography and urban planning research asks where things happen and why, and it runs on public spatial data, professional bodies and a small set of shared standards. In the United States, the NSF Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences programme funds basic research on the spatial dimensions of human behaviour. Proposals that only apply geospatial methods, without a theory-testing contribution, are returned without review. In the United Kingdom, ESRC is the UKRI council for social science.
Much of the evidence is open. The US Census Bureau Geography Program publishes TIGER/Line shapefiles, cartographic boundary files and a geocoder. IPUMS, hosted at the University of Minnesota, harmonises census and survey microdata, including international censuses. Landsat imagery in the USGS archive has been free to download since 2008, and the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service offers free land cover and land use products for Europe and the globe. OpenStreetMap is an openly licensed volunteer map. Interoperability rests on Open Geospatial Consortium standards, and in the US the Federal Geographic Data Committee coordinates the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.
The community is organised around learned societies and journals. The American Association of Geographers publishes the Annals and holds an annual meeting. The International Geographical Union held its 25th congress in Dublin in 2024. The American Planning Association has 25 divisions and publishes the Journal of the American Planning Association, and the RTPI is the professional body for planners in the UK and Ireland. A researcher or administrator should settle early which boundary and microdata sources fit the study area, and which preprint server applies. GIS, remote sensing, transport and housing research have their own hubs.
New to the field? What is Geography & Urban Planning? →
Reviewed 5 November 2026 by CASRAI Editorial Board
- Annals of the American Association of Geographers(read 5 November 2026)
- Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA)(read 5 November 2026)
- ISPRS journals(read 5 November 2026)
- American Association of Geographers (AAG)(read 5 November 2026)
- Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)(read 5 November 2026)
- Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)(read 5 November 2026)
- American Planning Association divisions(read 5 November 2026)
- International Geographical Union (IGU)(read 5 November 2026)
- NSF Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS)(read 5 November 2026)
- UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)(read 5 November 2026)
- US Census Bureau Geography Program(read 5 November 2026)
- IPUMS (University of Minnesota)(read 5 November 2026)
- USGS Landsat data access(read 5 November 2026)
- Copernicus Land Monitoring Service(read 5 November 2026)
- OpenStreetMap(read 5 November 2026)
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)(read 5 November 2026)
- Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)(read 5 November 2026)
- EarthArXiv(read 5 November 2026)
- SocArXiv(read 5 November 2026)
- AAG about page(read 5 November 2026)
Field at a glance
Journals
- Annals of the American Association of Geographers
- Bimonthly peer-reviewed geography journal published by Taylor and Francis for the AAG; founded 1911 as the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.Website ↗
- Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA)
- Published by the APA; began in 1935 as Planners' Journal, later the Journal of the American Institute of Planners, a forum for exchange among urban planners.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- ISPRS journals
- ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the ISPRS Open Journal, and the open access ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, plus Archives and Annals proceedings.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Societies
- American Association of Geographers (AAG)
- Founded 1904; Wikipedia reports 10,000+ members from nearly 100 countries in 2020 and an annual meeting drawing 7,000 to 9,000 attendees.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
- UK learned society and professional body for geography, founded 1830; runs an Annual International Conference and offers Chartered Geographer status.Website ↗
- Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)
- Professional body for planners in the UK and Ireland, established 1914, royal charter 1959; Wikipedia reports over 27,000 members in 2025.Website ↗
- American Planning Association divisions
- APA lists 25 divisions, including Housing and Community Development, Transportation Planning, Technology, and Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery Planning.Website ↗
- International Geographical Union (IGU)
- Permanent organisation since 1922, member of the International Science Council; the 25th congress was in Dublin in 2024, the 26th is set for Melbourne in 2028.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Funders and programmes
- NSF Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS)
- Funds basic research on the spatial dimensions of human behaviour; sits in the SBE Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division and runs HEGS-DDRI doctoral awards.Website ↗
- UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- The UK's largest funder of economic, social, behavioural and human data science; Explore and Grow awards opened 5 November 2026.Website ↗
Archives, facilities and data
- US Census Bureau Geography Program
- Publishes TIGER/Line shapefiles and geodatabases, cartographic boundary files, the Census Geocoder and the TIGERweb viewer.Website ↗
- IPUMS (University of Minnesota)
- Harmonised census and survey microdata; IPUMS-International covers 365 censuses in 94 countries, and NHGIS is a related geographic database.Website ↗
- USGS Landsat data access
- Landsat products have been free to download since 2008 through EarthExplorer, GloVis, ESPA, a machine-to-machine API and AWS cloud copies.Website ↗
- Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
- Free land cover, land use, ground motion and bio-geophysical products for Europe and the globe, in six product groups.Website ↗
- OpenStreetMap
- Volunteer-built, openly licensed world map with an API, Overpass API extracts and full Planet downloads.Website ↗
Standards and formats
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
- Nonprofit open standards body with offices in Belgium and the UK; says it has produced more than 150 standards over 30-plus years.Website ↗
- Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
- US interagency body for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure; runs standards development, geospatial metadata and the Geospatial Platform.Website ↗
Preprints and indexes
- EarthArXiv
- Earth-science preprint repository powered by the California Digital Library and Janeway; carries land-surface and hazards work.Website ↗
- SocArXiv
- Free open access archive for social science papers and preprints, with moderation; run from the University of Maryland on the Open Science Framework.Website ↗
17 pages across 3 topic areas
Research Methods & Statistics
- Fair Market Rents: HUD Formula and Worked Example
Fair market rents establish federal housing voucher baselines at the 40th percentile. Learn the calculation formula, bedroom ratios, and planning meth…
- GeoDa: Spatial Autocorrelation and ESDA Guide
A guide to GeoDa for exploratory spatial data analysis, spatial weights, Moran’s I, and LISA cluster detection, complete with worked calculations and…
- Geoportal: SDI Architecture, Metrics and Guide
A comprehensive guide to geoportals in spatial data infrastructure: standards, metadata completeness formulas, spatial IoU overlap, and service uptime…
- Housing Survey: The American Housing Survey (AHS) Explained
The American Housing Survey: who runs it, how its samples changed since 1973, what it measures, when data are released and how to weight microdata.…
- IMPLAN: Input-Output Model, Formula & Guide
A guide to IMPLAN input-output analysis: Leontief mathematical derivation, worked multiplier examples, interpretation, and code in Excel, R, and Pytho…
- Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP): Scale and Zoning Effects Explained
The MAUP explained with a worked example: one data set gives r = -0.14, +0.82 or -0.86 depending on how areas are grouped. Real D.C. figures and repor…
- Natural Earth: Free Map Data for Research and Figures
Natural Earth is public-domain map data at 1:10m, 1:50m and 1:110m. Which scale to use, what to credit, and an R loading example.…
- Sentinel-1: SAR Mission and Calibration Guide
Explore Sentinel-1 radar capabilities, Level-1 SAR radiometric calibration equations, backscatter interpretation in dB, and quantitative geospatial me…
- Web Mapping: Definition, OGC Standards and Web Mercator
What web mapping is, how OGC WMS and WMTS differ, and why Web Mercator (EPSG:3857) stops at about 85.05 degrees latitude.…
- What Is Geography? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
Geography is the discipline that studies where things are, why they are there, and how places and processes connect. Subfields, GIS methods, societies…
- What Is Remote Sensing? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
Remote sensing measures the Earth from satellites, aircraft and drones. Optical, radar and lidar sensors, Landsat and Sentinel, image analysis, applic…
- What Is Urban Planning? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
A thorough answer to what urban planning is: what it studies, its major sub-disciplines, who funds the research (NSF, HUD, DOT, EPA, Lincoln Institute…
Research Data Management
- Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD): Domains, Ranks and Research Use
The Index of Multiple Deprivation ranks 33,755 English small areas on seven weighted domains. How to read ranks and deciles and use the data in resear…
- NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index): Formula, Data and Citation
NDVI formula by sensor, product scale factors and fill values, and a checklist for handling and citing Landsat, Sentinel-2 and MODIS NDVI data.…
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC): What It Is and What Its Standards Cover
OGC explained for research data managers: what the acronym means, who runs it, and how WMS, GeoPackage and discovery standards fit data workflows.…
Research Integrity & Compliance
- National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): What It Requires and How Review Works
What NEPA stands for, when it began, and how categorical exclusions, environmental assessments and impact statements decide federal review.…
- Regulation C: Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Guide
Regulation C implements HMDA, requiring mortgage lenders to report loan-level data for fair lending compliance, urban planning, and community investme…
