CalEPA Urban Heat Island Index
ShapefileKMZCSV
Urban–rural heat differential (degree-hour index).
Urban Heat
Remote sensing, canopy, and comfort modeling resources for heat exposure, shade planning, and surface/air temperature analysis.
Landsat / MODIS Surface Temperature
GeoTIFFNetCDF
Remote-sensed land surface temperature from USGS/NASA.
CALFIRE California Urban Tree Canopy (2022)
ShapefileGeoTIFF
Statewide canopy and land cover datasets for planning and analysis.
USDA Forest Service Urban Forest Inventory & Analysis (Urban FIA)
CSVDB
Tree structure, health, and species composition monitoring in urban areas.
TreePlotter / i-Tree Canopy
CSVKMZKMLWeb GIS
User sampling and valuation of tree canopy for local projects. Note: USDA Forest Service has indefinitely halted traditional funding for i-Tree.
California Urban Tree Canopy (ArcGIS)
RasterVector
High-resolution 2022 canopy data across urbanized California.
UTCI Historical Reanalysis (Copernicus ERA5-HEAT)
NetCDFGRIBAPI
Human-perceived temperature (Universal Thermal Climate Index) and outdoor comfort modeling, derived from ERA5 climate reanalysis.
High-Resolution LiDAR & DEMs (OpenTopography)
LAS/LAZGeoTIFFAPI
Shade modeling and mean radiant temperature analysis inputs.
Air & Dust
Near-real-time sensors, emissions inventories, and land-cover proxies for particulate/dust exposure and mitigation planning.
PurpleAir / AirNow
APICSV
Crowdsourced and official monitoring for PM and AQI.
CalEnviroScreen 5.0
ShapefileCSV
Cumulative pollution burden from exposures and environmental conditions, including air pollution, traffic, hazardous sites, drinking water, pesticides, and other pollution sources.
CARB Emissions Inventory
CSVAPI
GHG and criteria pollutants by sector.
Landsat NDVI / Bare-Soil Index
GeoTIFF
Vegetation cover and exposed-soil proxies for dust.
Health
Public health indicators, heat-illness metrics, and EJ screening to connect environmental exposure to outcomes.
CDC PLACES Health Data
CSVAPI
Chronic disease, obesity, and physical-activity indicators.
CDPH Heat-Related Illness (Tracking California)
CSVDashboard
ER visits and hospitalizations linked to extreme heat.
EPA EJScreen (archived mirror)
Shapefile
CSV
Web GIS
Environmental justice screening and mapping tool combining demographic and environmental burden indicators.
CalHHS Health Vulnerability Indicators
CSV
State health and social vulnerability metrics.
Water
Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), hydrology, and flood risk for street retrofits and compliance.
EPA Green Infrastructure Modeling Toolkit
XMLCSV
Planning and design tools for GSI performance.
Caltrans BMP / GSI Tools (MRP 3.0)
ExcelCSV
Bay Area GSI and MRP 3.0 compliance toolkit.
FEMA NFHL Flood Hazard
ShapefileGeoJSON
National Flood Hazard Layer for risk screening.
NRCS SSURGO Soil Survey
ShapefileCSVAPI
Soil hydrology and infiltration suitability.
NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer
Web MapGeoJSON
Sea-level rise exposure and floodplain projections.
Biodiversity
Native species data and wildfire context for habitat-forward street design and buffers.
Calflora
ShapefileCSV
Native species and vegetation occurrences in California.
iNaturalist (GBIF feed)
CSVAPI
Citizen-science biodiversity observations.
CalFire Fire Hazard Severity Zones
Shapefile
Vegetation-based wildfire hazard zones.
Infrastructure
Assets and right-of-way datasets for materials, curb/ROW constraints, and existing BMP inventories.
Caltrans Pavement Condition Data (PMS)
CSVShapefile
Pavement materials and distress indicators for state highways.
Local ROW & Curb Inventory
Shapefile
ROW dimensions and curb data (availability varies by jurisdiction).
SCVURPPP BMP Inventory
ShapefileGeodatabase
Existing bioretention, swales, and infiltration BMPs (Bay Area).
Equity / Mobility
Access, vulnerability, and trip data to align investments with user needs and mobility gaps.
Using equity metrics
Equity metrics measure different kinds of need and operate at different geographic scales. Some describe socioeconomic or health vulnerability, while others measure environmental burdens, transportation access, tree canopy, or mobility patterns.
Pay attention to the geographic unit of each dataset. County- or census-tract-level measures can reveal broad patterns but may hide differences within those areas. Census block group, block, street, parcel, or point-level data can support more local analysis.
Choose metrics that match both the question being asked and the scale at which the issue occurs. No single metric provides a complete picture of equity, and quantitative measures are often most useful when combined with local data and community knowledge.
Healthy Places Index (HPI) 4.0
ShapefileCSVAPI
Social determinants of health and environmental vulnerability.
CalEnviroScreen 5.0
GISCSV
California environmental justice screening tool combining pollution burden with health and socioeconomic vulnerability to identify communities facing cumulative environmental burdens.
Tree Equity Score (American Forests)
ShapefileCSVAPI
Tree canopy vs. need and equity scoring for urban areas.
CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)
CSVShapefile
Composite socioeconomic and demographic vulnerability index.
Caltrans Transportation Equity Index (EQI)
Web GIS
Screens transportation-disadvantaged areas using traffic exposure, access to destinations, and demographic indicators.
Census ACS Journey to Work
CSV
Mode share, commute time, and vehicle access indicators.
StreetLight Data
APICSV
Active transportation and origin-destination mobility analytics.
Integrated / Resilience
Multi-variable indices and flexible OSM extracts to combine exposure, vulnerability, and assets.
CDC/NOAA Heat & Health Tracker
Web GISDashboardCSV
Combines NOAA's HeatRisk forecast, CDC's Social Vulnerability Index, and real-time heat-illness ER data.
EPA Cumulative Resilience Screening Index (CRSI)
CSVShapefile
Resilience capacity relative to environmental stressors and natural hazards (formerly named "Climate Resilience Screening Index").
OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)
OSMJSON
Extract features (trees, sidewalks, bike lanes) for usability mapping.
PlanetScope / Sentinel-2 Imagery
GeoTIFF
High-frequency reflectance and vegetation indices.