For Australia, some maps can be sourced from organisations that collect and collate data, such as:
- National Map(Opens in a new tab/window) of the Australian Government
- the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology(Opens in a new tab/window), which generates weather and climate maps
- CSIRO(Opens in a new tab/window), for maps of soils, land use and salinity
- the Atlas of Living Australia(Opens in a new tab/window)
- Geoscience Australia(Opens in a new tab/window), for geophysical and geological maps.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has an online map generator for aquatic species distribution(Opens in a new tab/window).
Complex data-driven maps need to be created by mapping specialists in geographic information system (GIS) software, such as Esri’s ArcGIS or Map Maker Pro, or online tools such as eSpatial. However, simpler, more diagrammatic maps can be created in a number of free mapping applications, or drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator.