GeoDatasets

2026.1.0 verified Fri May 01 auth: no python

A collection of sample geospatial datasets for use with GeoPandas and other geospatial libraries in Python, providing easy access through a single `get_path()` function. Current version 2026.1.0, with monthly release cadence.

pip install geodatasets

Common errors

error KeyError: 'columbus' ↓

cause The 'columbus' dataset was removed in geodatasets 2023.12.0.

fix

Use a different dataset such as 'nybb' (New York boroughs).

error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'geodatasets' ↓

cause The package is not installed.

fix

Run pip install geodatasets.

error AttributeError: module 'geodatasets' has no attribute 'get_data_path' ↓

cause The correct function name is `get_path`, not `get_data_path`.

fix

Use from geodatasets import get_path.

Warnings

deprecated Dataset 'columbus' (GeoDa Columbus) was removed in version 2023.12.0; using it raises KeyError. ↓

fix Use 'nybb' (New York City boroughs) or another existing dataset.

gotcha `get_path()` returns a string path, not a GeoDataFrame. You must call `gpd.read_file()` separately. ↓

fix Always assign the result to a variable and use `gpd.read_file(path)`.

gotcha Dataset names are case-sensitive and must be exact (e.g., 'nybb', not 'NYBB' or 'nybb_22a'). ↓

fix Refer to the official list of datasets at https://github.com/geopandas/geodatasets#datasets.

Imports

get_path

wrong

from geodatasets import get_data_path

correct

from geodatasets import get_path

The function is named get_path, not get_data_path.

Quickstart

Demonstrates how to retrieve the path to a built-in dataset and load it with GeoPandas.

from geodatasets import get_path
import geopandas as gpd

# Load the New York City boroughs dataset
path = get_path('nybb')
gdf = gpd.read_file(path)
print(gdf.head())