National Renewable Energy Laboratory

International Activities

Geospatial Toolkits

NREL developed the Geospatial Toolkit (GsT) — a map-based software application that integrates resource data and geographic information systems (GIS) — for integrated resource assessment. A variety of agencies within countries and global datasets provided country-specific data. For some countries, NREL has developed a HOMER GsT version of the toolkit, which contains all of the features of the standard Geospatial Toolkit and also integrates HOMER, an optimization model for distributed power. For some of the most recent toolkits, NREL created versions of the GsT with different data resolution. The "data lite" versions contain lower-resolution data so users can more quickly run exploratory queries; the "full data" versions contain the high-resolution data, which require more analytical processing time.

NREL also has developed high-resolution resource maps and data products for individual countries using its Geospatial Toolkit. Product pages are available for Afghanistan, Bhutan, Northwest India, and Pakistan.

Funding for toolkits was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of State (DOS), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Software Guide

Please download the Getting Started Guide (MS Word 994 KB) to help learn the software.

The GsT version, file size, update date, and sources of funding are noted below for each country.

Download Geospatial Toolkits
Country File Size Last Updated Funding Source
Afghanistan -
  • HOMER GsT - full data
  • HOMER GsT - data lite
 (EXE 59.4 MB)
(EXE 40.6 MB) 		July 6, 2007
July 6, 2007		 USAID
USAID
Bangladesh - GsT (EXE 18.5 MB) September 26, 2005 UNEP
Bhutan - HOMER GsT (EXE 15.3 MB) March 15, 2009 USAID
Brazil - GsT (EXE 45.9 MB) October 11, 2005 UNEP, INPE
China (Hebei) - GsT (EXE 15.5 MB) February 10, 2006 EPA, UNEP, USDOE
El Salvador - GsT (EXE 24.9 MB) September 26, 2005 UNEP
Ghana - GsT (EXE 12.8 MB) December 12, 2005 UNEP
Guatemala - GsT (EXE 28.9 MB) September 26, 2005 UNEP
Honduras - GsT (EXE 59.9 MB) September 27, 2005 UNEP
India (Northwest) - HOMER GsT (EXE 30.6 MB) March 15, 2009 USDOE, USDOS
Mexico (Oaxaca) - GsT (EXE 58.3 MB) September 26, 2005 USAID, USDOE
Nicaragua - GsT (EXE 39.5 MB) September 26, 2005 UNEP
Pakistan -
  • HOMER GsT - full data
  • HOMER GsT - data lite
 (EXE 34.8 MB)
(EXE 14.6 MB)		 July 6, 2007
July 6, 2007
USAID
USAID
Sri Lanka -
  • HOMER GsT - full data
  • GsT
 (EXE 34.1 MB)
(EXE 15.9 MB) 		September 26, 2005
December 1, 2005		 USAID, UNEP
USAID, UNEP

Contacts

Software technical assistance, comments, or suggestions: Shannon Cowlin, 303-384-7522