One
of the real challenges for journalists wanting/needing to do GIS is
getting the software and map files.  Often the major roadblock is
the newsroom budget.  We recently learned of a project that uses
the file-sharing capabilities of Bittorrent (the peer-to-peer file
sharing program) to make maps available at our favorite  price —
free.



Check out GeoTorrent.org 

“GeoTorrent.org information

What types of data are shared?


All different types of geospatial data is shared here. For example Air and satellite photo's, as well as attribute data.




What formats is the data in?


Imagery is in either ECW or JPEG 2000 format. Both formats allow high
levels of compression. For example 1 terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of raw
data can be compressed to just 50 GB. JPEG 2000 also provides a
lossless compression algorithm, allowing for pixel-for-pixel fidelity
with the original dataset.



Attribute (vector) data can be distributed in any common data format e.g. shape, tab files or native data formats.
”



The files are often large, like the 5.5gb “North America Landsat
Mosaic,” but there appears to be a growing number of non-US data.