Resources for GIS maps and Census data
GIS desktop mapping software
Esri – ArcGIS for Desktop
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis-for-desktop
QGIS – free and open source
QGIS plugins repository
https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/
Base maps and data
U.S. Census geography
https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger.html
U.S. Census TIGER shapefiles
https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-line.html
IRE 2010 U.S. Census data
Census Reporter
American Community Survey
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
Data.gov geospatial data
http://catalog.data.gov/dataset?metadata_type=geospatial
Esri Open Data
ArcGIS Online
https://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html
National Historical GIS (1700-2014)
Center for International Earth Science Information Network Archive of Census related GIS products and other resources
http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/
State GIS data links from University of Arkansas
http://libinfo.uark.edu/gis/us.asp
The National Map
Meeting other mapping experts (a.k.a nerd bonding)
National States Geographic Information Council
Esri User Groups
http://www.esri.com/events/user-groups