Getting started with the Climate Data Hub
What the Hub is, how to find the right dataset, and how to get data into your tool — Python, R, a desktop GIS, or none of the above.
Data: Gridded livestock density for 2020 (GLW4)
The Hub is one quality-assured home for climate data across CGIAR: every dataset is harmonised to the same metadata standard, openly licensed, and published in cloud-native formats. In practice that means you find data one way, judge it one way, and access it one way — whatever the dataset, whatever your tools. This guide walks that path once, without assuming you write code.
Find a dataset
Start at the catalog. Three ways in:
- Search — names, sources, variables, and keywords all match, so “livestock”, “FAO”, or “zarr” each work.
- Filters — narrow by domain, geography, commodity, file format, license, or access.
- Spatial search — draw a box on the map and only datasets whose coverage intersects it remain.
Every card states the essentials up front: what the data is, who publishes it, its coverage and resolution, and its license.
Read the record
Click through to a dataset’s page — say GLW4 livestock density — and give it two minutes before committing:
- Quick facts summarise coverage, resolution, and the time span.
- Schema lists the variables and dimensions — what’s actually in the cube.
- Appropriate use notes, where present, tell you what the dataset should not be used for. Read them; they’re written from experience.
- Access & use lists every distribution with its format and a worked code example.
Get the data into your tool
- Python or R — every asset on a record page carries a copy-paste snippet tailored to its format, streaming just the window you need. No boilerplate to write; start from the record page, or see a full worked analysis in the TLU notebook.
- Desktop GIS — Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF URLs load directly in QGIS or ArcGIS as raster layers: copy the asset URL from the record page and add it as a data source. No download required.
- Just the files — assets that are single files carry a Download button.
- AI assistants — the Hub is machine-readable end to end; point your assistant at the AI & agents page for skills and endpoints.
Cite what you use
Every record page has a copy-ready citation (APA, BibTeX, and more) and, where one exists, a DOI. Cite the original producers — for GLW4 that’s FAO — alongside the Hub record; the prepared citations do this for you.
Where next
- Tutorials — runnable, worked analyses.
- Wikis — the standards and methods behind the data.
- FAQ — licensing, formats, and contribution questions.
- Stuck? Open an issue and the team will pick it up.