   [4E5] Data for Europe
  Let's collect useful (for the contest) data about Europe in this thread.I thought I might share this with you, since I spent a while searching for such a list. A page with data, including coordinates, for practically every town and region on Earth, excluding the USA and Antarctica: http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html. I checked and it contains my old home town, a town with 10000 inhabitants in Finland.It's probably obvious, but I'll just remind that Wikipedia contains a lot of information about European countries and cities.   
  for people who are happy with a less detailed gazetteer: http://www.world-gazetteer.com/   ;  Here's a couple more links for various data points. Just a reminder: be sure to read any licensing on the various pages before using the data....Some DBF and Shape Files:http://www.vdstech.com/map_data.htmESRI Data Downloader:http://arcdata.esri.com/data_downloader/DataDownloader?part=10200Penn State’s Digital Chart of the World:http://www.maproom.psu.edu/dcw/DIVA-GIS:http://www.cipotato.org/diva/data/DataServer.htmNASA’s Visible Earth Imagery:http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/;  The CIA - World Factbook is another nice resource. It has maps and info on geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues.http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html;  I second the CIA handbook. It is great for finding information.   