diff --git a/python/cuspatial/benchmarks/api/bench_api.py b/python/cuspatial/benchmarks/api/bench_api.py
index d93e45ebb..d8e24cf33 100644
--- a/python/cuspatial/benchmarks/api/bench_api.py
+++ b/python/cuspatial/benchmarks/api/bench_api.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2022-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2022-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+import pathlib
+
 import cupy
 import geopandas
 import pytest
@@ -223,12 +225,16 @@ def bench_quadtree_point_to_nearest_linestring(benchmark):
     SCALE = 3
     MAX_DEPTH = 7
     MIN_SIZE = 125
-    host_countries = geopandas.read_file(
-        geopandas.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres")
-    )
-    host_cities = geopandas.read_file(
-        geopandas.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_cities")
+    data_dir = (
+        pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent
+        / "cuspatial"
+        / "tests"
+        / "data"
     )
+    naturalearth_lowres = data_dir / "naturalearth_lowres.shp"
+    naturalearth_cities = data_dir / "naturalearth_cities.shp"
+    host_countries = geopandas.read_file(naturalearth_lowres)
+    host_cities = geopandas.read_file(naturalearth_cities)
     gpu_countries = cuspatial.from_geopandas(
         host_countries[host_countries["geometry"].type == "Polygon"]
     )
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/conftest.py b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/conftest.py
index 7b6ae2d1b..caa53dcea 100644
--- a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-# Copyright (c) 2020-2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2020-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+import pathlib
 
 import geopandas as gpd
 import numpy as np
@@ -308,13 +309,18 @@ def factory(length):
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
-def naturalearth_cities():
-    return gpd.read_file(gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_cities"))
+def data_dir():
+    return pathlib.Path(__file__).parent / "data"
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
-def naturalearth_lowres():
-    return gpd.read_file(gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres"))
+def naturalearth_cities(data_dir):
+    return gpd.read_file(data_dir / "naturalearth_cities.shp")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def naturalearth_lowres(data_dir):
+    return gpd.read_file(data_dir / "naturalearth_lowres.shp")
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_cities.shp b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_cities.shp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a7bcefa0a
Binary files /dev/null and b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_cities.shp differ
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_cities.shx b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_cities.shx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ce83da735
Binary files /dev/null and b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_cities.shx differ
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_lowres.shp b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_lowres.shp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a3440b25
Binary files /dev/null and b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_lowres.shp differ
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_lowres.shx b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_lowres.shx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..275512f80
Binary files /dev/null and b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/data/naturalearth_lowres.shx differ
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geocolumn_accessor.py b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geocolumn_accessor.py
index db074ae88..c4ec694b6 100644
--- a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geocolumn_accessor.py
+++ b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geocolumn_accessor.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2022 NVIDIA Corporation
+# Copyright (c) 2022-2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
 import cupy as cp
 import geopandas as gpd
@@ -18,10 +18,10 @@
     "range, expected",
     [[slice(0, 3), [0, 3, 4, 5]], [slice(3, 6), [0, 30, 40, 41]]],
 )
-def test_GeoColumnAccessor_polygon_offset(range, expected):
-    gpdf = cuspatial.from_geopandas(
-        gpd.read_file(gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres"))
-    )
+def test_GeoColumnAccessor_polygon_offset(
+    range, expected, naturalearth_lowres
+):
+    gpdf = cuspatial.from_geopandas(naturalearth_lowres)
     shorter = gpdf[range]["geometry"]
     expected = cp.array(expected)
     got = shorter.polygons.geometry_offset
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geodataframe.py b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geodataframe.py
index 876e30dc5..718046c17 100644
--- a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geodataframe.py
+++ b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geodataframe.py
@@ -189,10 +189,9 @@ def test_interleaved_polygons(gpdf, polys):
     )
 
 
-def test_to_geopandas_with_geopandas_dataset():
-    df = gpd.read_file(gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres"))
-    gdf = cuspatial.from_geopandas(df)
-    assert_eq_geo_df(df, gdf.to_geopandas())
+def test_to_geopandas_with_geopandas_dataset(naturalearth_lowres):
+    gdf = cuspatial.from_geopandas(naturalearth_lowres)
+    assert_eq_geo_df(naturalearth_lowres, gdf.to_geopandas())
 
 
 def test_to_shapely_random():
@@ -327,14 +326,12 @@ def test_boolmask(gpdf, df_boolmask):
     reason="Size discrepancies between Python versions. See "
     "https://github.com/rapidsai/cuspatial/issues/1352",
 )
-def test_memory_usage(gs):
+def test_memory_usage(gs, data_dir):
     assert gs.memory_usage() == 224
-    host_dataframe = gpd.read_file(
-        gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres")
-    )
+    host_dataframe = gpd.read_file(data_dir / "naturalearth_lowres.shp")
     gpu_dataframe = cuspatial.from_geopandas(host_dataframe)
     # The df size is 8kb of cudf rows and 217kb of the geometry column
-    assert gpu_dataframe.memory_usage().sum() == 224945
+    assert gpu_dataframe.memory_usage().sum() == 216793
 
 
 def test_from_dict():
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geoseries.py b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geoseries.py
index 395b58512..6e97d037b 100644
--- a/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geoseries.py
+++ b/python/cuspatial/cuspatial/tests/test_geoseries.py
@@ -551,11 +551,8 @@ def test_memory_usage_simple(gs):
     assert cugs.memory_usage() == 1616
 
 
-def test_memory_usage_large():
-    host_dataframe = gpd.read_file(
-        gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres")
-    )
-    geometry = cuspatial.from_geopandas(host_dataframe)["geometry"]
+def test_memory_usage_large(naturalearth_lowres):
+    geometry = cuspatial.from_geopandas(naturalearth_lowres)["geometry"]
     # the geometry column from naturalearth_lowres is 217kb of coordinates
     assert geometry.memory_usage() == 216793
 
diff --git a/python/cuspatial/pyproject.toml b/python/cuspatial/pyproject.toml
index f7a198903..b4ae45e9e 100644
--- a/python/cuspatial/pyproject.toml
+++ b/python/cuspatial/pyproject.toml
@@ -124,5 +124,9 @@ regex = "(?P<value>.*)"
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 xfail_strict = true
 filterwarnings = [
-    "error:::cudf"
+    "error:::cudf",
+    "error::FutureWarning",
+    "error::DeprecationWarning",
+    # https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest-cov/issues/557
+    "ignore:The --rsyncdir command line argument:DeprecationWarning",
 ]