PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

geoBoundaries: A global database of political administrative boundaries.

  • Daniel Runfola,
  • Austin Anderson,
  • Heather Baier,
  • Matt Crittenden,
  • Elizabeth Dowker,
  • Sydney Fuhrig,
  • Seth Goodman,
  • Grace Grimsley,
  • Rachel Layko,
  • Graham Melville,
  • Maddy Mulder,
  • Rachel Oberman,
  • Joshua Panganiban,
  • Andrew Peck,
  • Leigh Seitz,
  • Sylvia Shea,
  • Hannah Slevin,
  • Rebecca Youngerman,
  • Lauren Hobbs

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231866
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 4
p. e0231866

Abstract

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We present the geoBoundaries Global Administrative Database (geoBoundaries): an online, open license resource of the geographic boundaries of political administrative divisions (i.e., state, county). Contrasted to other resources geoBoundaries (1) provides detailed information on the legal open license for every boundary in the repository, and (2) focuses on provisioning highly precise boundary data to support accurate, replicable scientific inquiry. Further, all data is released in a structured form, allowing for the integration of geoBoundaries with large-scale computational workflows. Our database has records for every country around the world, with up to 5 levels of administrative hierarchy. The database is accessible at http://www.geoboundaries.org, and a static version is archived on the Harvard Dataverse.