shapefiles

A collection of map boundary files grouped by their outer border, with GeoJSON, KML, and zipped shapefiles, plus an honest disclaimer that accuracy is not guaranteed.

The repository is a pile of map boundary files, organised by the outer border of the data they contain. Everything in the india directory, for example, shares India's borders as its outer boundary. Each lowest level folder holds shapefiles and a small README describing where the files came from and the delimitation used to create them. The grouping exists so people can reach the region they care about without sorting through everything at once.

Different map software wants different formats, so the collection mixes them. There are .json GeoJSON files, .kml Keyhole Markup Language files, and .zip archives holding shapefiles, including the three required pieces .shp, .shx, and .dbf, with .cpg, .prj, and .qpj appearing sometimes.

The README is careful about quality. The files were gathered from what the maintainers consider the most reliable sources available, but accuracy is not guaranteed and users take the files at their own risk. It is the single caveat attached to the whole collection.

Many of the per directory READMEs are empty or incomplete, and the project asks for help filling them in. The grouping by outer boundary makes hunting for a region easy, which is the main draw of the repository as it stands. A contribution here is mostly writing, since the data itself is gathered from external sources rather than produced in the repo.

Shapefiles groups map boundaries by their outer border and offers GeoJSON, KML, and zipped shapefiles for different map tools. Accuracy is not guaranteed, and the maintainers welcome help completing the sparse directory READMEs.

• Source 1 · Project repository
• Source 2 · README