Get global composite files from geoBoundaries

Returns global composite files for the requested ADM level. Files are clipped to international boundaries, with gaps between borders filled.

Attribution is required whenever these data are used.

Usage

gb_get_world(
  country = "all",
  adm_lvl = "adm0",
  quiet = TRUE,
  overwrite = FALSE,
  cache_dir = NULL
)

Source

geoBoundaries API.

Arguments

country: A character vector of country names or ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country codes. Use "all" to return data for all countries. See also countrycode::countrycode().
adm_lvl: ADM level. Accepted values are levels 0, 1 and 2 ("adm0" is the country boundary, "adm1" is the first level of subnational boundaries and "adm2" is the second level). Uppercase versions ("ADM1") and level numbers (0, 1, 2) are also accepted.
quiet: Logical. If TRUE, suppress informational messages.
overwrite: Logical. If TRUE, force a fresh download of the source .zip archive.
cache_dir: A path to a cache directory. If not set (the default NULL), the data will be stored in the default cache directory (see gb_set_cache_dir()). If no cache directory has been set, files are stored in a temporary cache directory. See base::tempdir() and the cache strategies in gb_set_cache_dir().

Value

An sf object containing the requested boundaries.

Details

Comprehensive Global Administrative Zones (CGAZ) are global composites for administrative boundaries. Compared with individual country files, the global composite files use extensive simplification so file sizes are small enough for most desktop software. They remove disputed areas, replace them with polygons following US Department of State definitions and fill gaps between borders.

References

Runfola et al. (2020) geoBoundaries: A global database of political administrative boundaries. PLOS ONE 15(4), e0231866. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0231866 .

Examples

# This download may take some time.
# \dontrun{
world <- gb_get_world()

library(ggplot2)

ggplot(world) +
  geom_sf() +
  coord_sf(expand = FALSE) +
  labs(caption = "Source: www.geoboundaries.org")

# }