# nvkelso/natural-earth-vector

A global, public domain map dataset available at three scales and featuring tightly integrated vector and raster data.

Repository: https://github.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/natural-earth-vector
Homepage: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/
Language: HTML
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: naturalearthdata, gis, map, dataset
Last push: 2024-04-22T12:24:13+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5337, "days_push": 863, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2187, forks 418 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:23.802479+00:00)

## What it is
Natural Earth Vector is a public domain global map dataset available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and 1:110m scales, distributed as ESRI shapefiles with UTF-8 encoding and rich cartographic attributes. It is designed for production cartographers and GIS users to make clean, small-scale world maps, with tightly integrated raster data available in a companion repository.

## Use cases
- download public domain world basemap data for cartography
- get country borders and coastlines as shapefiles for a map
- make small-scale thematic maps with QGIS or ArcGIS
- find clean global vector data for a web map
- add rivers, lakes, and populated places to a visualization
- use free map data without licensing restrictions in a commercial project

## When to choose
- you need ready-to-use, well-attributed global vector data at small scales
- you want public domain data with no attribution or permission requirements
- you need consistently generalized and aligned layers for cartographic production

## When to avoid
- you need high-resolution, large-scale or survey-grade geodata
- you need data intended for scientific analysis or military-grade precision
- you need raster imagery rather than vector layers (see the companion raster repo)

## Facets
- artifact type: dataset
- maturity: stable
- function: geospatial, data-visualization, graphics
- domain: data-visualization
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: public-domain, shapefile, cartography, gis, map-data, vector-data, maps, geospatial

## Member repositories
- nvkelso/natural-earth-vector (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:23.802479+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:47:53.331849+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:23.802479+00:00, sha 49afb6a960d4)
  - homepage: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:16.967714+00:00, sha 16d04a3f4064)
  - site_page: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/features (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:16.977189+00:00, sha cb09c024d2bc)
  - site_page: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:16.979136+00:00, sha 37cbc9b8ac00)
  - site_page: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/contributors (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:16.981591+00:00, sha fbfddc7de01d)
  - site_page: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:16.983984+00:00, sha f2e5e94f7619)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.