Boundaries and maps data

Boundaries and maps data provides the polygons that divide the world into areas: countries, regions, municipalities, postal codes, census tracts, school districts, electoral areas, sales territories and custom zones. Analysts use boundaries to aggregate and join data, map results, define territories and assign addresses or points to areas.

Typical fields:

• Boundary ID and official code
• Name, with local and English variants
• Administrative level or boundary type
• Parent boundary ID
• Geometry as a polygon or multipolygon
• Coordinate reference system
• Valid-from and valid-to dates
• Population or area attributes, where included

Sources and collection

Official boundaries come from national statistics offices, mapping agencies, postal operators and electoral bodies. Many publish them openly, while postal boundaries are often licensed. Providers harmonize codes and levels across countries, fix topology errors such as gaps and overlaps, simplify shapes for faster mapping, and keep historical versions as boundaries change.

Delivery and pricing

Delivered as Shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage or Parquet files, or as map tiles and point-in-polygon lookup APIs. Pricing is often per country or boundary type, or an annual global licence. Historical versions and high-precision shapes may cost more.

Before you buy

• Confirm the source and vintage of each boundary layer.
• Check how disputed territories are represented.
• Ask for historical versions if you join time series.
• Validate topology: neighboring areas should have no gaps or overlaps.
• Choose generalized or full-detail shapes to suit your use.
• Review licence terms, especially for postal boundaries.