Available data
There are a lot of data that can be downloaded from Natural Earth with ne_download(). These data are divided into two main categories: physical and cultural vector data. The df_layers_physical and df_layers_cultural data frames included in the rnaturalearth packages show what layer of data can be downloaded.
Physical vector data
data(df_layers_physical)
knitr::kable(
df_layers_physical,
caption = "physical vector data available via ne_download()"
)| layer | scale10 | scale50 | scale110 |
|---|---|---|---|
| antarctic_ice_shelves_lines | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| antarctic_ice_shelves_polys | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| coastline | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| geographic_lines | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| geography_marine_polys | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| geography_regions_elevation_points | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| geography_regions_points | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| geography_regions_polys | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| glaciated_areas | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| lakes | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| lakes_europe | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| lakes_historic | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| lakes_north_america | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| lakes_pluvial | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| land | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| land_ocean_label_points | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| land_ocean_seams | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| land_scale_rank | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| minor_islands | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| minor_islands_coastline | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| minor_islands_label_points | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ocean | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ocean_scale_rank | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| playas | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| reefs | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| rivers_europe | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| rivers_lake_centerlines | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| rivers_lake_centerlines_scale_rank | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| rivers_north_america | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Based on the previous table, we know that we can download the ocean vector at small scale (110). Note that scales are defined as one of 110, 50, 10 or small, medium, large.
plot(
ne_download(type = "ocean", category = "physical", scale = "small")["geometry"],
col = "lightblue"
)
#> Reading layer `ne_110m_ocean' from data source
#> `/tmp/RtmpapHyoT/ne_110m_ocean.shp' using driver `ESRI Shapefile'
#> Warning in CPL_read_ogr(dsn, layer, query,
#> as.character(options), quiet, : GDAL Message 1:
#> /tmp/RtmpapHyoT/ne_110m_ocean.shp contains polygon(s) with
#> rings with invalid winding order. Autocorrecting them, but
#> that shapefile should be corrected using ogr2ogr for
#> example.
#> Simple feature collection with 2 features and 3 fields
#> Geometry type: POLYGON
#> Dimension: XY
#> Bounding box: xmin: -180 ymin: -85.60904 xmax: 180 ymax: 90
#> Geodetic CRS: WGS 84
Cultural vector data
data(df_layers_cultural)
knitr::kable(
df_layers_cultural,
caption = "cultural vector data available via ne_download()"
)| layer | scale10 | scale50 | scale110 |
|---|---|---|---|
| admin_0_antarctic_claim_limit_lines | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_antarctic_claims | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_boundary_lines_disputed_areas | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| admin_0_boundary_lines_land | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_boundary_lines_map_units | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_boundary_lines_maritime_indicator | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| admin_0_boundary_map_units | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| admin_0_breakaway_disputed_areas | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| admin_0_countries | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_countries_lakes | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_disputed_areas | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_disputed_areas_scale_rank_minor_islands | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_label_points | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_map_subunits | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| admin_0_map_units | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_pacific_groupings | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_scale_rank | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_scale_rank_minor_islands | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_seams | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_0_sovereignty | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_tiny_countries | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_0_tiny_countries_scale_rank | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| admin_1_label_points | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_1_seams | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| admin_1_states_provinces | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_1_states_provinces_lakes | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_1_states_provinces_lines | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| admin_1_states_provinces_scale_rank | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| airports | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| parks_and_protected_lands_area | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| parks_and_protected_lands_line | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| parks_and_protected_lands_point | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| parks_and_protected_lands_scale_rank | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| populated_places | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| populated_places_simple | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ports | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| railroads | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| railroads_north_america | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| roads | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| roads_north_america | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| time_zones | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| urban_areas | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| urban_areas_landscan | 1 | 0 | 0 |
plot(
ne_download(
type = "airports",
category = "cultural",
scale = 10
)["geometry"],
pch = 21,
bg = "grey"
)
#> Reading layer `ne_10m_airports' from data source
#> `/tmp/RtmpapHyoT/ne_10m_airports.shp' using driver `ESRI Shapefile'
#> Simple feature collection with 893 features and 40 fields
#> Geometry type: POINT
#> Dimension: XY
#> Bounding box: xmin: -175.1356 ymin: -53.78147 xmax: 179.1954 ymax: 78.24672
#> Geodetic CRS: WGS 84
### Continents
