Sources for Flourish map regions

Map borders are a complex and potentially sensitive topic. This article helps explain what data sources we use and the level of control you have over the way your borders display. In general, there are two types of maps:

  • Maps where the borders are part of the shape data provided with the maps but into which you can also upload your own shape data. We refer to these maps as maps using GeoJSON regions.
  • Maps with detailed base map tiles with borders that are based on OpenStreetMap data – while it is possible to edit these to a certain extent, eg. by disabling the displaying of borders altogether, it's not possible for the Flourish team or users to upload their own regions and borders in this type of map. 

In this article

1
Projection maps
  • Regions: The default data in our Projection map uses GeoJSON regions from the World Bank, including disputed borders. Use the search to locate regions that might not be visible at this zoom level. If any of the regions don't align with the regions you would like to display, you can upload your own GeoJSON.

    WARNING: Please keep in mind that in order to connect your dataset to the relevant shapefile, you need to have at least one column in common with the default dataset that you can find under the Regions geometry tab. We try to provide as many unique IDs for joining boundary data, but we always recommend looking at the blueprints first before uploading your dataset.

  • Points: The default data in the points layer of our Projection map world blueprint displays 2019 population data from the World Bank.
2
3D map and Marker map
Our 3D map and Marker map templates combine both regions and base maps. We will walk you through the options you have to customize both of them below.

  • Base maps: The vector base map data in our 3D maps come from OpenStreetMap and is not customizable including borders and disputed borders. If the borders drawn in the OpenStreetMap base maps don't align with the borders you'd like to draw in your specific map, you should be able to create your own base map style and add that via the custom JSON option, or select to not display borders via the Customize layers settings.
  • Regions: It's possible to display regions on top of a base map or without a base map in our 3D map templates. For the regions in our starting points , we use the same World Bank GeoJSON regions as in our Projection map. And just like in our Projection map, it's possible to add your own regions by uploading your own GeoJSON . You can upload your regions in the Regions tab.
  • Inset maps: By default, inset maps will display with the world regions from Natural Earth. To override these, you can upload your own GeoJSON to the Inset Map Regions data tab.
3
Arc maps
  • Base maps: The vector base map data in our 3D maps come from OpenStreetMap and is not customizable including borders and disputed borders. If the borders drawn in the OpenStreetMap base maps don't align with the borders you'd like to draw in your specific map, you can opt to display your arcs without a base map via the Map settings. You can also select to not display borders via the Customize layers settings. (This is what we're doing in our example above.)
4
Connections globe
The majority of the preloaded skins in the Connections Globe template were created by Kiln and are based on Natural Earth data. If these don't align with the regions you would like to use, you can use the additional satellite image option, which doesn't display any borders. The source of this is NASA Visible Earth. You can select it from the Design > Globe surface settings dropdown.

 Another option is to upload your own skin. To do this, use a map with a Plate Carré (equirectangular) projection to ensure the countries are correctly positioned on the globe.

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