How to Download Administrative Data for Any Country

Welcome to this brief tutorial on downloading administrative data for administrative boundaries for any country on Earth. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to access and download this data from the GADM website.

Step 1: Visit GADM

Begin by navigating to the GADM website. This site provides access to administrative boundaries data for various countries.

Step 2: Select Your Country

Once on the GADM homepage, click on Data Maps at the top. Then select Country to choose the country you are interested in. For this tutorial, we will select Australia.

Step 3: Choose Your Data Format

After selecting Australia, you will see options to download the data in different formats: GeoPackage, Shapefile, or GeoJSON. It’s important to note that the GeoPackage and Shapefile will be provided as zipped files.

Step 4: Download the Data

Choose the format you prefer. In this case, we will select Shapefile. Once selected, the download will start shortly.

Step 5: Unzip and Open the Data

After the download is complete, unzip the shapefile. Open QGIS, and create a new project. To add the layer, select Add Vector Layer and navigate to the unzipped shapefile of Australia.

Step 6: View Administrative Boundaries

Once you’ve added the shapefile, you’ll see different administrative levels (0, 1, and 2). You can select all three levels to visualize the administrative boundaries of Australia.

administrative levels (0

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