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geobounds

ANALYTICS
Velocity0.0

Download Administrative Boundary Data from 'geoBoundaries'

github.com/dieghernan/geobounds ↗

geobounds relicensed to MIT and drew a line between its code and the data it downloads.

geospatialadministrative boundarieslicensingr packagesapi client
◆Current state
geobounds is an R client for the geoBoundaries administrative boundary database. Version 1.0.0 relicensed the package itself from CC BY 4.0 to MIT while documenting that downloaded boundaries keep their own terms, including differing gbOpen licenses, UN OCHA conditions, and the non-commercial restriction on UN SALB data. The functional groundwork came in 0.1.0, which renamed the download functions to object_verb() form, switched the source files from GeoJSON to shapefiles, and added retry handling.
◆Where it's heading
The package is following rOpenSci conventions closely: the function renaming cited the developer guide directly, and 1.0.0 pairs a permissive code license with explicit, per-source attribution guidance rather than a blanket statement. That distinction matters for a client whose value is entirely in redistributing third-party geodata. Feature work has slowed since 0.1.0 in favor of licensing, documentation, and test isolation.
◆Prediction
With licensing settled and the API renamed, the next releases most likely track upstream geoBoundaries data releases and boundary coverage rather than changing the interface again.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    Package relicensed to MIT with per-source data terms

    The package code moves from CC BY 4.0 to MIT, and the documentation now separates that from the terms attached to downloaded data, spelling out gbOpen variation, UN OCHA conditions, and the non-commercial SALB restriction, with a licensing notice on gbAuthoritative downloads. Cache tests are also isolated to temporary directories.

    View source ↗
  2. 2mo ago

    Documentation terminology review

    A documentation and internal-code review aligning terminology between roxygen2 and narrative docs, plus a CI action bump. No behavior change.

    View source ↗
  3. 4mo ago

    Documentation moved to Quarto

    The package documentation is adapted to Quarto. A tooling change the same maintainer applied across several packages around this time.

    View source ↗
  4. 6mo ago

    Download functions renamed and switched to shapefiles

    The substantive release of the window: get_gb() and friends are renamed to gb_get() form following rOpenSci conventions, gb_get_adm5() and gb_get_max_adm_lvl() are added, and the source files change from GeoJSON to zipped shapefiles, dropping the geojsonsf dependency and invalidating existing caches. Requests gain retry handling and functions fail gracefully on missing country files.

    View source ↗
  5. 9mo ago

    Initial release

    The package's first release, establishing the R interface to geoBoundaries. Everything in the window since has been convention alignment and licensing rather than new capability.

    View source ↗