feat: Switch geodata providers #7393

camdecoster · 2025-03-20T03:12:59Z

Description

Adds scripts to build topojson from UN sourced data and updates build process to run these scripts.

Closes #7334

Changes

Adds script for downloading shapefiles, geojson
Adds script for converting shapefiles, geojson into topojson
Updates topojson path references

Testing

Run npm run build_topojson and make sure the script completes successfully
Try loading the maps in ./dist/topojson in Mapshaper
Open the test dashboard
Try loading some of the geo plots and look for errors

Notes

The new maps are built from this UN data source for countries, coastlines, and lands layers. The oceans, lakes, rivers, and subunits layers are built from Natural Earth Data.
The current maps come from sane-topojson, which is entirely derived from Natural Earth Data
I haven't been able to verify the resolution of the data from the UN. There's a reference here to the "UNGeodata 25 million scale", but I haven't been able to confirm what that means. As such, the labels '50m' and '110m' probably aren't accurate. But they need to remain as they are to not break references.
Mapshaper can't handle antimeridian cutting, so features that cross the antimeridian can look weird (source)
I want to credit sane-topojson for some of the design of these scripts. I'm attempting to create a (mostly) drop in replacement, so it made sense to follow those conventions.

TODO

devtools/test_dashboard/devtools.js

tasks/topojson/process_geodata.mjs

ndrezn · 2025-03-20T13:43:09Z

tasks/topojson/get_geodata.mjs

+import config from './config.json' assert { type: 'json' };
+
+try {
+    // Download data from UN


As these origin URLs may change (link rot), I worry that this piece of the script could become out of date quickly. I'm not sure there's too much we can do here but I might recommend committing the current source file (but not adding it to the dist/. Maybe someone else has a better idea.

That seems reasonable. The script could be updated to look for the file first and only download if it doesn't exist.

@marthacryan do you have an opinion or ideas on this? What's the ideal dev UX here?

FYI, in 3b47c67 I added the archive from the UN.

Co-authored-by: Nathan Drezner <[email protected]>

gvwilson · 2025-03-25T14:05:52Z

Sync with this branch.
npm i to install/update packages.
npm run build_topojson to build JSON files.
Go to mapshaper.org.
Load europe_50m.json.
Initially looks like the lakes are misplaced (for example, the Caspian Sea seems to overlap the Russian border in a weird way in the screenshot).
On closer inspection, maybe this is valid: I'm unable to find a map showing how national borders cross the Caspian Sea, and Russia might very well have a claim to the northwest section.
The three lakes in the north check out: one is in Sweden, the other two are near St. Petersburg.

gvwilson · 2025-03-25T14:08:10Z

Q for @camdecoster : did the old usa map have the states? as you say, it's not much use without that…

gvwilson · 2025-03-25T14:50:48Z

Trying to get npm run test-jasmine to work with the new topojson files, it looks like I'm tripping over a configuration issue.

Original error message complained about not being able to find ../../../dist/topojsonworld_110m.json (note the missing '/' between 'topojson' and 'world').
I modified getTopojsonPath in src/lib/topojson_utils.js as follows to insert the '/' if required:

 topojsonUtils.getTopojsonPath = function(topojsonURL, topojsonName) {
-    return topojsonURL + topojsonName + '.json';
+    if (topojsonURL.endsWith('/')) {
+       return topojsonURL + topojsonName + '.json';
+    } else {
+       return topojsonURL + '/' + topojsonName + '.json';
+    }
 };

I also modified test/jasmine/karma.conf.js as follows because we're getting the JSON files from the local dist directory not the installed sane-topojson package:

-var pathToSaneTopojsonDist = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'node_modules', 'sane-topojson', 'dist');
+var pathToTopojsonDist = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'dist', 'topojson');

// ... and further down, edit to match the new variable name

-        {pattern: pathToSaneTopojsonDist + '/**', included: false, watched: false, served: true}
+        {pattern: pathToTopojsonDist + '/**', included: false, watched: false, served: true}

This still produces error messages like the one shown below saying that the JSON files can't be found:

	Failed: plotly.js could not find topojson file at ../../../dist/topojson/world_110m.json. Make sure the *topojsonURL* plot config option is set properly.
	Error: plotly.js could not find topojson file at ../../../dist/topojson/world_110m.json. Make sure the *topojsonURL* plot config option is set properly.
	    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/gvwilson/plotly/plotly.js/src/plots/geo/geo.js:137:35 <- /private/var/folders/w2/l51fjbjd25n9zbwkz9fw9jp00000gn/T/0c95a0b81672d3a2e3f59fc0534657ef-bundle.js:147433:31)
	    at Object.event (/Users/gvwilson/plotly/plotly.js/node_modules/@plotly/d3/d3.js:504:42 <- /private/var/folders/w2/l51fjbjd25n9zbwkz9fw9jp00000gn/T/0c95a0b81672d3a2e3f59fc0534657ef-bundle.js:4875:48)
	    at XMLHttpRequest.respond (/Users/gvwilson/plotly/plotly.js/node_modules/@plotly/d3/d3.js:1951:24 <- /private/var/folders/w2/l51fjbjd25n9zbwkz9fw9jp00000gn/T/0c95a0b81672d3a2e3f59fc0534657ef-bundle.js:6326:30)
25 03 2025 10:40:03.170:WARN [web-server]: 404: /dist/topojson/world_110m.json
[note: the message above is then repeated several times]

I've tried variations on the path in test/jasmine/tests/geo_test.js specified by this line:

Plotly.setPlotConfig({ topojsonURL: '../../../dist/topojson' });

Adding an extra .. or removing one of the ones that's there doesn't affect the outcome.

camdecoster · 2025-03-25T14:59:26Z

@gvwilson yes the old maps had 'subunits' layers for a few regions (USA and Brazil did for sure). The UN maps don't include that information. Thanks for looking into the tests. I'm working on an update to get the tests working but I haven't pushed that yet. I'll try to get that out later today.

ndrezn · 2025-03-25T15:05:11Z

@etpinard when you have a chance could you give this PR a look? Would love your eyes. Thank you!

In the short term what was the source for US states/Canadian provinces in the old dataset?

Refactor to simplify scripts Switch to UN/NE geodata hybrid Save UN geodata to archive Remove extra info from topojson Add centroids to geojson Use 'simplify' to create 110m maps

…data-providers

camdecoster · 2025-07-10T16:15:13Z

@archmoj I've implemented the changes that you suggested. Could you take another look? Regarding the US/Canada border, that's just how the geodata looks coming from the UN. Manipulating that should be possible, but I'd rather wait until after these maps land to look at adding that.

archmoj · 2025-07-10T17:06:46Z

Files and size changes:
Should the new files have UN prefix to avoid overwriting on the CDN?

old dist/topojson/

   37K | africa_110m.json
  144K | africa_50m.json
   55K | asia_110m.json
  353K | asia_50m.json
   33K | europe_110m.json
  194K | europe_50m.json
   66K | north-america_110m.json
  980K | north-america_50m.json
   22K | south-america_110m.json
  165K | south-america_50m.json
   48K | usa_110m.json
  460K | usa_50m.json
  134K | world_110m.json
 1075K | world_50m.json

new topojson/dist

   37K | africa_110m.json
  120K | africa_50m.json
   15K | antarctica_110m.json
   41K | antarctica_50m.json
   82K | asia_110m.json
  382K | asia_50m.json
   39K | europe_110m.json
  198K | europe_50m.json
   75K | north-america_110m.json
  588K | north-america_50m.json
   46K | oceania_110m.json
  328K | oceania_50m.json
   23K | south-america_110m.json
  168K | south-america_50m.json
   70K | usa_110m.json
  322K | usa_50m.json
  288K | world_110m.json
 1655K | world_50m.json

test/image/make_baseline.py

topojson/bin/process_geodata.mjs

camdecoster · 2025-07-10T21:09:31Z

Files and size changes: Should the new files have UN prefix to avoid overwriting on the CDN?

The file names need to be the same for the lookup to work in the library. We could update the lookup function to add a suffix, but that seems like the wrong direction to go. Eventually, the new maps will be standard. For now, we could manually update the CDN to include the new maps with a suffix. We could announce the change and then eventually update the CDN to only include the new maps. Alternatively, we could include the old maps in a legacy folder.

package-lock.json

archmoj · 2025-07-11T14:16:34Z

In regards to new files:

antarctica_110m.json
antarctica_50m.json
oceania_110m.json
oceania_50m.json

would you consider adding new scopes for antarctica and oceania here?

plotly.js/src/plots/geo/constants.js

Lines 145 to 189 in 5e2163b

    
           exports.scopeDefaults = { 
        
               world: { 
        
                   lonaxisRange: [-180, 180], 
        
                   lataxisRange: [-90, 90], 
        
                   projType: 'equirectangular', 
        
                   projRotate: [0, 0, 0] 
        
               }, 
        
               usa: { 
        
                   lonaxisRange: [-180, -50], 
        
                   lataxisRange: [15, 80], 
        
                   projType: 'albers usa' 
        
               }, 
        
               europe: { 
        
                   lonaxisRange: [-30, 60], 
        
                   lataxisRange: [30, 85], 
        
                   projType: 'conic conformal', 
        
                   projRotate: [15, 0, 0], 
        
                   projParallels: [0, 60] 
        
               }, 
        
               asia: { 
        
                   lonaxisRange: [22, 160], 
        
                   lataxisRange: [-15, 55], 
        
                   projType: 'mercator', 
        
                   projRotate: [0, 0, 0] 
        
               }, 
        
               africa: { 
        
                   lonaxisRange: [-30, 60], 
        
                   lataxisRange: [-40, 40], 
        
                   projType: 'mercator', 
        
                   projRotate: [0, 0, 0] 
        
               }, 
        
               'north america': { 
        
                   lonaxisRange: [-180, -45], 
        
                   lataxisRange: [5, 85], 
        
                   projType: 'conic conformal', 
        
                   projRotate: [-100, 0, 0], 
        
                   projParallels: [29.5, 45.5] 
        
               }, 
        
               'south america': { 
        
                   lonaxisRange: [-100, -30], 
        
                   lataxisRange: [-60, 15], 
        
                   projType: 'mercator', 
        
                   projRotate: [0, 0, 0] 
        
               } 
        
           };

archmoj · 2025-07-11T14:26:24Z

topojson/bin/process_geodata.mjs

+    // Remove country polygons with bad geometry
+    `-filter '!["ATA", "FJI", "RUS"].includes(iso3cd)' target=un_polygons`,
+    '-merge-layers target=un_polygons,antarctica,fiji,russia force name=all_features',
+    // Erase Caspian Sea


Could you please explain the need for this process?

The UN maps didn't show the outline of the Caspian sea in the country borders, so the script modifies the geodata here to cut the shape out. The NE maps have it cut out, so this changes matches what was provided previously. You can see the source data here without the sea visible in the countries layer (though you can see it in a water bodies layer):

Thanks for the note. How about modifying the comment to be

// Subtract Caspian Sea

?

That's fine. I'll be a bit more explicit too.

archmoj · 2025-07-11T14:31:24Z

topojson/bin/process_geodata.mjs

+    // Erase Caspian Sea
+    `-filter 'globalid === "{BBBEF27F-A6F4-4FBC-9729-77B3A8739409}"' target=all_features + name=caspian_sea`,
+    '-erase source=caspian_sea target=all_features',
+    // Update country codes for disputed territories at Egypt/Sudan border: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Sudan_border


Also please clarify why this process is needed? Is the UN data wrong?

These are disputed territories. The NE maps don't have them separated out, but the UN maps do. This was causing problems with the script due to how the metadata was assigned. I opted to give them different country codes so that we wouldn't have to decide which country "owns" which territory. I looked into the UN policy on these territories and their position is essentially that they're not taking a position. Switching to the UN data is an attempt to use a trusted source. So, I'm trying to follow the UN lead with this. You can see the difference between the old maps and the new below:

Natural Earth UN

Would you consider adding an image test for this case?

{ "data": [ { "type": "choropleth", "name": "Sudan", "locations": ["SDN"], "z": [1], "colorscale": [[0, "blue"], [1, "blue"]], "showscale": false, "showlegend": true }, { "type": "choropleth", "name": "Egypt", "locations": ["EGY"], "z": [1], "colorscale": [[0, "orange"], [1, "orange"]], "showscale": false, "showlegend": true } ], "layout": { "geo": { "projection": { "rotation": { "lon": 30, "lat": 20 }, "scale": 7 } }, "width": 800, "height": 600 } }

Before:

After:

That's fine with me. Thanks for the config!

camdecoster

would you consider adding new scopes for antarctica and oceania here?

@archmoj I'll add the new scopes shortly.

package-lock.json

camdecoster · 2025-07-11T14:53:38Z

topojson/bin/process_geodata.mjs

+    // Erase Caspian Sea
+    `-filter 'globalid === "{BBBEF27F-A6F4-4FBC-9729-77B3A8739409}"' target=all_features + name=caspian_sea`,
+    '-erase source=caspian_sea target=all_features',
+    // Update country codes for disputed territories at Egypt/Sudan border: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Sudan_border


These are disputed territories. The NE maps don't have them separated out, but the UN maps do. This was causing problems with the script due to how the metadata was assigned. I opted to give them different country codes so that we wouldn't have to decide which country "owns" which territory. I looked into the UN policy on these territories and their position is essentially that they're not taking a position. Switching to the UN data is an attempt to use a trusted source. So, I'm trying to follow the UN lead with this. You can see the difference between the old maps and the new below:

Natural Earth UN

camdecoster · 2025-07-11T14:58:41Z

topojson/bin/process_geodata.mjs

+    // Remove country polygons with bad geometry
+    `-filter '!["ATA", "FJI", "RUS"].includes(iso3cd)' target=un_polygons`,
+    '-merge-layers target=un_polygons,antarctica,fiji,russia force name=all_features',
+    // Erase Caspian Sea


The UN maps didn't show the outline of the Caspian sea in the country borders, so the script modifies the geodata here to cut the shape out. The NE maps have it cut out, so this changes matches what was provided previously. You can see the source data here without the sea visible in the countries layer (though you can see it in a water bodies layer):

tasks/preprocess.js

test/image/mocks/geo_choropleth-egypt-sudan.json

topojson/bin/process_geodata.mjs

archmoj · 2025-07-11T20:48:45Z

topojson/bin/process_geodata.mjs

+function getCentroid(feature) {
+    const { type } = feature.geometry;
+    const projection = geoIdentity();
+    const path = geoPath(projection);


There is also another variable called path in global scope.
Please rename this one.

Done: 8944398.

archmoj · 2025-07-11T21:05:04Z

src/assets/geo_assets.js

-
-exports.topojson = saneTopojson;
+module.exports = {
+  topojson,


Shouldn't this be

Suggested change

topojson,

topojson: topojson,

?

As of ES6, you can do this if the key and value variable have the same name (MDN source).

camdecoster added 4 commits March 19, 2025 18:16

Add new dev dependencies

e8d763d

Add build scripts

7f7b690

Update some topojson references

6b596c0

Add npm build scripts

353bf94

gvwilson assigned ndrezn Mar 20, 2025

gvwilson added feature something new P1 needed for current cycle labels Mar 20, 2025

camdecoster added 2 commits March 20, 2025 07:13

Add 'usa' config

fc6022f

Add clipping bounds for Antarctica

2910eea

camdecoster changed the title ~~Switch geodata providers~~ feat: Switch geodata providers Mar 20, 2025

ndrezn reviewed Mar 20, 2025

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ndrezn requested a review from emilykl March 20, 2025 17:03

camdecoster and others added 6 commits March 20, 2025 11:40

Apply suggestions from code review

5d66dad

Co-authored-by: Nathan Drezner <[email protected]>

Add geodata archive, update get_geodata script paths

3b47c67

Switch config file to JS

b434656

Switch coastlines layer source

a4d0b21

Add Oceania clipping bounds

e257b7b

Switch layer name to 'ocean'

1154ff1

camdecoster added 7 commits March 25, 2025 20:42

Update test config

86d5b00

Switch to UN/NE geodata hybrid

86f048c

Refactor to simplify scripts Switch to UN/NE geodata hybrid Save UN geodata to archive Remove extra info from topojson Add centroids to geojson Use 'simplify' to create 110m maps

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/master' into cam/7334/switch-geo…

ac61095

…data-providers

Fix zip/unzip of UN geojson

f4c3d48

Fix saving 110m maps

22a8e0a

Update dist with new maps

247f925

Update geo tests

3cf9730

Add topojson ci build comparison test

50377f8

camdecoster requested a review from archmoj July 10, 2025 16:15

Actually run test job in ci

601ffc9

camdecoster requested a review from emilykl July 10, 2025 16:30

archmoj reviewed Jul 10, 2025

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camdecoster added 2 commits July 10, 2025 14:55

Add npm clean script

0f3e102

Update path; remove comment

9b62be0

camdecoster requested a review from archmoj July 10, 2025 21:14

archmoj reviewed Jul 11, 2025

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Update package lock file

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camdecoster commented Jul 11, 2025

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camdecoster added 5 commits July 11, 2025 10:11

Add default scopes for Antarctica, Oceania

fc3978c

Clarify comment

b050574

Add Egypt/Sudan choropleth mock

e9c16c8

Add test baseline image

fcaef12

Update schema

36f5fb5

archmoj reviewed Jul 11, 2025

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Rename image/mock to avoid bug

765b549

archmoj reviewed Jul 11, 2025

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Rename shadowed variable

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feat: Switch geodata providers #7393

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camdecoster commented Mar 20, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Description

Changes

Testing

Notes

TODO

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gvwilson commented Mar 25, 2025

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camdecoster commented Mar 20, 2025 •

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archmoj commented Jul 11, 2025 •

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