Downloading GADM Data Version 3.6: A Complete Guide to Global Administrative Boundaries
| Format | Best for | Notes | |--------|----------|-------| | | QGIS, modern GIS | Recommended – single file, no shapefile size limits | | Shapefile | ArcGIS, legacy tools | Requires multiple files (.shp, .shx, .dbf) | | KML | Google Earth, web maps | Lightweight, limited attributes | | R (sp) | R users (old workflow) | Direct load() into R’s sp package | | R (sf) | R users (modern) | sf object ready |
library(sf) gadm <- st_read("path/to/gadm36_levels_gpkg/gadm36.gpkg") # or .shp/.geojson plot(st_geometry(gadm)) download gadm data version 36 work
A single file format containing all layers. This is the recommended format for modern GIS software like QGIS.
While GADM has since released versions 4.0 and 4.1, version 3.6 remains highly relevant. It struck a balance between high spatial resolution and manageable file sizes. Furthermore, it fixed significant identifier errors present in earlier releases (like version 3.4), ensuring that codes such as AFG.1_1 are persistent and reliable for longitudinal studies. Downloading GADM Data Version 3
Right-click the loaded layer, select Filter... , and build an expression (e.g., "NAME_1" = 'California' ). Click OK to isolate your study area. 2. Working in ArcGIS Pro
✅ I downloaded from ✅ I selected GeoPackage or Shapefile ✅ I unzipped and checked for .prj and .cpg files ✅ I loaded into QGIS/ArcGIS/R/Python without encoding errors ✅ I used GID_ * fields for joins ✅ I reprojected if necessary (e.g., for area calculations) ✅ I cited the dataset correctly It struck a balance between high spatial resolution
For programmatic data science workflows, you can load GADM 3.6 directly into code.