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Public provenance registry

Sources

Every published map should explain the geography, data, and interpretation behind it. This library records the canonical sources currently used across The Great Map.

31 records

Legal authority

4
  1. PRC Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (2025 revision)

    Defines Putonghua and standardized Chinese characters as the legally nationwide common spoken and written language while retaining protections for ethnic-group languages.

    National People's Congress / Ministry of Education · Effective January 1, 2026
  2. Hong Kong Basic Law, Article 9

    Establishes Chinese and English as official languages in the legally defined Hong Kong contexts.

    Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government · Current law reviewed September 9, 2026
  3. Macao Decree-Law No. 101/99/M on official languages

    Gives Chinese and Portuguese equal dignity as official languages in Macao.

    Official Gazette of the Macao Special Administrative Region · Current law reviewed September 9, 2026
  4. Taiwan Development of National Languages Act

    Defines the natural and sign languages used by Taiwan's ethnic groups as equal national languages.

    Laws & Regulations Database of the Republic of China (Taiwan) · Current law reviewed September 9, 2026

Project methodology

4
  1. General United States population-density methodology

    Coverage, display composition, validation evidence, failure behavior, and accepted limitations for the public U.S. population map.

    The Great Map · Current release; WorldPop 2025 at 1 km
  2. Current Reality protected-template methodology

    Defines the suite’s baseline present-day United States/Canada Region interpretation.

    American Unraveling · Protected template revision 1
  3. Original Post-USA protected-template methodology

    Preserves the original speculative political-Region scenario migrated from the donor project.

    American Unraveling · Donor baseline 023aaa6
  4. Frozen GLL donor migration evidence

    Provenance and reconciliation evidence for migrated donor content; not an authority for the linguistic claims.

    The Great Map · Frozen donor snapshot, preserved before implementation

Thematic data

15
  1. ACS 2023 five-year table B03002

    County population and race/ethnicity estimates used by General-map choropleths.

    U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2023 five-year estimates
  2. 2023 Counties Gazetteer File

    County land area used with ACS population estimates to calculate population density.

    U.S. Census Bureau · 2023
  3. 2024 U.S. county-level presidential results

    County-level Democratic and Republican presidential vote totals used by the General map.

    tonmcg/US_County_Level_Election_Results_08-24 · 2024 presidential election
  4. WorldPop Global2 R2025A v1 constrained population, 100 m

    Future US-D high-resolution source and validation reference; not used in US-C pixels.

    WorldPop · 2015–2030 estimates; R2025A v1 alpha; 3 arcsec (~100 m)
  5. WorldPop Global2 R2025A v1 U.S. constrained population, 1 km

    Canonical visible population-count input for the US-C broad-density release.

    WorldPop · 2025 estimate; Global2 R2025A v1 alpha; constrained total population; 30 arcsec
  6. GHS-POP R2023A global population grid

    Mandatory residential-population comparison source; it is not blended into US-C.

    European Commission Joint Research Centre · 1975–2030 at five-year intervals; R2023A
  7. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4, Revision 11

    Simpler census-allocation baseline used only to challenge modeled settlement placement.

    CIESIN, Columbia University · Population counts for 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020; Revision 11
  8. GHS-POP R2023A 2025 epoch, WGS84 30 arcsec

    Residential-population validator used in the US-E common-grid analysis.

    European Commission Joint Research Centre · 2025 modeled epoch; R2023A; WGS84 30 arcsec; V1.0
  9. GPWv4 Revision 11 2020 population count adjusted to 2015 UN WPP totals

    Simpler census-allocation baseline used in the US-E common-grid analysis.

    NASA Earthdata / CIESIN · 2020 count; Revision 11; adjusted to 2015 UN WPP country totals
  10. 2020 Census P.L. 94-171 block population and geography

    Official U.S. population/geography validator for broad totals and spatial spot checks.

    U.S. Census Bureau · 2020 decennial Census; tabulation-block geography
  11. LandScan Mosaic Annual Global Ambient Population Time Series v1.0

    Ambient-population spatial validator for activity concentrations, not residential display data.

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory · 1975–2024 annual ambient population; v1.0; 3 arcsec WGS84
  12. Meta High Resolution Settlement Layer population maps

    Fine-scale building and settlement-location validator; not a temporally uniform US-C source.

    Meta Data for Good · Country-specific vintages; approximately 30 m settlement cells
  13. Kontur Population Dataset v5

    Fused-product sanity check and prototype comparator, not a canonical source.

    Kontur · 2023-11-01 estimate; v5; public 400 m H3 product
  14. Kontur Population — United States, H3 resolution 8

    Canonical populated-cell detail source for the US-D verification release.

    Kontur · 2023-11-01 United States estimate; H3 resolution 8 (~400 m)
  15. North American Environmental Atlas Population Density 2020

    User-supplied North American comparison layer derived from GPWv4 Revision 11.

    Commission for Environmental Cooperation · 2020; 2.5 arcmin; derived from GPWv4 Revision 11

Geographic data

8
  1. Natural Earth countries via world-atlas

    Global country geometry used as the shared Admin-0 geographic surface.

    Natural Earth · Natural Earth 4.1.0 / world-atlas 2.0.2
  2. 2025 States Cartographic Boundary File

    State and state-equivalent geometry and stable STATEFP identities.

    U.S. Census Bureau · 2025, 1:500,000
  3. 2025 Counties Cartographic Boundary File

    County and county-equivalent geometry and stable five-character GEOID identities.

    U.S. Census Bureau · 2025, 1:500,000
  4. Present-day United States capitals

    Present-day capital points used as an optional American Unraveling reference layer.

    American Unraveling · Present-day state capitals and Washington, D.C.
  5. Spain ADM1 boundaries

    Autonomous-community and autonomous-city geometry used for the Spain Admin-1 proof.

    geoBoundaries · Represented 2017; build 2023-12-12
  6. Spain ADM2 boundaries

    Province geometry used for the Spain Admin-2 proof.

    geoBoundaries · Represented 2018; build 2023-12-12
  7. Mainland China administrative boundaries from Vonng/adcode

    Pinned mainland China Admin-1, Admin-2, and selected Admin-3 geometry with stable adcode identities.

    Vonng/adcode · Administrative codes 2016-07-31; geometry circa 2018-02
  8. 119th Congressional District boundaries

    Congressional-district polygons for the General map.

    U.S. Census Bureau · 119th Congress, 2025–2027