SPECIAL NOTE ON BOUNDARIES

Boundaries in TerraViva! National and Sub-National Political Boundaries 2008 represent, to our knowledge, the best public representation of national and 1st level administrative boundaries. We welcome contributions to this ongoing database. The resolution of the boundaries is a factor of the resolution of the publically available resource. The boundaries are nominal, not legal, descriptions of each entity.

Instances abound where boundaries are disputed between neighbors, and where no official boundary has ever been established. In fact, there does not exist an official administrative boundary specification. For examples of disputed boundaries see "TerraViva! Map Guide: Political Boundaries," available at TerraViva! GeoServer.

When there is debate about the political status of a country or its administrative units, it is the position of ISciences, makers of TerraViva! software, to follow the U.S. State Department’s list of Independent States of the World and Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty.