A joint venture involving the National Atlas programs in Canada (Natural Resources Canada), Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática), and the United States (U.S. Geological Survey), as well as the North American Commission for Environmental Co-operation, has led to the release (June 2004) of several new products: an updated paper map of North America, and its associated geospatial data sets and their metadata. These data sets are available online from each of the partner countries both for download. This data has been revised and re-released in 2006. The North American Atlas data are standardized geospatial data sets at 1:10,000,000 scale. A variety of basic data layers (e.g. roads, railroads, populated places, political boundaries, hydrography, bathymetry, sea ice and glaciers) have been integrated so that their relative positions are correct. This collection of data sets forms a base with which other North American thematic data may be integrated. Any data outside of Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America included in the North American Atlas data sets is strictly to complete the context of the data. The North American Atlas - Political Boundaries data set shows political entities in North America as polygons representing jurisdictional areas, and as lines representing political boundaries, including International boundaries, Provincial boundaries, State or territory boundaries, and the International Date Line. This data set was produced using digital files supplied by Natural Resources Canada, Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
