GMI logo

Global Mapping International

GMI Home

World Language Mapping System

Language points and area data for Geographic Information Systems

Now Available: Version 3.2 with 15th Edition Ethnologue Data!

Click to see a larger version of this map

The World Language Mapping System is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and trusted geographic data set of the locations of the world's nearly 7,000 ethno-linguistic peoples.

Christian nonprofit organizations interested in using this data should go to Global Ministry Mapping System web pages to find out more about our customized mapping software package tailored for their purposes.

General Description
Features
New Features in Version 3.2
Related Products
System Requirements
Limitations
Licensing
Pricing and Ordering

See Also:
Sample Maps
WLMS User Area - Additional Sample Maps and Data
Complete documentation in PDF

General Description

The World Language Mapping System consists of Geographic Information System data mapping language locations both as points and polygon (of language homelands), with attribute information from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth Edition. The World Language Mapping System (WLMS) is the result of over 17 years of collaborative work between Global Mapping International (GMI) and the SIL International (SIL), to map the over 6,800 languages described in SIL's 15th edition Ethnologue. The resulting GIS data is used by SIL to produce maps for the Ethnologue and other purposes, and has been published by GMI in GIS format for the Christian nonprofit community since 1995 as part of the Global Ministry Mapping System. This data set, adapted to work with either NGA's public domain Digtital Chart of the World (VMAP Level 0) base map or GMI's companion Seamless Digital Chart of the World , is now available to the broader community of GIS users.

Features

For additional information see Complete documentation in PDF

Point locations of all 9,020 published Ethnologue language-in-country entries.
Polygons delineating the linguistic homelands of most entries in the Ethnologue, 15th edition, with coastlines and international borders corresponding to the Digital Chart of the World (VMAP level 0, edition 5).
A joinable attribute table with fields corresponding to the full data in the published Ethnologue, 15th Edition (with a small number of truncations required by the fixed-field-length data format), and including additional, unpublished records on immigrant languages.
Polygon overlays for mixed-language areas.
Additional polygons of language areas without corresponding Ethnologue listings (generally areas where a small part of a linguistic homeland described in the Ethnologue extends into an adjoining country).
Designed to overlay the popular Digital Chart of the World base map in either the public domain VPF version or GMI's seamless shapefile version.
Digital Chart of the World country boundaries and two compressed raster backgrounds (hillshades and elevation/ocean depth colors) provided for geographic context.
Complete documentation in PDF format.
Layer files providing default symbology for ArcGIS 8.3 or 9.
Sample map project files illustrating use in ArcGIS 8.3 or 9.
XML metadata compatible with ArcGIS 8 or 9.
Nominal scale of 1:1,000,000.

New Features in Version 3.2

Point, polygon, and attribute data have been updated to correspond to Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth Edition.
Unified point shapefile allows the use of classification and/or definition queries to display various classes of points (polygon centroids, widespread language points, extinct language points, etc) formerly represented only as separate shapefile layers. The separate shapefile layers are retained for back compatibility.
41 additional fields of information in the Ethnologue data table reflect the additional scope of the published 15th Edition Ethnologue, an improved breakdown of data into separate fields, and improvements (described below) in geographic coding, language coding, name rendering, and population.
The Ethnologue attribute table now has decimal-degree latitude and longitude fields added, allowing it to be mapped directly as XY or event table.
Languages are coded using both the ISO DIS 639-3-compliant codes used in the 15th Edition Ethnologue and a legacy code compatible with earlier versions of the Ethnologue. For clarity, legacy codes are given in the traditional upper case, while ISO 639-3 codes are given in lower case. Several codes for language-in-country are provided:
- Legacy Ethnologue codes with upper-case ISO three-letter country codes (the previous WLMS standard for language-in-country coding.
- ISO 639-3 codes with lower-case ISO two-letter country codes (the recommended new standard for ISO-compliant language-in-country coding.
- ISO 639-3 codes with upper-case U.S. government FIPS 10-4 country codes (the recommended standard for those already using the widely-used FIPS standard for country coding, and for those doing historical research, since FIPS codes represent consistent geographic entities over time).
Name rendering for map labels is substantially improved, with traditional upper-case ASCII (diacritic-stripped) names supplemented by mixed-case ASCII, mixed-case ANSI (ISO Latin 1) diacritical forms, and comma-free ANSI diacritical forms.
Populations of most languages are now provided as a numeric field in addition to the earlier text discussion of population research.
The Widespread Languages, Offset for Display point coverage, which allows ranged-size point symbols placed in ocean or sparsely populated land areas to substitute for polygon symbology, has been substantially enhanced.
Additional and updated sample maps illustrate a number of possibilities for using new population, widespread language and name data.

Related Products

The WLMS is developed to coordinate with GMI's Seamless Digital Chart of the World base map. Country boundaries from that product are included with the WLMS product. Several example map projects (ArcGIS 8.3 .mxd files) provided with each product illustrate how the products work together. Users who do not already have a working Digital Chart of the World/VMAP 0 base map, or who are annoyed by the tile and library boundary artifacts of the public domain versions of that data set, should consider purchasing GMI's product.

System Requirements

GIS software capable of reading ESRI shapefile format geographic data. (Note: this data includes very complex, high vertex count data. It has been tested with ESRI's ArcView 8.2, 8.3, and 9.x. Users of other systems should contact GMI for sample data to verify that your software is capable of handling objects of sufficient complexity).
Windows system to run self-extracting .exe installation files from distribution disc. This need not be the computer running the GIS system, but must be able to write data to a location accessible by the GIS system.

Limitations

Polygons depict the traditional linguistic homelands of each language; populations away from their homelands (e.g. in cities, refugee populations, etc.) are not mapped. Following the practice of the Ethnologue, the World Language Mapping System does not attempt to map immigrant languages.
Polygons are not provided for languages which are considered widespread in a country, e.g. where the language polygon would be essentially identical to the country boundary. In a few cases (e.g. French in Canada), languages have been classified as widespread on the basis of a strong official policy of nationwide multilingualism.
A very small number of languages are classified as "Unknown Location" and are not mapped as polygons pending further research.
Points corresponding to Widespread and Unknown Location languages are located arbitrarily within the appropriate country.
A small percentage of Ethnologue data fields have been truncated in order to fit the field and record size limits of the .dbf data table format. In general, these are lengthy text commentaries on the data in the part of the field that is reproduced.
Language polygons were originally digitized relative to the World Databank II (WDBII) base map. Language polygons coincident with geographic features other than coastlines and international boundaries (particularly rivers) may follow the WDBII versions of these features.

Licensing

Standard WLMS licensing permits use of the data at a single (or optionally, at multiple) GIS end-user workstations, and distribution of maps created on licensed workstations in either print or electronic form with only minor attribution requirements. See the standard license (in PDF format) for details. Custom licensing for large GIS sites, multi-user map servers, or other situations not covered by the standard license can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

WLMS License Pricing and Ordering

Standard Pricing (Commercial, Government, etc.)	Price	CD-ROM delivery (see notes)	Electronic delivery (see notes)
WLMS 3.2 bundled with complete Seamless DCW Base Map
first workstation	$1,000.00
additional workstations	$500.00 each
WLMS 3.2 with DCW country borders only
first workstations	$750.00
additional workstations	$375.00 each
Educational and Non-profit Organization Pricing
WLMS 3.2 bundled with complete Seamless DCW Base Map
first workstation	$350.00
additional workstations	$175.00 each
WLMS 3.2 with DCW country borders only
first workstations	$250.00
additional workstations	$125.00 each

Ordering Notes:

Orders placed for electronic download will not be available immediately. You will receive download and unlocking instructions via email in 1-2 U.S. business days after submission of your order. Note also that the World Language Mapping System is an 83 megabyte download, and the Seamless Digital Chart of the World is a 680 megabyte download; users without broadband connections should consider carefully before ordering this product for electronic delivery, and all users should consider using a download manager capable of restarting an interrupted download.
For Academic/Nonprofit orders, we must receive the signed Academic/Nonprofit Order Form printed on your letterhead via fax, mail, or scanned and emailed to bill (at) gmi.org before we can process your order, even if your order has been submitted and paid through our online store.
By placing an order for this product, you represent that the person placing the order and any user of the product have read, understood, and agree to abide by the terms of the End-User License agreement.
Open-account purchase orders will in general be accepted only from recognized U.S. entities, only at Standard (Commercial/Government) prices, and subject to review and approval. GMI is listed in the Federal CCR, CAGE code 48LK5. GMI is a small, faith-based nonprofit organization exempt from a number of Federal nondiscrimination requirements pursuant to Executive Order 13279. Purchase orders containing or referencing state, local, or institutional nondiscrimination provisions without immediately evident exemptions for faith-based organizations will be rejected. Non-Federal purchase orders with more than two pages of terms and conditions (whether included or incorporated by reference) or requiring the submission of vendor applications or other forms will generally be rejected.
For ordering questions, contact Bill Dickson, +1-719-531-3599 x592 or bill (at) gmi.org.