Natural Earth 110m Rivers & Lakes
Quick answer: Natural Earth 110m Rivers & Lakes is a public-domain global water layer (rivers plus lakes) — hosted here as a 42 KB GeoJSON with a live map and class summary, with 10m/50m versions available for detail work.
About this dataset
Public-domain global rivers and lakes at 1:110m — a hosted ~42 KB GeoJSON with an instant map preview and feature-class summary.
Natural Earth's physical layers cover the world's major rivers, lake centerlines, and lake shorelines. This page hosts the lightweight 1:110m water layer (37 features) so you can see the global drainage skeleton immediately; the 10m and 50m releases add far more detail for regional mapping and stay as direct downloads.
How to download
- 1 Use the hosted 110m preview above to see the global river and lake skeleton instantly.
- 2 Download the hosted GeoJSON for lightweight basemaps or teaching material.
- 3 Switch to the 10m river/lake layers when you need tributaries and smaller water bodies.
- 4 Join with HydroSHEDS basin data or your own discharge tables for hydrological analysis.
FAQ
How many rivers and lakes are in the 110m layer?
The 1:110m release keeps only the most significant features — 37 river centerlines and lakes in the hosted file — so it stays small enough to stream in a browser.
Is this suitable for hydrological analysis?
No. Natural Earth is a cartographic generalisation. For basins, flow direction, and discharge use HydroSHEDS or HydroATLAS instead.
Why combine rivers and lakes in one file?
Both are water features that belong in the same visual layer. Keeping the line and polygon geometries together lets the preview draw a complete water network in one pass.