The following reference [http://ioc.unesco.org/oceanteacher/OceanTeacher2/07_Examples/examples.htm] provides simple data files that can be imported into a Tk canvas (code to follow later). Download the world.bln file in the section Mapping -> Mapping - XY->BLN - Blanking/boundary . Each length of border line is labelled with its country, though I am not sure if the common border between (say) Belgium and France is labelled as Belgium, France or is in the europe.bln file twice. The source of data is UNESCO; accuracy may not be ideal (it omits the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England, which is larger than some of the other islands included). ---- [RS] always loves maps (see [Tclworld] :^) Here's my take at a little viewer to render one or more such bln files. You can zoom in or out with + and -, see the name of a boundary by clicking on it, and pan the canvas by dragging with left mouse button pressed: package require Tk proc main argv { foreach a $argv {bln_load $a data} pack [canvas .c -bg white] -fill both -expand 1 foreach item [array names data] { .c create line $data($item) -tag [list tx $item] } bind . + {canvas'scale .c 1.25} bind . - {canvas'scale .c 0.8} canvas'scale .c 8 bind .c {%W scan mark %x %y} bind .c {%W scan dragto %x %y 1} .c bind tx <1> {display %W %x %y} } proc bln_load {filename _arr} { upvar 1 $_arr arr set contour {} set recordname "" set f [open $filename] while {[gets $f line] >= 0} { set fields [split $line ,] switch [llength $fields] { 4 { if [llength $contour] {set arr($recordname) $contour} set cnt([lindex $fields 2]) "" set recordname [string trim [lindex $fields 2] \"],[lindex $fields 0] set contour {} } 2 {lappend contour [lindex $fields 0] [expr {-[lindex $fields 1]}]} } } } proc canvas'scale {w factor} { $w scale all 0 0 $factor $factor $w config -scrollregion [$w bbox all] } proc display {w x y} { $w delete txt set tags [lindex [$w gettags current] 1] $w create text [$w canvasx $x] [$w canvasy $y] -text $tags -tag txt } main $argv ---- [Arts and crafts of Tcl-Tk programming] - [Category Geography]