GIS resources

The VIEWS data are offered at two spatial levels of analysis: the PRIO-GRID and country levels. Both are presented at a monthly temporal resolution. The material to replicate these units for model development and data visualisation can be found below. 

Country-level material

The list of countries included in the VIEWS datasets is derived from the  Gleditsch & Ward (1999) list of independent states. The geographic extents thereof (as well as the country IDs by which the VIEWS data are presented) are determined by the GIS dataset CShapes v.0.6 ( Weidmann, Kuse & Gleditsch, 2010).  
  • Please note that the choice of country set and delimitations thereof was made on methodological grounds and does not reflect the views or opinions of the VIEWS team.

COUNTRY IDENTIFIERS

Table of all VIEWS-assigned country IDs, complete with matching country identifiers from the ISO standard, matching country identifiers from the Gleditsch & Ward country classification. capital attributes, country centroids, and region dummies (in_africa for countries located in Africa, in_me for countries in the Middle East).
Included variables:
  • VIEWS country ID (country_ID)
  • VIEWS country name (name)
  • Capital name (capname)
  • Capital coordinates (caplong, caplat)
  • Gleditsch-Ward Country Code (gwcode)
  • Gleditsch-Ward Country Start Year (gwsyear )
  • Gleditsch-Ward Country Start Month (gwsmonth )
  • Gleditsch-Ward Country Start Day (gwsday )
  • Gleditsch-Ward Country End Year (gweyear )
  • Gleditsch-Ward Country End Month (gwemonth )
  • Gleditsch-Ward Country End Day (gweday )
  • ISO Country Name (isoname)
  • ISO Numeric Country Code (isonum)
  • ISO Alphabetic (3-letter) Country Code (isoab)
  • VIEWS Month ID for GW Country Start Date (month_start)
  • VIEWS Month ID for GW Country End Date (month_end)
  • Centroid Coordinates (centroidlong, centroidlat)
  • Dummy for Africa (in_africa)
  • Dummy for Middle East (in_me)
Country identifiers (.CSV)

CSHAPES SHAPEFILES

Shapefiles from CShapes v.0.6 for the countries and country delimitations applied by the VIEWS modeling system. 
Shapefiles, CShapes v.0.6

PRIO-GRID-level material

The PRIO-GRID units used in VIEWS are derived from from PRIO-GRID 2.0 ( Tollefsen, Strand & Buhaug, 2012). It is a standardized spatial grid structure consisting of quadratic grid cells that jointly cover all terrestrial areas of the world at a resolution of 0.5 x 0.5 decimal degrees, approximately 55×55 km around the equator.

PRIO-GRID IDENTIFIERS

Table matching the PRIO-GRID IDs used by the VIEWS modeling system with their corresponding VIEWS country IDs through time (per month from January 1980 onwards). Captures variation in corresponding country classifications over time. The table also contains regional dummy variables for Africa and the Middle East.
Included variables:
  • PRIO-GRID grid ID (priogrid_gid)
  • VIEWS country ID (country_ID)
  • VIEWS month ID (month_id)
  • PRIO-GRID-month ID (pgm_id) 
  • Country-month ID (cm_id)
  • Dummy for Africa (in_africa)
  • Dummy for Middle East (in_me)
PRIO-GRID identifiers

PRIO-GRID SHAPEFILES

Shapefiles from PRIO-GRID 2.0, as used by the VIEWS modeling system. 
Shapefiles, PRIO-GRID 2.0

Month IDs

The VIEWS month IDs are a counter that starts at 1 for January 1980. The file below contains a table of the VIEWS month IDs matched with their corresponding calendar years and months. 
Included variables:
  • Date MMM-YY (Date)
  • Year (Year) 
  • Month (Month)
  • VIEWS month ID (month_id)
VIEWS month IDs (.CSV)
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