In this section, you will be able to select the relevant geographic areas for your project. This will enable you to tag locations during the second level of Tagging (see Tagging section of this guide for more information).
In the Project Maps, you can select a geographic area by scrolling down or writing the name of the searched area.
Once you have picked an area, the map of the country will appear and you will be able to see the division by administrative level 1 and 2 depending on the areas. The details of these levels will appear on the right hand side of the map, by clicking on the small arrow next to the area’s name.
You can select as many areas or countries as needed for your project. You can delete one by clicking on the bin icon next to the area’s name on the right hand side.
If the area you are looking for does not appear or not with the administrative levels you need, you can Add a custom area by clicking on the relevant button. You will then follow the steps detailed below the screenshot.
Search for the shapefiles of the geographic area you want to cover. Some of the sources used on the DEEP are GADM, HDX, GeoBoundaries, and Princeton.
After locating and downloading the shapefiles to your device, upload the shapefiles in https://mapshaper.org/ While uploading shapefiles in mapshaper, make sure that the ‘detect line intersections’ option is checked.
After the shapes have been imported in mapshaper, click on the arrow button on the right side and select ‘inspect features.’
Then click on the shape to view details like these:
You can then open DEEP and click on Add a custom geo area button in the Geo Areas page of the project.
You should see a pop-up to input NAME and CODE for the geo area. Input them and click on the ADD button.
Then you can click on the Add admin level button and attach the ‘admin level 0’ shapefile in the first field.
Input the admin level of the shape in the ‘Admin Level’ field. For example, if it is admin level 0, input ‘0’ in the admin level field.
Input the administration-level name of the shape. For example, if it is the country’s shape, then input ‘Country’. If it is the district’s shape, then write ‘District’.
Input the Pcode Property and Name Property. You will get these details from the mapshaper in step 4.
Leave the ‘Parent Pcode Property’ and ‘Parent Name Property’ fields empty if you’re uploading an admin0 shapefile. If you are uploading admin1, admin2 or admin3 shapefiles, you will have to input ‘Parent Pcode Property’ and ‘Parent Name Property’ as well. You can repeat step 3 and 4 with admin1, admin2 shapefiles in mapshaper to get their Pcode and Name Properties.
In order to link the maps, you have to make sure you input the ‘Parent Pcode Property’ and ‘Parent Name Property’ fields correctly. For example, ‘Pcode Property’ and ‘Name Property’ of admin0 shapefile are ‘Parent Pcode Property’ and ‘Parent Name Property’ for admin1 shapefile.
Next, select the parent name from the ‘Parent Name’ dropdown if you are uploading admin1, 2 or 3 shapefiles.
Click on the SAVE button after you have uploaded each admin-level shapefiles.
Once you have saved all the levels of shapefiles, double-check everything and click on the PUBLISH button.