gisco_get_lau: Local Administrative Units (LAU) dataset
In giscoR: Download 'Eurostat' 'GISCO' Spatial Data

gisco_get_lau

R Documentation

Local Administrative Units (LAU) dataset

Description

This dataset shows pan-European administrative boundaries down to commune level. Local Administrative Units are equivalent to communes. See gisco_get_communes().

Usage

gisco_get_lau(
  year = 2024,
  epsg = 4326,
  cache = deprecated(),
  update_cache = FALSE,
  cache_dir = NULL,
  verbose = FALSE,
  country = NULL,
  gisco_id = NULL,
  ext = "gpkg"
)

Arguments

`year`	A character string or numeric value with the release year of the file. One of \Sexpr[stage=render,results=rd]{giscoR:::db_values("lau", "year",TRUE)}.
`epsg`	A character string or numeric value with the coordinate reference system as a 4-digit EPSG code. One of: `"4326"`: WGS84. `"3035"`: ETRS89 / ETRS-LAEA. `"3857"`: Pseudo-Mercator.
`cache`	. Always caches the result due to its size. See Caching strategies section in `gisco_set_cache_dir()`.
`update_cache`	A logical value indicating whether to refresh the cached file. Defaults to `FALSE`. When set to `TRUE`, it forces a new download.
`cache_dir`	A character string with a path to a cache directory. See Caching strategies section in `gisco_set_cache_dir()`.
`verbose`	A logical value. If `TRUE` displays informational messages.
`country`	A character vector of country codes. It can be either a vector of country names, a vector of ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country codes or a vector of Eurostat country codes. See also `countrycode::countrycode()`.
`gisco_id`	An optional character vector of `GISCO_ID` LAU values.
`ext`	A character value with the extension of the file (default `"gpkg"`). One of \Sexpr[stage=render,results=rd]{giscoR:::db_values("lau", "ext",TRUE)}.

Details

The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) and the LAU nomenclature are hierarchical classifications of statistical regions that together subdivide the EU economic territory into regions of five different levels, moving from larger to smaller territorial units: NUTS 1, 2 and 3 and LAU.

The LAU classification is not covered by any legislative act. Geographical extent covers the European Union, EFTA countries and candidate countries. The scale of the dataset is 1:100 000.

The data contain the National Statistical Agency LAU code, which can be joined to LAU lists. They also contain a GISCO_ID field, which is a unique identifier consisting of the country code and LAU code.

Total resident population figures (31 December) have also been added in some versions based on the associated LAU lists.

Value

A sf object.

Note

Check the download and usage provisions in gisco_attributions().

Source

https://gisco-services.ec.europa.eu/distribution/v2/.

Examples


## Not run: 

lu_lau <- gisco_get_lau(year = 2024, country = "Luxembourg")

if (!is.null(lu_lau)) {
  library(ggplot2)

  ggplot(lu_lau) +
    geom_sf(aes(fill = POP_DENS_2024)) +
    labs(
      title = "Population density in Luxembourg",
      subtitle = "Year 2024",
      caption = gisco_attributions()
    ) +
    scale_fill_viridis_b(
      option = "cividis",
      label = \(x) prettyNum(x, big.mark = ",")
    ) +
    theme_void() +
    labs(fill = "pop/km2")
}

## End(Not run)

giscoR documentation built on June 17, 2026, 9:10 a.m.