esp_get_comarca: Comarcas of Spain

In mapSpain: Administrative Boundaries and Static Map Tiles for Spain

Comarcas of Spain

Description

Get comarcas of Spain. Comarcas are traditional informal territorial divisions comprising several municipalities that share geographical, economic or cultural traits, typically with poorly defined limits.

Usage

esp_get_comarca(
  region = NULL,
  comarca = NULL,
  moveCAN = TRUE,
  type = c("INE", "IGN", "AGR", "LIV"),
  epsg = 4258,
  update_cache = FALSE,
  cache_dir = NULL,
  verbose = FALSE
)

Arguments

region	Character string. A vector of names, codes or both for provinces, or NULL to get all the comarcas. See Details.
comarca	Character string. A name or regex expression with the names of the required comarcas. Use NULL to return all possible comarcas.
moveCAN	A logical TRUE/FALSE or a vector of coordinates c(lat, lon). It places the Canary Islands close to Spain's mainland. Initial position can be adjusted using the vector of coordinates. See Displacing the Canary Islands in esp_move_can().
type	Character string. One of "INE", "IGN", "AGR" or "LIV". Type of comarca to return. See Details.
epsg	Character string or number. Projection of the map: 4-digit EPSG code. One of: "4258": ETRS89. "4326": WGS84. "3035": ETRS89 / ETRS-LAEA. "3857": Pseudo-Mercator.
update_cache	Logical. If TRUE, refreshes the cached file and forces a new download. Defaults to FALSE.
cache_dir	Character string. A path to a cache directory. See Caching.
verbose	A logical value indicating whether to display informational messages.

Details

When using region you can use and mix names and NUTS codes (levels 1, 2 or 3), ISO codes (corresponding to level 2 or 3) or "cpro" (see esp_codelist).

When calling a higher level, such as a province, Autonomous Community, Autonomous City or NUTS 1 region, all comarcas of that level are added.

Value

A sf object.

About comarcas

Comarcas (English equivalent: district, county, area or zone) do not always have a formal legal status. They correspond mainly to natural areas (valleys, river basins and similar areas), historical regions or ancient kingdoms.

In Spain, comarcas only have an administrative character legally recognized in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarra (named merindades instead), the region of El Bierzo (Castilla y Leon) and Aragon. Galicia, the Principality of Asturias and Andalusia have functional comarcas.

Types

esp_get_comarca() can retrieve several types of comarcas, each provided under different classification criteria.

• "INE": Comarcas defined by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

• "IGN": Official comarcas, only available for some Autonomous Communities and Cities, provided by the National Geographic Institute.

• "AGR": Agrarian comarcas defined by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA).

• "LIV": Livestock comarcas defined by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA).

Caching

Functions that download data store files in cache_dir. When cache_dir is NULL, they use the active package cache, which defaults to a temporary directory. Set update_cache = TRUE to replace an existing cached file. See Caching strategies in esp_set_cache_dir() to configure a persistent cache.

Note

The use of the information contained on the INE website is at the sole risk of users and re-use agents. They are liable for damages to third parties arising from such use.

Source

INE: PC_Axis files, IGN, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA).

See Also

Additional boundary datasets and representations: esp_get_gridmap, esp_get_simpl

Examples

comarcas <- esp_get_comarca(moveCAN = FALSE)

library(ggplot2)

ggplot(comarcas) +
  geom_sf()

# IGN provides recognized comarcas.

rec <- esp_get_comarca(type = "IGN")

ggplot(rec) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = t_comarca))

# Legal comarcas of Catalunya.

comarcas_cat <- esp_get_comarca("Catalunya", type = "IGN")

ggplot(comarcas_cat) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = ine.prov.name)) +
  labs(fill = "Province")

mapSpain documentation built on Aug. 31, 2026, 5:07 p.m.