World Databank II (WDBII) is a digital representation of the World supplied to the National Technical Information Services (NTIS) by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The library consists of anywhere from 5 to 20 or more magnetic tapes in either ASCII or EBCDIC format. Since the standard format of WDBII is not structured for automatic processing, SPRE requires additional information about the content of the tapes to be maintained in a file that is read in at run time. General resolution of the product is around 400 meters.

WDBII has recently been placed in the public domain and is therefore available for use in non-CIA and non-defense-related efforts.

The information content consists of cultural feature information concerning:

• Coastlines, Islands, and Lakes (CIL)

• Rivers, streams, and canals (RIV)

• Road networks (where available) (RDS)

• Railroad networks (where available) (RRR)

• International boundaries (BDY)

• Internal administrative boundaries (PBY)

The 1977 NTIS release of WDBII consists of five tapes describing:

1. North America

2. South America and Antarctica

3. Europe

4. Africa

5. Asia and Australia

in either ASCII or EBCDIC.

SPRE recognizes the following features as supplied in the 1977 NTIS release. More information may be obtained by reading "World Data Bank II General User's Guide'', July 1977.

• boundaries_internal_1st_order - boundaries for states, etc.

• boundaries_internal_2nd_order - boundaries for counties, etc.

• boundaries_internal_3rd_order - feature exists however, category unknown

• boundaries_internal_4th_order - feature exists however, category unknown

• boundaries_internat_sea - lines of separation or sovereignty in the sea

• boundaries_internat_sea_other - other lines of separation or sovereignty in the sea

• boundaries_international - demarcated or delimited

• boundaries_international_indef - indefinite or in dispute

• boundaries_international_other - lines of separation or sovereignty on land

• canals_irrigation - canals for irrigation purposes

• canals_major - major canals

• canals_minor - minor canals

• coast_islands_lakes - lines of separation between large water masses and land masses

• continental_shelf - continental shelf boundary in Persian Gulf

• demilitarized_zone - demilitarized zone in Israel

• ferry_rail_bg - broad gauge railroad ferry

• ferry_rail_ng - narrow gauge railroad ferry

• ferry_rail_sg - standard gauge railroad ferry

• ferry_rail_unknown - unknown gauge railroad ferry

• ferry_road - road ferry

• glaciers - glaciers

• highway - hard surfaced high speed engineered roads 2 or more lanes wide

• ice_shelves_major - major ice shelves

• ice_shelves_minor - minor ices shelves

• islands_lakes_intermediate - intermediate sized islands and lakes

• islands_lakes_major - major islands and lakes

• islands_lakes_minor - minor islands and lakes

• lakes_major_intermittent - intermittent major islands and lakes

• lakes_minor_intermittent - intermittent minor islands and lakes

• no_defined_line - guide only for S. Arabian Peninsula

• railroad_bg - broad gauge railroad

• railroad_bg_project - broad gauge railroad under construction

• railroad_ng - narrow gauge railroad

• railroad_ng_project - narrow gauge railroad under construction

• railroad_sg - standard gauge railroad

• railroad_sg_project - standard gauge railroad under construction

• railroad_unknown - unknown gauge railroad

• railroad_unknown_project - unknown railroad under construction

• reefs - reefs

• rivers_addtl - additional rivers

• rivers_addtl_intermittent - intermittent additional rivers

• rivers_double_lined - double lined rivers

• rivers_major - major rivers

• rivers_major_addtl - additional major rivers

• rivers_major_intermittent intermittent major rivers

• rivers_minor - minor rivers

• rivers_minor_intermittent - intermittent minor rivers

• road_main - hard surface main through highway or road

• road_project - road under construction

• road_secondary - gravel or other all?weather surface roads

• road_tertiary - unsurfaced road

• road_unknown - undifferentiated

• salt_pans_major - major salt pans

• salt_pans_minor - minor salt pans

• track_trail - track, trail, or caravan route