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# The GMT High-Resolution Coastline Data

Starting with version 3.0, GMT use a completely new coastline database and the pscoast utility was been completely rewritten to handle the new file format. Many users have asked us why it has taken so long for GMT to use a high-resolution coastline database; after all, such data have been available in the public domain for years. To answer such questions we will take you along the road that starts with these public domain data sets and ends up with the database used by GMT.

- Selecting the right data
- Format required by GMT
- The long and winding road
- The Five Resolutions
  - The crude resolution (-Dc)
  - The low resolution (-–Dl)
  - The intermediate resolution (-Di)
  - The high resolution (-Dh)
  - The full resolution (-–Df)