The GLORIN (Global LOng and Large Rivers INventory) database is a global, vector-based river network constructed using key geomorphometric parameters such as river length, mean wetted width, and longitudinal slope.

The dataset includes all rivers longer than 400 km, classified as Long Rivers (LOR), and those longer than 400 km with a mean wetted width exceeding 150 m, classified as Large Rivers (LAR). For validation, we used Google and ESRI basemaps as well as the GRIT and OSM databases, to ensure an accurate source-to-sink representation. Mean wetted width was computed from orthogonal cross-sections generated at 50 km intervals along each river. Lakes and reservoirs were excluded from the cross-section calculations to avoid distortion. The resulting width values represent actual wetted widths rather than bankfull widths.

Longitudinal slope was derived in Google Earth Engine using the Copernicus GLO-30 DEM, calculated along the full river course with a 3 km buffer applied to the centerline. The final network topology is provided as ESRI Shapefile layers with corresponding attribute information. Additionally, separate files reporting rivers for each region are provided, based on the World Continent shapefile from ArcGIS Hub.

Regions

Vector files for Long Rivers (LOR) and Large Rivers (LAR) are provided for 6 global regions. Below are the details of each region, including river counts, river ID range, and corresponding projected coordinate system used. All files are also available in a common equal-area projection (EPSG:8857).

Attribute description of the layers:

Underlying sources:

- SWORD: https://zenodo.org/records/15299138

- Google Earth Imagery

- Global River Topology (GRIT): https://zenodo.org/records/11219313

- OSM waterways: https://www.openstreetmap.org

- Copernicus GLO-30 Global DEM: https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/explore-data/data-collections/copernicus-contributing-missions/collections-description/COP-DEM

File Naming Convention

All vector files follow a standardized naming structure: <Region>_<Category>_<Projection>_<version>.{shp, dbf, cpg, shx, prj, qmd}

Where:

Region = Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania

Category = LOR or LAR

Projection = EPSG code (region-specific or EPSG8857)

Example:

Africa_LOR_EPSG102022_v01.shp

Africa_LAR_EPSG8857_v01.shp

Asia_LOR_EPSG27703_v01.shp

Europe_LAR_EPSG8857_v01.shp