Most of what is here was compiled, extracted and corrected by us. Where we build on someone else’s work, it is named below — so anything on this site can be traced back to where it came from.
explore.mv — original compilation
The list of Maldivian islands with their Dhivehi names, atoll codes and island codes. Our own dataset, and the spine that everything else is merged into.
Compiled by explore.mv. Ongoing.
Maldives Land and Survey Authority
Island, reef and lagoon outlines, areas and official spellings. Used to enhance our gazetteer — it supplied the shapes on our maps, resolved duplicate records, settled spellings, and contributed the reefs and lagoons.
Contains information licensed under Data Usage License – Maldives Land and Survey Authority.
Used under the Authority’s data usage licence. Merged into our gazetteer and maintained here since; errors in what you see are ours, not theirs.
Accessed 22 August 2026
UN OCHA — Common Operational Datasets
The dashed outlines of the 21 administrative atolls on the map, from the Maldives common operational dataset (cod-ab-mdv, v02, valid 22 October 2024), which distributes the government’s own administrative boundaries.
Maldives administrative boundaries: OCHA Common Operational Dataset (cod-ab-mdv), sourced from the Government of Maldives. Licensed CC BY-IGO.
Creative Commons Attribution for Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY-IGO), via data.humdata.org.
Accessed 30 August 2026
explore.mv — original research
Channel (kandu) and reef-pass (kanduolhi) names and the navigational routes between them, hand-extracted by us from the charts in ރާއްޖޭގައި ކަނޑުދަތުރުކުރުން by Mohamed Hassan Manik. No dataset records these; each name was read, checked and positioned individually.
Source: ރާއްޖޭގައި ކަނޑުދަތުރުކުރުން, Mohamed Hassan Manik, published by the President’s Office; last edition 2007. The extracted dataset is ours.
Ministries and statutory bodies of the Maldives
Populations, ferry routes and schedules, schools, health facilities and approved medicines. Each entry records which register it came from.
Public information. The issuing authority remains the source of record.
Published research and field guides
Fish, coral, trees and plants, with scientific and Dhivehi names.
From published literature and field research. Individual entries cite their sources.
Every entry carries a citation and records its source, so any claim here can be followed back. Where we merged, corrected or translated something, that is our work and the entry says so.
If something here is wrong, we would rather know. A correction from someone who knows the place is worth more than any dataset.