Please note that any change to the data prefilled in Questions 1.1 to 1.4 needs to be reviewed by the World Heritage Centre and/or the relevant Advisory Bod(y)ies and approved by the World Heritage Committee. Advice on the process to be followed can be found in the Operational Guidelines. The first step is to notify the World Heritage Centre.

• World Heritage Property

This question has been prefilled using the basic data held on the World Heritage Centre database. It includes information such as the name of the State Party, type of property, World Heritage identification number, year of inscription on the World Heritage list and, if applicable, year of inscription on and removal from the List of World Heritage in Danger.

• World Heritage Property

The table records information on the area in hectares of the property and, if applicable, of the buffer zone as inscribed by the World Heritage Committee. For serial sites, the table records details for each component part of the property. The table also records information held by the World Heritage Centre on the geographic coordinates of the property, which allows accurate locations to be recorded on global maps.

The format for coordinates is latitude (i.e. degrees, minutes, seconds) and longitude (i.e. degrees, minutes, seconds).

• geographic information table

All the maps must be submitted to the World Heritage Centre by official letter, in two printed copies (three for mixed properties) and in an electronic version. The electronic version of the maps is needed in .jpg or .pdf formats.

In order to ensure adequate quality, maps submitted to the World Heritage Centre should include the following requirements:

• An appropriate typology: Be cadastral or topographic maps, according to the size of the property to display; multiple maps may be necessary for serial properties. The maps provided should be at the largest available and practical scale to allow the identification of topographic elements such as neighbouring settlements, buildings and routes in order to allow the clear assessment of the impact of any proposed development within, adjacent to, or on the boundary line;
• A clear delimitation of the property as inscribed: Display the boundary (not the location) of the World Heritage property. Please make sure the boundary refers to the property as inscribed. Any modification to the site perimeter has to be presented to the World Heritage Committee through the boundary modifications process (please refer to par. 163-165 of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention); 
• The thickness of boundary lines: Utmost care is needed with the width of boundary lines on maps, as thick boundary lines may make the actual boundary of the property ambiguous;
• A bar scale: only mentioning the numerical scale (i.e. “scale 1:10000”) is not sufficient, a bar scale is needed;
• A clearly labelled coordinate grid: A coordinate grid can be replaced by the indication of the coordinates of at least four points on the map. The coordinate system (WGS84, UTM, etc.) needs to be indicated;
• An orientation sign: the North must be indicated; 
• A legend: The legend must refer to the “boundary of the World Heritage property” and, if relevant, to the “buffer zone of the World Heritage property”. Any other definition, such as “protected zone” or “Zone A, Zone B, Zone C”, should be avoided; 
• Language: The title, the legend and the main topographic names present on the map must be written in English or French;
• Area in hectares: The areas in hectares of the inscribed property and of its buffer zone (if relevant) should be indicated on the map. Please note that any modification to the boundaries of the World Heritage property as inscribed by the World Heritage Committee needs to be approved by the World Heritage Committee.

Please note that the Secretariat is always willing to review any draft maps. These can be sent electronically directly to the World Heritage Centre.

Please note that any modification to the boundaries of the World Heritage property as inscribed by the World Heritage Committee needs to be approved by the World Heritage Committee.

The procedure and the deadline to submit this change is indicated in Paragraphs 163-165 of the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention:

"163. A minor modification is one which has not a significant impact on the extent of the property nor affects its Outstanding Universal Value.

164. If a State Party wishes to request a minor modification to the boundaries of a property already on the World Heritage List, it shall submit this by 1 February to the Committee through the Secretariat, which will seek the advice of the relevant Advisory Bodies. The Committee can approve such modification, or it may consider that the modification to the boundary is sufficiently important to constitute an extension of the property, in which case the procedure for new nominations will apply.

165. If a State Party wishes to significantly modify the boundary of a property already on the World Heritage List, the State Party shall submit this proposal as if it were a new nomination.  This re-nomination shall be presented by 1 February and will be evaluated in the full year and a half cycle of evaluation according to the procedures and timetable outlined in paragraph

168. This provision applies to extensions, as well as reductions.

Key terms

• maps, submitted to the World Heritage Centre