Free data with good accuracy of Europe and Mediterranean

Question

I'm searching for free data like Europe's coastline and Mediterranean island's names etc. but with good precision. I found some shp file from this site http://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/ but the data it was too generalized and the scale small. Free data usually is without any warranty about their accuracy. I need it for non commercial use.

Answer 1

OpenStreeMap uses Prototype_Global_Shoreline (PGS)

The data has been improved by users so the more accurate source is direct from OSM.

http://shoreline.noaa.gov/data/datasheets/pgs.html

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Coastline

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Prototype_Global_Shoreline

Errors still exist - a map showing these errors is available: http://wightpaths.co.uk/coast/

Answer 2

Here you have a very good shapefile for oceans and seas. You don't have island's names, but it has a very good precision.

http://openstreetmapdata.com/data/water-polygons

I suggest you to download the non-simplified version, that has much more accuracy and complexity.