diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index bd36cf9e84..c272487f01 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -21,13 +21,14 @@ psql -d gis -f indexes.sql
 Additionally you need some shapefiles.
 
 ## Scripted download
-
-To download the shapefiles you can run the following script from this directory. No further steps should be needed as the data has been processed and placed in the requisite directories.
+To download the shapefiles you can run the following script. No further steps should be needed as the data has been processed and placed in the requisite directories.
 
 ```
-./get-shapefiles.sh
+scripts/get-shapefiles.py
 ```
 
+This script generates and populates the *data* directory with all needed shapefiles, including indexing them through *shapeindex*.
+
 ## Manual download
 
 You can also download them manually at the following paths:
diff --git a/get-shapefiles.sh b/get-shapefiles.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index b6fe4cb206..0000000000
--- a/get-shapefiles.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,101 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-set -e -u
-
-UNZIP_OPTS=-qqun
-
-# check essential applications
-exists()
-{
-  command -v "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1
-}
-
-for application in curl tar unzip; do
-  if exists $application; then
-    echo $application 'detected...'
-  else
-    echo 'ERROR:' $application 'not detected, you need to install it first!'
-    exit 1
-  fi
-done
-
-# create and populate data dir
-mkdir -p data/
-mkdir -p data/world_boundaries
-mkdir -p data/simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857
-mkdir -p data/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land
-mkdir -p data/land-polygons-split-3857
-
-# world_boundaries
-echo "downloading world_boundaries..."
-curl -z "data/world_boundaries-spherical.tgz" -L -o "data/world_boundaries-spherical.tgz" "http://planet.openstreetmap.org/historical-shapefiles/world_boundaries-spherical.tgz"
-echo "expanding world_boundaries..."
-tar -xzf data/world_boundaries-spherical.tgz -C data/
-
-# simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857
-echo "downloading simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857..."
-curl -z "data/simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857.zip" -L -o "data/simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857.zip" "http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857.zip"
-echo "simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857..."
-unzip $UNZIP_OPTS data/simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857.zip \
-  simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857/simplified_land_polygons.shp \
-  simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857/simplified_land_polygons.shx \
-  simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857/simplified_land_polygons.prj \
-  simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857/simplified_land_polygons.dbf \
-  simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857/simplified_land_polygons.cpg \
-  -d data/
-
-# ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land
-echo "downloading ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land..."
-curl -z data/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.zip -L -o data/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.zip http://www.naturalearthdata.com/http//www.naturalearthdata.com/download/110m/cultural/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.zip
-echo "expanding ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land..."
-unzip $UNZIP_OPTS data/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.zip \
-  ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.shp \
-  ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.shx \
-  ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.prj \
-  ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.dbf \
-  -d data/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land/
-
-# land-polygons-split-3857
-echo "downloading land-polygons-split-3857..."
-curl -z "data/land-polygons-split-3857.zip" -L -o "data/land-polygons-split-3857.zip" "http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/land-polygons-split-3857.zip"
-echo "expanding land-polygons-split-3857..."
-unzip $UNZIP_OPTS data/land-polygons-split-3857.zip \
-  land-polygons-split-3857/land_polygons.shp \
-  land-polygons-split-3857/land_polygons.shx \
-  land-polygons-split-3857/land_polygons.prj \
-  land-polygons-split-3857/land_polygons.dbf \
-  land-polygons-split-3857/land_polygons.cpg \
-  -d data/
-
-# antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857
-echo "downloading antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857..."
-curl -z "data/antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857.zip" -L -o "data/antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857.zip" "http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857.zip"
-echo "expanding antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857..."
-unzip $UNZIP_OPTS data/antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857.zip \
-  antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857/icesheet_polygons.shp \
-  antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857/icesheet_polygons.shx \
-  antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857/icesheet_polygons.prj \
-  antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857/icesheet_polygons.dbf \
-  -d data/
-
-# antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857
-echo "downloading antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857..."
-curl -z "data/antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857.zip" -L -o "data/antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857.zip" "http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857.zip"
-echo "expanding antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857..."
-unzip $UNZIP_OPTS data/antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857.zip \
-  antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857/icesheet_outlines.shp \
-  antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857/icesheet_outlines.shx \
-  antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857/icesheet_outlines.prj \
-  antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857/icesheet_outlines.dbf \
-  -d data/
-
-#index
-echo "indexing shapefiles"
-shapeindex --shape_files \
-data/simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857/simplified_land_polygons.shp \
-data/land-polygons-split-3857/land_polygons.shp \
-data/antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857/icesheet_polygons.shp \
-data/antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857/icesheet_outlines.shp \
-data/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.shp
-
-#finish
-echo "...done!"
diff --git a/scripts/get-shapefiles.py b/scripts/get-shapefiles.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..869f0e95c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/get-shapefiles.py
@@ -0,0 +1,387 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+# This script generates and populates the 'data' directory with all needed
+# shapefiles.
+
+from __future__ import (
+    division,
+    absolute_import,
+    print_function,
+    unicode_literals)
+import os
+import errno
+import tarfile
+import zipfile
+import subprocess
+import distutils.spawn
+import argparse
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import logging
+import time
+import email.utils
+
+if sys.version_info >= (3,):
+    import urllib.request as urllib2
+    import urllib.parse as urlparse
+else:
+    import urllib2
+    import urlparse
+
+data_dir = 'data'
+settings = {
+    # Keys 1, 2, 3, ... set the arg short-options and the related process
+    # ordering. Use > 0 to allow processing.
+    1: {
+        'directory': 'world_boundaries',
+        'url': 'http://planet.openstreetmap.org/historical-shapefiles/world_boundaries-spherical.tgz',  # noqa
+        'type': 'tgz',
+        'index': [
+            'world_bnd_m.shp',
+            'builtup_area.shp',
+            'places.shp',
+            'world_boundaries_m.shp'],
+        'long_opt': '--world-boundaries'
+    },
+
+    2: {
+        'directory': 'simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857',
+        'url': 'http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/simplified-land-polygons-complete-3857.zip',  # noqa
+        'type': 'zip',
+        'index': ['simplified_land_polygons.shp'],
+        'long_opt': '--simplified-land'
+    },
+
+    3: {
+        'directory': 'ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land',
+        'url': 'http://www.naturalearthdata.com/http//www.naturalearthdata.com/download/110m/cultural/ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.zip',  # noqa
+        'type': 'zip_dir',
+        'index': ['ne_110m_admin_0_boundary_lines_land.shp'],
+        'long_opt': '--ne-admin'
+    },
+
+    4: {
+        'directory': 'land-polygons-split-3857',
+        'url': 'http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/land-polygons-split-3857.zip',  # noqa
+        'type': 'zip',
+        'index': ['land_polygons.shp'],
+        'long_opt': '--land-polygons'
+    },
+
+    5: {
+        'directory': 'antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857',
+        'url': 'http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/antarctica-icesheet-polygons-3857.zip',  # noqa
+        'type': 'zip',
+        'index': ['icesheet_polygons.shp'],
+        'long_opt': '--icesheet-polygons'
+    },
+
+    6: {
+        'directory': 'antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857',
+        'url': 'http://data.openstreetmapdata.com/antarctica-icesheet-outlines-3857.zip',  # noqa
+        'type': 'zip',
+        'index': ['icesheet_outlines.shp'],
+        'long_opt': '--icesheet-outlines'
+    }
+}
+
+u_prompt = True
+
+
+def download_file(
+    url,
+    desc=None,
+    option_force_update=False,
+        option_no_curl=False):
+    global u_prompt
+    try:
+        scheme, netloc, path, query, fragment = urlparse.urlsplit(url)
+        file_name = os.path.basename(path)
+        if not file_name:
+            file_name = 'downloaded.file'
+        if desc:
+            file_name = os.path.join(desc, file_name)
+
+        curl_used = 0
+        if not option_no_curl and distutils.spawn.find_executable("curl"):
+            curl_used = 1
+            sys.stdout.flush()
+            if os.path.exists(file_name) and not option_force_update:
+                if subprocess.call(
+                    ["curl", "-z", file_name, "-L", "-o", file_name, url],
+                        stderr=subprocess.STDOUT) != 0:
+                    sys.exit("\n\n   'curl' error: download failed.\n")
+                curl_used = 2
+            else:
+                if subprocess.call(
+                    ["curl", "-L", "-o", file_name, url],
+                        stderr=subprocess.STDOUT) != 0:
+                    sys.exit("\n\n   'curl' error: download failed.\n")
+            sys.stdout.flush()
+
+        u = urllib2.urlopen(url)
+        meta = u.info()
+
+        # Compare dates and sizes
+        local_file_modified = None
+        local_file_size = None
+        if os.path.exists(file_name):
+            local_file_modified = time.localtime((os.path.getmtime(file_name)))
+            local_file_size = int(os.path.getsize(file_name))
+        meta_func = meta.getheaders if hasattr(
+            meta, 'getheaders') else meta.get_all
+        host_file_modified = email.utils.parsedate(
+            meta_func("last-modified")[0])
+        meta_length = meta_func("Content-Length")
+        host_file_size = None
+        if meta_length:
+            host_file_size = int(meta_length[0])
+
+        # Do a file check control after using curl (which looks like not
+        # including it internally)
+        if curl_used == 2 and (host_file_size != local_file_size):
+            print(
+                "     Warning: file size differs. Downloading the file again.")
+            curl_used = 0
+        if curl_used > 0:
+            u.close()
+            return file_name
+
+        if (not option_force_update and os.path.exists(file_name) and
+                (host_file_modified <= local_file_modified) and
+                (host_file_size == local_file_size)):
+            print("     No newer file to download.", end="")
+            if u_prompt:
+                print(" (Use -u to force downloading file)", end="")
+                u_prompt = False
+            print()
+            u.close()
+            return file_name
+
+        with open(file_name, 'wb') as f:
+            print(" Bytes: {0:10}".format(host_file_size))
+
+            file_size_dl = 0
+            block_sz = 65536
+            while True:
+                buffer = u.read(block_sz)
+                if not buffer:
+                    if file_size_dl != host_file_size:
+                        sys.exit("\n\n   Error: download with invalid size.\n")
+                    break
+
+                file_size_dl += len(buffer)
+                f.write(buffer)
+
+                status = "{0:18}".format(file_size_dl)
+                if host_file_size:
+                    status += "   [{0:3.0f}%]".format(
+                        file_size_dl *
+                        100 /
+                        host_file_size)
+                status += chr(13)
+                print(status, end="")
+            f.close()
+            u.close()
+            os.utime(
+                file_name,
+                (time.mktime(host_file_modified),
+                    time.mktime(host_file_modified)))
+            print()
+
+        return file_name
+    except urllib2.HTTPError as e:
+        sys.exit(
+            "\n\n   Error: download failed. (error code: " +
+            str(e.code) +
+            ", error reason: " + e.reason + ")\n")
+    except Exception as e:
+        sys.exit("\n\n   Error: download failed.\n" + str(e) + "\n")
+
+
+def main():
+
+    # Option handling
+
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        epilog="This script generates and populates the '" + data_dir +
+        "' directory with all needed shapefiles, including indexing " +
+        " them through shapeindex.")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-c', "--check", dest='option_check_mode', action='store_true',
+        help="check whether the '" + data_dir + "' directory already exists")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-d", "--directory", dest="data_dir",
+        help="set the name of the data directory (default: '" +
+        data_dir + "')",
+        default=data_dir, metavar="<directory name>")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-e', "--no-extract", dest='option_no_extract', action='store_true',
+        help="do not populate target directories with the expansion " +
+        "of downloaded data")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-f', "--force", dest='option_force', action='store_true',
+        help="force continuing even if project.yaml does not exist")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-l', "--no-curl", dest='option_no_curl', action='store_true',
+        help="do not use 'curl' even if available")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-n', "--no-download", dest='option_no_download', action='store_true',
+        help="do not download archive if already existing locally")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-p', "--pause", dest='option_pause_mode', action='store_true',
+        help="pause before starting")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-r', "--remove", dest='option_remove', action='store_true',
+        help="remove each downloaded archive after its expansion")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-s', "--no-shape", dest='option_no_shape', action='store_true',
+        help="do not run shapeindex")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-u', "--update", dest='option_force_update', action='store_true',
+        help="force downloading files even if not newer than the locally " +
+        "existing ones")
+    for element in sorted(settings):
+        parser.add_argument(
+            settings[element]['long_opt'],
+            dest='option_filter', action='append_const', const=element,
+            help="only process " + settings[element]['directory'])
+
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    # Initial checks
+
+    if not args.option_no_shape and (
+            not distutils.spawn.find_executable("shapeindex")):
+        sys.exit(
+            """\n   Error: you need shapeindex (or shapeindex is not in the
+   PATH). Otherwise, use '-s' option to skip shapeindex
+   (indexing shapes is suggested for performance improvement).\n""")
+
+    if args.option_force:
+        os.chdir(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+    else:
+        os.chdir(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..'))
+        if not os.path.isfile("project.yaml"):
+            sys.exit(
+                """\n   Error: project.yaml not found.
+   Are you sure you are in the correct folder?
+   Otherwise, use '-f' option to go on creating or updating the '""" +
+                args.data_dir + """' directory
+   placed in the same path of this script.\n""")
+
+    if args.option_check_mode:
+        if os.path.isdir("data"):
+            sys.exit(
+                """\n   A directory named '""" + args.data_dir +
+                """' already exists.
+   Please consider renaming it.
+   Otherwise, remove '-c' option to allow updating.\n""")
+
+    if args.option_pause_mode:
+        print(
+            "\nThis script generates and populates the '" + args.data_dir +
+            "' directory with all needed shapefiles.\n")
+        try:
+            input(
+                "Press Enter to continue " +
+                "(remove '-p' option to avoid this message)...")
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+
+    print()
+    # Processing
+
+    for element in sorted(settings):
+
+        if (not args.option_filter or
+                (args.option_filter and
+                 element in args.option_filter)) and element > 0:
+
+            dir_name = settings[element]['directory']
+            dir_path = os.path.join(args.data_dir, dir_name)
+            path_name = os.path.join(
+                args.data_dir,
+                settings[element]['url'].rsplit('/', 1)[-1])
+
+            # Creating directory
+            if not os.path.exists(dir_path):
+                os.makedirs(dir_path)
+
+            # Downloading
+            if not args.option_no_download or not os.path.isfile(path_name):
+                print(str(element) + "-1. Downloading '" + dir_name + "'...")
+                file_name = download_file(
+                    settings[element]['url'], args.data_dir,
+                    args.option_force_update, args.option_no_curl)
+
+            # Expanding
+            if not args.option_no_extract:
+                sys.stdout.flush()
+                print()
+                print(
+                    str(element) + "-2. Expanding '" + dir_name + "'...",
+                    end="")
+                sys.stdout.flush()
+                if settings[element]['type'] == 'tgz':
+                    tar = tarfile.open(path_name)
+                    try:
+                        tar.extractall(args.data_dir)
+                    except Exception:
+                        sys.exit(" Failed (try with -u option).\n")
+                    tar.close()
+                elif settings[element]['type'] == 'zip':
+                    zip = zipfile.ZipFile(path_name)
+                    try:
+                        zip.extractall(args.data_dir)
+                    except Exception:
+                        sys.exit(" Failed (try with -u option).\n")
+                    zip.close()
+                elif settings[element]['type'] == 'zip_dir':
+                    zip = zipfile.ZipFile(path_name)
+                    try:
+                        zip.extractall(dir_path)
+                    except Exception:
+                        sys.exit(" Failed (try with -u option).\n")
+                    zip.close()
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(
+                        "\n\nInternal error: unmanaged 'type'='" +
+                        settings[element]['type'] + "'.\n")
+                sys.stdout.flush()
+                print(" Done.\n")
+
+            # Removing archive
+            if args.option_remove:
+                try:
+                    os.remove(path_name)
+                except OSError:
+                    pass
+
+            # Indexing
+            if not args.option_no_shape:
+                for item, index in enumerate(settings[element]['index']):
+                    if len(settings[element]['index']) == 1:
+                        print(str(element) + "-3" + ". Indexing '" +
+                              index + "'...")
+                    else:
+                        print(str(element) + "-3-" + str(
+                            item + 1) + ". Indexing '" + index + "'...")
+                    sys.stdout.flush()
+                    if (subprocess.call(["shapeindex", "--shape_files",
+                                        os.path.join(dir_path, index)],
+                                        stderr=subprocess.STDOUT) != 0):
+                        sys.exit("\n   Indexing error: shapeindex failed.\n")
+                    sys.stdout.flush()
+                    print()
+
+    # Finishing
+    print("...script completed.\n")
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    try:
+        main()
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        sys.exit("\n\n\nYou pressed Ctrl+C!\n")
+    except Exception as e:
+        sys.exit("\n   Error. " + str(e) + "\n")