diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 973ba39..8170de3 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -29,10 +29,11 @@ Imports:
  sf,
  magrittr
 Suggests: 
-  testthat, 
-  knitr, 
-  rmarkdown,
-  rnaturalearthdata
+    testthat,
+    knitr,
+    rmarkdown,
+    rnaturalearthdata,
+    spelling
 RoxygenNote: 7.2.3
 Collate: 
     'classes.R'
diff --git a/R/plot.R b/R/plot.R
index eedc309..79de2d5 100644
--- a/R/plot.R
+++ b/R/plot.R
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 #' created when loading \code{geoGraph}. Users should not have to interact
 #' directly with objects in this environment.\cr
 #'
-#' The resulting plotting behaviour is that when plotting a \code{gGraph}
-#' object, last plotting parameters are re-used. To override this behaviour,
+#' The resulting plotting behavior is that when plotting a \code{gGraph}
+#' object, last plotting parameters are re-used. To override this behavior,
 #' specify \code{reset=TRUE} as argument to \code{plot}.
 #'
 #' @name plot-gGraph
diff --git a/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.dbf b/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.dbf
deleted file mode 100644
index 6acffe5..0000000
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diff --git a/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.sbn b/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.sbn
deleted file mode 100644
index f12623f..0000000
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diff --git a/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.sbx b/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.sbx
deleted file mode 100644
index e6da600..0000000
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diff --git a/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.shp b/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.shp
deleted file mode 100644
index 797d667..0000000
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diff --git a/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.shx b/data-raw/shapefiles/world-countries.shx
deleted file mode 100644
index ab39ac5..0000000
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diff --git a/data-raw/submitting_to_cran.R b/data-raw/submitting_to_cran.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9989b9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data-raw/submitting_to_cran.R
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# to this in the dev branch to make sure that all the fundamental issues have been resolved
+# run the spell checking
+usethis::use_spell_check(lang = "en-US")
+
+# check the links
+urlchecker::url_check()
+
+# enhanced local checks
+devtools::check(remote = TRUE, manual = TRUE)
+
+source("./data-raw/helper_functions/check_returns_in_documentation.R")
+
+# now create a cran_submission branch for the final remote tests
+
+# TO DO MANUALLY: update cran-comments.md accordingly
+# update version number
+# update news
+
+# first check with rhub
+package_checks <- rhub::check_for_cran()
+
+# check on macos and windows via devtools
+devtools::check_mac_release()
+devtools::check_win_devel()
+
+# TO DO MANUALLY: if everything passes, edit the cran-comments.md to explain any notes
+devtools::release()
diff --git a/data-raw/worldshape.rda b/data-raw/worldshape.rda
deleted file mode 100644
index 7f73020..0000000
Binary files a/data-raw/worldshape.rda and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/man/plot-gGraph.Rd b/man/plot-gGraph.Rd
index 9bd7620..b6044ff 100644
--- a/man/plot-gGraph.Rd
+++ b/man/plot-gGraph.Rd
@@ -80,8 +80,8 @@ information are stored in a particular environment (.geoGraphEnv), which is
 created when loading \code{geoGraph}. Users should not have to interact
 directly with objects in this environment.\cr
 
-The resulting plotting behaviour is that when plotting a \code{gGraph}
-object, last plotting parameters are re-used. To override this behaviour,
+The resulting plotting behavior is that when plotting a \code{gGraph}
+object, last plotting parameters are re-used. To override this behavior,
 specify \code{reset=TRUE} as argument to \code{plot}.
 }
 \examples{
diff --git a/tests/spelling.R b/tests/spelling.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6713838
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/spelling.R
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+if(requireNamespace('spelling', quietly = TRUE))
+  spelling::spell_check_test(vignettes = TRUE, error = FALSE,
+                             skip_on_cran = TRUE)