[GRASSLIST:1106] world data bank / shoreline vector maps into grass?

[Brian Sieben]

Hi,

Does anybody know if the following:

(i) World Data Bank II or CIA Data Bank (WDB): contains coastlines, lakes, 
political boundaries, and rivers.
(proprietary vector format I think?)

(ii) World Vector Shoreline (WVS)

are readily available in grass (raster or vector format) or some other 
raster format (geotiff?) anywhere?
(I am interested in coverage for North America).

If someone knows of a link where such already data exists in a grass 
readable format, I would be thankful.

Alternatively, any ideas for exporting these vectors from GMT (generic 
mapping tools) to grass?

Thanks
Brian