determining semantic objects in a geographical area to be stored as shard files;

determining a first guiding section and a second guiding section of the geographical area based on densities of the semantic objects at a first location and a second location in the geographical area respectively;

determining first semantic objects of the semantic objects having first geometries that at least overlap with the first guiding section;

determining second semantic objects of the semantic objects having second geometries that at least overlap with the second guiding section;

applying, to the first semantic objects and the second semantic objects, map consistency rules defining which semantic objects are to be combined into a single shard data entry and which semantic objects are to be stored in separate shard data entries, wherein the map consistency rules include: (1) an object with a geometry is to be added to a shard data entry of a guiding section that contains more than half of the geometry, and (2) a semantic object is contained in no more than one shard data entry;

after applying the map consistency rules, generating a first shard data entry corresponding to the first guiding section identifying the first semantic objects to be stored in a first shard file and a second shard data entry corresponding to the second guiding section identifying the second semantic objects to be stored in a second shard file;

generating a first shard file based on the first shard data entry;

generating a second shard file based on the second shard data entry; and

causing one or more of the first shard file and the second shard file to be delivered to one or more of an autonomous vehicle and a computing device simulating at least a part of the autonomous vehicle.