diff --git a/examples/Overview.ipynb b/examples/Overview.ipynb
index 9f22362..be55687 100644
--- a/examples/Overview.ipynb
+++ b/examples/Overview.ipynb
@@ -903,9 +903,10 @@
    ],
    "source": [
     "import geopandas\n",
+    "from download import download_map\n",
     "\n",
     "world_gp = geopandas.read_file(\n",
-    "    geopandas.datasets.get_path('naturalearth_lowres')\n",
+    "    download_map('naturalearth_lowres')\n",
     ")\n",
     "world_gp = world_gp.sort_values('name').reset_index(drop=True)\n",
     "world_gp = world_gp[['pop_est', 'continent', 'name', 'geometry']]\n",
@@ -3123,7 +3124,7 @@
    ],
    "source": [
     "cities_gp = geopandas.read_file(\n",
-    "    geopandas.datasets.get_path('naturalearth_cities')\n",
+    "    download_map('naturalearth_cities')\n",
     ")\n",
     "cities_df = GeoDataFrame(cities_gp)\n",
     "cities_df.head()"
diff --git a/examples/download.py b/examples/download.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4715cdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/download.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+try:
+    import requests
+    from platformdirs import user_cache_path
+except ImportError:
+    raise ImportError("requests and platformdirs are needed to download data")
+
+
+def download_map(dataset):
+    if dataset not in ("naturalearth_lowres", "naturalearth_cities"):
+        raise ValueError(f"Unknown dataset: {dataset}, supported datasets are 'naturalearth_lowres' and 'naturalearth_cities'")
+    url = f"https://api.github.com/repos/geopandas/geopandas/contents/geopandas/datasets/{dataset}?ref=v0.14.4"
+    local_dir = user_cache_path() / "spatialpandas" / dataset
+
+    if local_dir.exists():
+        return local_dir
+
+    response = requests.get(url)
+    if response.status_code == 200:
+        files = response.json()
+    else:
+        print(f"Failed to retrieve contents: {response.status_code}")
+        return None
+
+    if not local_dir.exists():
+        local_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+
+    for file in files:
+        file_url = file["download_url"]
+        file_name = file["name"]
+        file_response = requests.get(file_url)
+        with open(local_dir / file_name, "wb") as f:
+            f.write(file_response.content)
+
+    return local_dir
diff --git a/pixi.toml b/pixi.toml
index 5932f4e..371a4e4 100644
--- a/pixi.toml
+++ b/pixi.toml
@@ -45,10 +45,12 @@ python = "3.12.*"
 datashader = "*"
 descartes = "*"
 distributed = "*"
-geopandas-base = "<1" # FIX: temporary upper pin
-pyogrio = "*"
+geopandas-base = "*"
 holoviews = "*"
 matplotlib-base = "*"
+platformdirs = "*"
+pyogrio = "*"
+requests = "*"
 
 # =============================================
 # =================== TESTS ===================
diff --git a/spatialpandas/tests/tools/test_sjoin.py b/spatialpandas/tests/tools/test_sjoin.py
index f83dac1..8d546ce 100644
--- a/spatialpandas/tests/tools/test_sjoin.py
+++ b/spatialpandas/tests/tools/test_sjoin.py
@@ -42,8 +42,10 @@ def test_sjoin(how, gp_points, gp_polygons):
     gp_expected = gp_expected.rename(columns={"v_x": "v_left", "v_y": "v_right"})
     if how == "right":
         gp_expected.index.name = right_gpdf.index.name
+        gp_expected = gp_expected.rename(columns={"a_left": "index_left", "a_right": "a"})  # geopandas 1.0 compability
     else:
         gp_expected.index.name = left_gpdf.index.name
+        gp_expected = gp_expected.rename(columns={"b": "index_right", "a_right": "a"})  # geopandas 1.0 compability
 
     # join with spatialpandas
     left_spdf = GeoDataFrame(left_gpdf)