GaN structures have been grown by selective area growth (SAG) in an atmospheric hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE) reactor on c-plane sapphire and metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) grown GaN/c-plane sapphire substrates. The substrates were patterned in two perpendicular crystallographic directions < 11 -20 > and < 1 -100 >. The growth morphologies of the GaN stripes were systematically investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A complete cartography of GaN SAG was established, after varying the growth temperature and the V/III ratio on both types of substrate. The cartography permits to fix the appropriate parameters for growing GaN quasi-substrates or GaN nano-structures with controlled morphology. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.