The distributional $k$-dimensional Jacobian of a map $u$ in the Sobolev space $W^{1,k-1}$ which takes values in the sphere $S^{k-1}$ can be viewed as the boundary of a rectifiable current of codimension $k$ carried by (part of) the singularity of $u$ which is topologically relevant. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the range of the Jacobian operator; in particular, we show that any boundary $M$ of codimension $k$ can be realized as Jacobian of a Sobolev map valued in $S^{k-1}$. In case $M$ is polyhedral, the map we construct...