Division

A division is a recognized official or non-official organization of people as seen from a given political perspective.

Geometry Type	Point
Theme	divisions
Type	division

Subtypes

While the schema for the divisions theme contains an comprehensive list of subtypes, only a subset are available in the data today.

Currently, the following subtypes are available in the division feature type:

• country
• dependency
• region
• county
• localadmin
• locality
• macrohood
• neighborhood
• microhood

country

subtype	country

A country is the largest unit of independent sovereignty. The border of a country, if known, is given by division boundary features. Example: United States

dependency

subtype	dependency

A dependency is a place that is not exactly a sub-region of a country but is dependent on a parent country for defense, passport control, etc. Example: Puerto Rico

region

subtype	region

A region is the largest administrative unit within most countries and a first-level administrative subdivision. Example: Alberta

county

subtype	county

A county is a second-level administrative subdivision. Example: Kings County, NY

localadmin

subtype	localadmin

Localadmin is a level of government in some parts of the world that contains localities or populated places that themselves have no authority. Often but not exclusively found in Europe. Localadmin is a third-level administrative subdivision. Example: Paris

locality

subtype	locality

A locality is a populated place that may or may not have its own administrative authority. (It won't if it belongs to a localadmin.) Locality may be a third-level administrative subdivision. Example: Taipei

macrohood

subtype	macrohood

A macrohood is a super-neighborhood that contains smaller divisions of type neighborhood. Example: BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens)

neighborhood

subtype	neighborhood

A neighborhood is a geographically localized community within a city, town, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Example: Cobble Hill

microhood

subtype	microhood

A microhood is a mini-neighborhood that is contained within a neighborhood. Example: Gätjensort in Hamburg

Schema

Browsable

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YAML

---
"$schema": https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema
title: division
description:
  Divisions are recognized official or non-official organizations of
  people as seen from a given political perspective. Examples include
  countries, provinces, cities, towns, neighborhoods, etc.
type: object
properties:     # JSON Schema: Top-level object properties.
  id: { "$ref": ../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/id }
  geometry:
    description:
      Division geometry MUST be a Point as defined by GeoJSON schema.
      It represents the approximate location of a position commonly
      associated with the real-world entity modeled by the division
      feature.
    unevaluatedProperties: false
    allOf:
      - "$ref": https://geojson.org/schema/Point.json
  properties:   # GeoJSON: top-level object 'properties' property.
    unevaluatedProperties: false
    allOf:
      - "$ref": ../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyContainers/overtureFeaturePropertiesContainer
      - "$ref": ../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyContainers/namesContainer
      - if:
          properties:
            subtype: { enum: [country] }
        then:
          required: [names, subtype, country, hierarchies]
          not: { required: [parent_division_id] }
        else:
          required: [names, subtype, country, hierarchies, parent_division_id]
    properties: # JSON Schema: properties within GeoJSON top-level object 'properties' property
      subtype: { "$ref": "./defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/placetype" }
      local_type:
        description:
          Local name for the subtype property, optionally localized.

          For example, the Canadian province of Quebec has the subtype
          'region', but in the local administrative hierarchy it is
          referred to as a 'province'. Similarly, the Canadian Yukon
          territory also has subtype 'region', but is locally called
          a 'territory'.

          This property is localized using a standard Overture names
          structure. So for example, in Switzerland the top-level
          administrative subdivision corresponding to subtype 'region'
          is the canton, which is may be translated in each of
          Switzerland's official languages as, 'canton' in French, 
          'kanton' in German, 'cantone' in Italian, and 'chantun' in
          Romansh.
        allOf:
          - "$ref": "../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/commonNames"
      country:
        description: >-
          ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code of the country or country-like
          entity, that this division represents or belongs to.
  
          If the entity this division represents has a country code, the
          country property contains it. If it does not, the country
          property contains the country code of the first division
          encountered by traversing the parent_division_id chain to the
          root.

          For example:
            - The country value for the United States is 'US'
            - The country value for New York City is 'US'
            - The country value for Puerto Rico, a dependency of the US,
              is 'PR'.
            - The country value for San Juan, Puerto Rico is 'PR'.

          If an entity has an internationally-recognized ISO 3166-1
          alpha-2 country code, it should always be used. In cases where
          the schema requires the code but no internationally-recognized
          code is available, a synthetic code may be used provided it
          does not conflict with any internationally-recognized codes.
        allOf:
          - "$ref": "../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/iso3166_1Alpha2CountryCode"
      region:
        description: >-
          ISO 3166-2 principal subdivision code of the subdivision-like
          entity this division represents or belongs to.
          
          If the entity this division represents has a principal
          subdivision code, the region property contains it. If it does
          not, the region property contains the principal subdivision
          code of the first division encountered by traversing the
          parent_division_id chain to the root.

          For example:
            - The region value for the United States is omitted.
            - The region value for the U.S. state of New York is 'US-NY'.
            - The region value for New York City is 'US-NY', which it
              inherits from the state of New York.
            - The region value for Puerto Rico is 'US-PR'.
        allOf:
          - "$ref": "../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/iso3166_2SubdivisionCode"
      hierarchies:
        description:
          Hierarchies in which this division participates.

          Every division participates in at least one hierarchy. Most
          participate in only one. Some divisions may participate in
          more than one hierarchy, for example if they are claimed by
          different parent divisions from different political
          perspectives; or if there are other real-world reasons why the
          division or one of its ancestors has multiple parents.

          The first hierarchy in the list is the default hierarchy, and
          the second-to-last entry in the default hierarchy (if there
          is such an entry) always corresponds to the `parent_division_id'
          property. The ordering of hierarchies after the first one is
          arbitrary.
        type: array
        items: { "$ref": "./defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/hierarchy" }
        minItems: 1
        uniqueItems: true
      parent_division_id:
        description:
          Division ID of this division's parent division.
          
          Not allowed for top-level divisions (countries) and required
          for all other divisions.
          
          The default parent division is the parent division as seen
          from the default political perspective, if there is one, and
          is otherwise chosen somewhat arbitrarily. The hierarchies
          property can be used to inspect the exhaustive list of
          parent divisions.
        allOf:
          - "$ref": "../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/id"
      perspectives:
        description: >-
          Political perspectives from which this division is considered
          to be an accurate representation.
      
          If this property is absent, then this division is not known to
          be disputed from any political perspective. Consequently,
          there is only one division feature representing the entire
          real world entity.
      
          If this property is present, it means the division represents
          one of several alternative perspectives on the same real-world
          entity.
      
          There are two modes of perspective:
          
            1. `accepted_by` means the representation of the division is
               accepted by the listed entities and would be included on
               a map drawn from their perspective.
      
            2. `disputed_by` means the representation of the division is
               disputed by the listed entities and would be excluded
               from a map drawn from their perspective.
              
          When drawing a map from the perspective of a given country,
          one would start by gathering all the undisputed divisions
          (with no `perspectives` property), and then adding to that
          first all divisions explicitly accepted by the country, and
          second all divisions not explicitly disputed by the country.
        allOf: 
          - "$ref": "./defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/perspectives"
      norms:
        description:
          Collects information about local norms and rules within the
          division that are generally useful for mapping and map-related
          use cases.

          If the norms property or a desired sub-property of the norms
          property is missing on a division, but at least one of its
          ancestor divisions has the norms property and the desired
          sub-property, then the value from the nearest ancestor division
          may be assumed.
        "$comment":
          If we decide to include default language, it will go here. But
          is it really generally-useful information?
        type: object
        unevaluatedProperties: false
        properties:
          driving_side:
            description:
              Side of the road on which vehicles drive in the division.
            allOf:
              - "$ref": "../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/side"
      population:
        description: Population of the division
        type: integer
        minimum: 0
      capital_division_ids:
        description:
          Division IDs of this division's capital divisions. If present,
          this property will refer to the division IDs of the capital
          cities, county seats, etc. of a division.
        type: array
        minItems: 1
        uniqueItems: true
        items: { "$ref": "../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/id" }
      capital_of_divisions:
        description:
          Division IDs and subtypes of divisions this division is a
          capital of.
        type: array
        minItems: 1
        uniqueItems: true
        items: { "$ref": "defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/capitalOfDivisionItem" }
      wikidata: { "$ref": "../defs.yaml#/$defs/propertyDefinitions/wikidata" }

Examples

country

{
  "id": "example:division:country:us",
  "type": "Feature",
  "geometry": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [
      -100.445882,
      39.7837304
    ]
  },
  "properties": {
    "theme": "divisions",
    "type": "division",
    "version": 0,
    "subtype": "country",
    "names": {
      "primary": "United States"
    },
    "country": "US",
    "hierarchies": [
      [
        {
          "division_id": "example:division:country:us",
          "subtype": "country",
          "name": "United States"
        }
      ]
    ],
    "norms": {
      "driving_side": "right"
    },
    "capital_division_ids": [
      "example:division:locality:washington_dc"
    ]
  }
}

region

{
  "id": "example:division:region:us-ny",
  "type": "Feature",
  "geometry": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [
      -75.8449946,
      43.1561681
    ]
  },
  "properties": {
    "theme": "divisions",
    "type": "division",
    "version": 0,
    "subtype": "region",
    "local_type": {
      "en": "state"
    },
    "names": {
      "primary": "New York"
    },
    "sources": [
      {
        "property": "",
        "dataset": "OpenStreetMap",
        "record_id": "R61320.V468"
      }
    ],
    "country": "US",
    "region": "US-NY",
    "hierarchies": [
      [
        {
          "division_id": "example:division:country:us",
          "subtype": "country",
          "name": "United States"
        },
        {
          "division_id": "example:division:region:us-ny",
          "subtype": "region",
          "name": "New York"
        }
      ]
    ],
    "capital_division_ids": [
      "example:division:locality:albany"
    ],
    "parent_division_id": "example:division:country:us"
  }
}

population

{
  "id": "example:division:region:ca-on",
  "type": "Feature",
  "geometry": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [
      -86.000977,
      50.000678
    ]
  },
  "properties": {
    "theme": "divisions",
    "type": "division",
    "version": 0,
    "subtype": "region",
    "local_type": {
      "en": "province"
    },
    "names": {
      "primary": "Ontario"
    },
    "sources": [
      {
        "property": "",
        "dataset": "OpenStreetMap",
        "record_id": "R68841.V267"
      }
    ],
    "country": "CA",
    "region": "CA-ON",
    "hierarchies": [
      [
        {
          "division_id": "example:division:country:ca",
          "subtype": "country",
          "name": "Canada"
        },
        {
          "division_id": "example:division:region:ca-on",
          "subtype": "region",
          "name": "Ontario"
        }
      ]
    ],
    "capital_division_ids": [
      "example:division:locality:toronto"
    ],
    "parent_division_id": "example:division:country:ca",
    "population": 13550900
  }
}

perspectives

{
  "id": "example:division:perspectives:trnc",
  "type": "Feature",
  "geometry": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [
      33.6252379,
      35.2245313
    ]
  },
  "properties": {
    "theme": "divisions",
    "type": "division",
    "version": 0,
    "subtype": "country",
    "names": {
      "primary": "Kuzey Kıbrıs",
      "common": {
        "en": "Northern Cyprus"
      },
      "rules": [
        {
          "variant": "short",
          "value": "TRNC"
        },
        {
          "variant": "official",
          "language": "en",
          "value": "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus"
        }
      ]
    },
    "country": "XX",
    "hierarchies": [
      [
        {
          "division_id": "example:perspectives:trnc",
          "subtype": "country",
          "name": "Kuzey Kıbrıs"
        }
      ]
    ],
    "perspectives": {
      "mode": "accepted_by",
      "countries": [
        "TR"
      ]
    }
  }
}