Global Region-builder Geo-Code Prototype ©

by Thomas J. Christoffel, AICP, MeRSARegional Intelligence – Regional Communities, LLC

57th Annual North American meetings of the Regional Science Association International

Denver, Colorado November 13, 2010

The Regional Analysis Problem

Regional analysis in the United States is limited by the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) codes created in the 1960’s.

State FIPS codes were assigned alphabetically for states beginning with 01 for Alabama.

Within states, counties and comparable geographies were also done alphabetically beginning with 01 then 03 – new county option.

Tyranny of the Alphabet – Easy to find individual state or county data in a list, but not to relate one jurisdiction to another in a table or spreadsheet.

This is the geography the FIPS provides 01 – Alabama02 – Alaska04 – Arizona05 - Arkansas

Example: FIPS Code and Spatial Relationships for States Compared

Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Regional aggregation was done in the establishment of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA), which were coded separately.

Many of these regions matched the geography of the Metropolitan Councils of Government of that time.

The Washington, D.C. Metro area is an example.

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) (Yellow)MSAs & CMSAs 2010 (Grey)Non-metro (Green)

                                                                                             

Although Semi-autonomous Regions, States are too big for regional

analysis

Counties, 3,034 of them, the original substate district & basic Census FIPS coded unit, are too small for

regional analysis. Note: 35,937 sub-county governments - 19,431 municipal & 16,506 township

Most analysis focuses on theMetropolitan Areas – MSAs

MSA Limitations The relationships which define MSAs,

primarily workforce commuting, led to their widening over time to include more jurisdictions.

Since the geographic base changes over time, there is no option for long term analysis of change on a standard multi-jurisdictional regional geography.

MSA totals obscure differences within the underlying territory, which has lead to faulty analysis.

Development of Micropolitan Areas is not a solution.

MSA focus leaves out Non-Metro Counties

Alternative? Most states established some form of multi-

county regional councils in the 1960’s & 1970’s which covered all counties, metro or non-metro.

Many, like Virginia, used sub-state districts as regions for data aggregation and use by other State agencies.

The region number or letter could be used like the Federal FIPS code for sorting and aggregating data by region.

These regions also have organized regional governmental units using the data for regional planning and some were capable of regional action. Such regions “work” for their local governments

Virginia Planning Districts – Region Numbers Have Worked Like a FIPS

Code Since 1968

                                                                                             

Using the Various Sub-State Districts Nationally produces a Map

Something Like This:

Regional Councils Are Emerging Regional Communities; Regions that work

Need for Multi-regional Analysis Emerges

In the 1990’s, commerce, industry and even workforce commuting expanded along Interstate and Primary routes, showing connections between MSAs and a broad range of non-metropolitan counties, often in adjoining states.

To understand these relationships, there was clear need for multi-regional analysis, but no data sets supported this.

The author began work in 1998 to promote the development of such a system, submitting a comment to the U.S. Census Bureau February 12, 1999 relative to: Alternative Approaches to Defining Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas.

Conclusion: Global Geo-code system needed

Continued work on the issue and a review of other national and international systems led to the conclusion that a new global geo-code system design was needed.

The goal of the system is to cover all geographic territory of our local planet within a ten base system. There are different systems of accounting for continents. These can be reviewed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents

The intent of the geo-codes is to group political entities based on relative proximity.

The purpose of this paper is to present the prototype design for the purpose of further consideration by the user communities.

Geo-codes Using North to South, East to West – NSEW – Numbering

0000 Earth

0900 Arctic Ocean

1000 Europe

2000 Africa

3000 Atlantic Ocean

4000 Antarctica

5000 Americas

6000 Pacific Ocean

7000 Oceana

8000 Asia

9000 Indian Ocean

Map source: http://www.clker.com/clipart-13513.html

Political-Geographic Area Groups

Using the Sector and Region names utilized by the United Nations, http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm, the next levels of the global geo-code prototype system was developed.

Country names and relationships were matched to those on the Statoids website maintained by Gwilliam Law http://www.statoids.com/wab.html

North American example -

Geo-codes – Americas UN Northern Grouping of Political-Geographic

Areas

5 0 00 Americas 5000

Sector Code

Code Assigned

For UN Northern Grouping

Code Assigned

To UN Political

Geographic Name

UN Political-Geographic Name

Base Global Geo- Code

5 1 10 Greenland 5110

5 1 20 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 5120

5 1 30 Canada 5130

5 1 40 United States of America 5140

5 1 50 Bermuda 5150

5 1 60 United States Minor Outlying Islands

5160

United States Country Geo-code - 5140

Next step is a geo-code for each State.

The U.S. Census Bureau has defined regions and divisions.

This framework was used to develop NSEW State geo-codes that follow:

State Geo-codes – USA - What does this accomplish? Difference – Maine is 01 compared to

FIPS 23; Alabama is 21 compared to 01

Division Geo-code Region/State Abr. FIPS 1. New England Northeast/ 01 Maine ME 23 02 New Hampshire NH 33 03 Vermont VT 50 04 Massachusetts MA 25 05 Rhode Island RI 44 06 Connecticut CT 09 2. Middle Atlantic Northeast/ 07 New York NY 36 08 New Jersey NJ 34 09 Pennsylvania PA 42 3. South Atlantic South/ 10 Delaware DE 10 11 Maryland MD 24 12 District of Columbia DC 11 13 Virginia VA 51 14 West Virginia WV 54 15 North Carolina NC 37 16 South Carolina SC 45 17 Georgia GA 13 18 Florida FL 12 4. East South Central South/ 19 Kentucky KY 21 20 Tennessee TN 47 21 Alabama AL 01 22 Mississippi MS 28

Division Geo-code Region/State Abr. FIPS 5. West South Central South/ 23 Louisiana LA 22 24 Arkansas AR 05 25 Oklahoma OK 40 26 Texas TX 48 6. East North Central Midwest/ 27 Michigan MI 26 28 Ohio OH 39 29 Indiana IN 18 30 Illinois IL 17 31 Wisconsin WI 55 7. West North Central Midwest/ 32 Minnesota MN 27 33 North Dakota ND 38 34 South Dakota SD 46 35 Iowa IA 19 36 Nebraska NE 31 37 Missouri MO 29 38 Kansas KS 20 8. Mountain West/ 39 Montana MT 30 40 Wyoming WY 56 41 Idaho ID 16 42 Nevada NV 32 43 Utah UT 49 44 Colorado CO 08 45 New Mexico NM 35 46 Arizona AZ 04 9. Pacific West/ 47 Alaska AK 02 48 Washington WA 53 49 Oregon OR 41 50 California CA 06 51 Hawaii HI 15

How do geo-codes enable region-building for analysis?

Example: Mid-Atlantic Region with Regional Councils as the Unit of Analysis State Codes 5140-08 NJ to 5140-14 WV

In-State Example: Virginia Alphabetic by County and City – Charles City County

Charles City County with its Region – Richmond Regional Planning District

Mid-Atlantic Change by Regional Council Region – Richmond Region in its Mid-Atlantic Context, not just

Virginia

% change – provides a different picture.

Loss of countryside – viewshed? Region land area less Federal and State Lands – including Urban Areas

Overall density in 2005 drops when Urban areas pulled out – with time series we could see better the sprawls as build out occurs.

All Global Geo-code Prototype: 0000 Earth; 0900 Arctic Ocean; 1000 Europe

2000 Africa

3000 Atlantic Ocean4000 Antarctica5000 Americas

6000 Pacific Ocean7000 Oceana

9000 Indian Ocean

8000 Asia

Goals of this Presentation Report on this effort to researchers and

practitioners. Find people who may be interested in this project

for analysis of other multi-jurisdictional regions. What can the Geo-codes be used for? see Data analysis and Topic Tags – see Delicious Tags

for geography and subject at I.see.regions.workhttp://delicious.com/I.see.regions.work and Regional Community Development Newshttp://regional-communities.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

Regional Intelligence – Regional Communities, LLC

Tom (Thomas J.) Christoffel, AICP, MeRSA, EditorRegional Community Development NewsP.O. Box 1444Front Royal, Virginia (VA 22630), USAE-mail: Tom.Christoffel@gmail.comPhone or fax: 1-540-635-8582Web: http://ri-rc.com

The “Regions Work” Initiative © 1998