Geometry Family Definitions

One identity model, different geographic systems

Every maintained place can use loc_id, but that does not make every shape an administrative boundary. DaedalMap keeps the family, source-native subtype, authority, coverage, graph role, geometry role, release, and relationship evidence separate.

Each country selects one administrative spine. Other families are sidechains, grids, named features, or membership systems that can overlap the spine and one another without becoming fake administrative levels.

Can it find my city or address?

That is a first-class use case. A city name is searchable through named_feature; an official city, town, municipality, or census-place identity and boundary belongs to place_or_municipality when it is not already on the administrative spine. A built-up city footprint or metro region belongs to urban_or_metro_area. Keeping those roles separate prevents a city hall boundary, a postal name, and a metro area from being treated as the same shape.

A street address is an input rather than a geometry family. An address service resolves the text to a source-attributed coordinate; DaedalMap can then resolve that point into its country, administrative chain, and available overlapping families. The Geometry Library shows actual country coverage: having a definition here does not mean that every country's city or address source is loaded yet.

What gets built first

The administrative spine always comes first. Without that dependable country hierarchy, collecting sidechains does not produce a coherent reference system. Once the spine is ready, there is no fixed order for the other families: available authorities, local data, user needs, and ongoing research determine what comes next. Cities and postal areas are especially valuable for ordinary lookup, but they are guidelines rather than mandatory second and third steps. Priority also does not change graph role; these remain sidechains whenever they fail the spine rules.

Core recurring families

Core means the pattern recurs often enough to share one contract. It does not mean every country has complete coverage for it.

Family	Definition	Examples
Administrative spine `administrative`	The one selected country hierarchy whose levels tile, nest, and cover their declared extent.	states, provinces, counties, municipalities, census units
Statistical areas `statistical_area`	Census and statistical reporting areas that may extend the spine when they form a complete nested partition, or remain a sidechain otherwise.	census tracts, dissemination areas, output areas
Postal areas `postal_area`	Operational delivery regions or statistical approximations of postal geography, kept distinct by subtype and release.	postal codes, FSAs, ZIPs, ZCTAs
Electoral districts `electoral_district`	Representation districts, constituencies, wards, precincts, and polling divisions with explicit election and release vintages.	constituencies, wards, precincts, polling divisions
School districts `school_district`	Education governance and attendance systems, including valid overlapping public, separate, language, grade, or service roles.	school boards, attendance zones, education regions
Health regions `health_region`	Health authorities, delivery areas, local health regions, and service catchments kept separate from administrative parentage.	health authorities, service areas, catchments
Watersheds `watershed`	Natural drainage basins and hydrologic units, distinguished from operational water-management districts.	drainage basins, hydrologic units, catchments
Protected areas `protected_area`	Protected and conserved sites, designations, zones, and management areas with their legal and spatial roles preserved.	parks, conservation areas, protected watersheds
Indigenous lands and regions `indigenous_land_or_region`	Authority-defined Indigenous lands, settlement areas, treaty regions, and organization geographies without inferring legal status from overlap.	reserve lands, treaty areas, Inuit regions
Named features `named_feature`	Gazetteer identities and aliases for populated, physical, cultural, and administrative features; this is how a settlement name can be searchable even when only a representative point is available.	city and town names, mountains, lakes, official place names
Reference grids `reference_grid`	Map sheets, survey grids, and indexing cells whose hierarchy is mathematical or cartographic rather than administrative.	map sheets, survey grids, index cells
Time zones `time_zone`	Civil-time regions, legal exceptions, and seasonal regimes with authority and effective periods attached.	standard time, daylight time, civil time regions
Cities, places, and municipalities `place_or_municipality`	Authority-defined cities, towns, municipalities, settlements, and other place systems, including their boundaries when they sit outside the selected administrative spine.	cities, towns, municipalities, incorporated and census-designated places

Extended recurring families

These systems are also canonical. A country can explicitly mark one as not inventoried or not applicable, but should not silently redefine it.

Family	Definition	Examples
Ecological regions `ecological_region`	Natural classification systems such as ecozones, ecoregions, and habitat regions, separate from watersheds and administration.	ecozones, ecoregions, bioregions
Weather zones `weather_zone`	Persistent operational forecast, warning, marine, and fire-weather regions with explicit release and effective periods.	forecast zones, fire-weather zones, marine forecast zones
Emergency management regions `emergency_management_region`	Standing emergency-management, dispatch, mutual-aid, and response jurisdictions; incident-specific evacuation and alert polygons remain event data.	emergency management regions, dispatch areas, mutual-aid regions
Judicial and legal districts `judicial_or_legal_district`	Court, prosecution, registry, and other legal-service jurisdictions that are not assumed to be general administration.	court circuits, registry districts
Utility and special districts `utility_or_special_district`	Purpose-specific service districts where overlaps and multiple simultaneous authorities are expected.	water districts, fire districts, library districts
Land management regions `land_management_region`	Forest, parks, resource, and other management regions with their purpose and administering authority explicit.	forest units, resource regions
Economic and program regions `economic_or_program_region`	Functional regions for development, labor markets, benefits, or agency programs, retained as purpose-specific sidechains.	development regions, labor-market areas, service regions
Water bodies `water_body`	Named lakes, reservoirs, rivers, seas, and other water identities that may cross administrative boundaries.	lakes, reservoirs, seas
County subdivisions `county_subdivision`	Subcounty legal or statistical divisions maintained as their own release-scoped family where they are not the selected spine.	townships, minor civil divisions
Urban and metro areas `urban_or_metro_area`	Urbanized, metropolitan, commuting, and functional settlement regions maintained beside the administrative spine.	metro areas, urban areas, commuting zones

The distinctions that matter most

Statistical areas can be part of the spine

Census tracts, dissemination areas, output areas, and mesh blocks are statistical by purpose. If they completely tile and nest inside the one selected country hierarchy, they may also serve as spine levels. Purpose and graph role are separate facts.

A city can have several geographic roles

A municipal government boundary may be on the administrative spine or in place_or_municipality. Its built-up footprint belongs to urban_or_metro_area. A gazetteer point carrying only its name belongs to named_feature. These records may refer to the same familiar city without claiming that their shapes are identical.

Protection, ecology, and management are different

Protected area: a legally designated park, reserve, conserved site, or protected zone.
Ecological region: an ecozone, habitat region, biome, or other natural classification, whether protected or not.
Land-management region: a ranger district, forest unit, BLM-style field office, resource region, or park-management district.
Named feature: a name record for a forest, park, mountain, or other feature when no stronger role is asserted.

Weather and emergency geography have separate clocks

weather_zone covers persistent forecast, warning, marine, and fire-weather regions. emergency_management_region covers standing dispatch, mutual-aid, and response jurisdictions. A temporary evacuation order, warning polygon, incident perimeter, or alert area is event data rather than permanent reference geography.

Water bodies are not flow networks

water_body identifies named lakes, reservoirs, seas, oceans, wetlands, rivers, and river areas. A connected river system with reaches, junctions, and flow direction is a hydrologic network. The identity and network can link to one another without using the same data contract.

Road, rail, and power networks

Networks use nodes, edges, direction, and connectivity, so they remain separate network programs rather than polygon families. Road centerlines, rail lines, river flow, transmission lines, and pipelines belong there. A utility service territory can still be utility_or_special_district; the wires, substations, and connectivity belong to the power network.

Parcels belong to a land-tenure or cadastre program. Addresses belong to an address/reference program. All of these programs may use loc_id and the shared relationship graph without pretending to be administrative areas.

How relationships are described

Strict parent: reserved for the selected nested hierarchy or another explicitly valid hierarchy.
Official membership or correspondence: published by the responsible authority.
Measured overlap: a spatial bridge, not proof of governance, service membership, legal status, or succession.
Historical correspondence: evidence between releases, not an automatic claim that one identity succeeded another.

Definitions and availability are different

This page defines the vocabulary. The Geometry Library shows which countries and releases are actually available. A canonical family can exist here while a country correctly reports it as not yet inventoried.

What each kind ofgeography means.