Rules for Place Authority Development
(Natural Science Collections incl. Archaeology/Zooarchaeology)
Created April 2003
Updated December 3, 2004
Hierarchical Place Levels:
1. Continent
2. Continental Region
3. Country
4. Country Region
5. Province/State/Territory
6. Provincial/State/Territorial Region
7. Locality
Some general rules (under development and for discussion)
1. The Place Authority hierarchy is based on geographic proximity, not political affiliation. For
example, French Guiana occurs under South America, not under France. Similarly, Puerto
Rico falls under North America.
2. Parks (national, provincial, territorial), mountain ranges, deserts, rivers, lakes, creeks and
peninsulas are entered at the Provincial/State/Territorial Region level. More than two items
may be entered at this level. (E.g., Pyramid Lake falls under Jasper National Park, both of
which are entered at the Provincial/State/Territorial Region level)
3. Inhabited Places (towns and cities) must not be linked to the broader place of River,
Highway or Secondary Road.
4. General geographic terms such as “Central Alberta” are only to be used if a more specific
place name is not known. The string for this example would be “North America: Canada;
Alberta, Central Alberta”. When using a directional reference (e.g., North), then use the
adjective form (e.g., Northern). For example, “Europe: France; Southwestern France”. No
narrower terms are to be linked to general geographic terms.
5. Highway is only to be used if a more specific place name is not known. No narrower terms
are to be designated to Highway. Highway or road Junction to be treated in the same
manner.
6. Rivers, mountain ranges, etc. that are wholly or partially contained within a park will have
the park designated as the broader place. (Remember that both the park and the river are
considered Provincial/State/Territorial Region.) An entry for the river will also be created
for the portion contained outside of the park. This entry will have the
Province/State/Territory level as its broader place.
7. For Canada, use the designation county only when a more specific place name is not known.
No narrower terms are to be linked to a county term. For United States, use “county” where
known. As done in the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names, spell “county” out in full and
do not capitalize (e.g., Wayne county). All narrower political entities should be linked to
county.
8. When there are numerous Canadian places with the same name (e.g., there are six lakes
named Windy Lake in the Northwest Territories), append the Canadian Geographic Names
Database Unique Identifier in parenthesis [e.g. Windy Lake (LBAFQ)]
Place Authority Development Rules
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9. Place names for cities, towns, villages, rivers, creeks, and lakes when located within a
national or provincial park (e.g., Jasper with Jasper National Park) will be linked under the
park record. (See #6 for rivers that are partially contained within a park.)
10. Marine and freshwater bays to be entered at Provincial/State/Territorial Region level.
Marine bays are to be associated with the terrestrial entity that encloses them (e.g.,
Newfoundland, Bonavista Bay). Freshwater bays are to be associated with the waterbody
(Alberta, Cold Lake Provincial Park, Cold Lake, English Bay).
11. Capes, points, etc. are to fall under the Provincial/State/Territorial Region level.
12. Channels?
13. Continent must be included in the string, even if it is obvious, such as “Canada”. In this
case, the string would be “North America: Canada; …”
14. When there are two identical place names, the place types must be included in the place
name in lower case. For example, New York (the city) would be entered as follows: North
America: United States; New York state, New York county, New York city
15. The use of N, S, W, E designations: These designations are not to be used to describe a
region. For example, if the lowest area known was the southwest of France (see #4), then the
entry would be “Europe: France; Southwestern France” – not “Europe: France, SW France”.
These letters should only be used for directional purposes (E.g., 4.5 mi SW of Red Deer).
16. Entry for Type Field. A value is to be selected from the Type pop-up list (see list below).
Countries are to be assigned the designation “Nation”, except in the case of the countries that
fall under the United Kingdom. In this case, United Kingdom is given the type designation
“Nation” and England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are given the type designation
“Country”.
Place Type List:
basin
bay
beach
biosphere reserve
cape
city (USE inhabited place)
continent
continental region
country (USE nation)
country region (USE national region)
county
county region
creek (USE river)
department
departmental region
dependent state
desert
district
district region
falls
Place Authority Development Rules
Developed by Museums and Collections Services
fiord (USE bay)
geographic region
gulf
highway
historic site
hill (USE mountain)
indian reserve
inhabited place
island
island group
lake
mountain
mountain range
municipal park
nation
national division
national park
national region
neighbourhood
oblast
2
oblast region
parish
parish region
point (USE cape)
prefecture
prefecture region
province
provincial park
provincial region
republic
republic region
river
sea
state
state park
state region
strait
territorial region
territory
town (USE inhabited place)
unitary authority
unitary authority region
valley
village (USE inhabited place)
voivodship
voivodship region
Accepted Abbreviations:
For
miles
north (of)
south (of)
west (of)
east (of)
highway
road
meters
kilometers
Use
mi
N*
S*
W*
E*
Hwy.
Rd.
m
km
Other Conventions:
Use “and” rather than “&”
*
Do not abbreviate directions when they are part of a place name.
Place Authority Development Rules
Developed by Museums and Collections Services
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