Global Region-builder Geo-Code Prototype © by Thomas J. Christoffel, AICP, MeRSA Regional 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.

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 the Metropolitan 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  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 0000Earth 0900Arctic Ocean 1000Europe 2000Africa 3000Atlantic Ocean 4000Antarctica 5000Americas 6000Pacific Ocean 7000Oceana 8000Asia 9000Indian Ocean Map source:

Political-Geographic Area Groups  Using the Sector and Region names utilized by the United Nations, 9regin.htm, the next levels of the global geo- code prototype system was developed. 9regin.htm  Country names and relationships were matched to those on the Statoids website maintained by Gwilliam Law  North American example -

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

United States Country Geo-code  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

How do geo-codes enable region-building for analysis? Example: Mid-Atlantic Region with Regional Councils as the Unit of Analysis State Codes NJ to 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 Ocean 4000 Antarctica 5000 Americas

6000 Pacific Ocean 7000 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.work and Regional Community Development News Thank you!

Regional Intelligence – Regional Communities, LLC Tom (Thomas J.) Christoffel, AICP, MeRSA, Editor Regional Community Development News P.O. Box 1444 Front Royal, Virginia (VA 22630), USA Phone or fax: Web: The “Regions Work” Initiative © 1998