Other Named Areas

Other Area Names (Census Districts, Census Blocks, Census Block Groups, Census Tracts, Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas, Index Areas, Urban Aggolmerations, Native Reservations, Census Urbanized Area Features, Special Charge Areas and Neighborhoods) are neither Administrative Areas nor Administrative Places. However, each Area serves a special purpose for a census. The Area geometry is included in the Other Named Areas (oa) layer, which includes-among other Attributes-the URBANAREA Attribute to distinguish between urban and rural Areas.

Note: Other Named Areas are not included as Attributes to any other feature.

Census District (Census Tract in U.S.)

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A Census District refers to an area for which on official body collects statistical information such as population figures. The official body can define several types or levels of census areas whether or not they are organized in an hierarchical way. In the U.S., Census Tracts are small statistical subdivisions (averaging about 4,000 persons) of counties generally characterized by stable boundaries.

Census Block Group (U.S. Only)

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Census Block Groups are a collection of Census Blocks within a Census Tract, sharing the same first digit of their four-digit identifying numbers.

Census Blocks (U.S. Only)

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A Census Block is the smallest geographic unit for which the U.S. Census Bureau tabulates data. Generally bounded by streets, legal boundaries and other features, approximately 8.5 million Blocks are identified in Census 2000.

Census Urbanized Areas

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An Urban Area is a Census District that is located in an urban area.

Core Based Statistical Areas (U.S. Only)

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A Core-Based Statistical Area consists of a county containing an Incorporated Place or Census Designated Place with a population of at least 10,000, along with any adjacent counties that have at least 25% of employed residents of the county who work in the CBSA's core or central county. CBSAs are categorized as being either Metropolitan or Micropolitan.

Each Metropolitan Statistical Area must have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants.
Each Micropolitan Statistical Area must have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population.

Index Areas

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Index Areas occur where administrative divisions of a country do not provide clear address selection or do not allow address selection at all.

The following are examples of when Index Areas occur:

Where different Administrative Areas have the same name;
Where Administrative Areas at a different level are considered for addressing on the same level;
Where the names of Administrative Areas are not suitable for addressing because they are not known by the public;
Where the surface of an Administrative Area does not correspond with the area that is experienced as one unit for addressing.

Urban Agglomeration

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Urban Agglomerations refer to the complete urbanized area of a city: the city and its surroundings. Because of its expansion, a city absorbs its neighboring settlements to form one big area with a concentration of buildings. Since expansion of a city does not necessarily stop at municipality borders, municipality borders do not limit an Urban Agglomeration. Generally, the surrounding municipalities of a city or parts of them are parts of the urbanized area associated with that city.

Native Reservation

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A Native Reservation is the database representation of an area permanently and exclusively designated for native people of a certain country.

Special Charge Area

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Special Charge Area is a rudimentary visualization of a Road Element Special Charge attribute. A Special Charge Area does not replace the Road Element Special Charge. The Special Charge Area is used mainly for map display purposes. A Special Charge Area is always composed out of adjacent faces.

Neighborhood

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A Neighborhood is a geographically localized area within a city or town with distinctive characteristics and considerable social interactions between inhabitants. A Neighborhood does not fit specifically in an Administrative structure or in an Index Area Structure.

Low Emission Zone

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A Low Emission Zone is an area feature that identifies locations where vehicular traffic is restricted based on the air-quality standards imposed by certain regions, cities or towns. This area feature is for display purposes only; there are no relations to other features?