Administrative division is a part of a country or a defined region. The main objective of the administrative division is for administration purposes. The administrative divisions have been divided into a certain order. In general, the largest administrative subdivision of a country is named as First-Order Administrative Division followed by the smaller administrative subdivision of a country which is named as Second-Order Administrative Division. The number of orders of administrative divisions may be further divided into Third-Order and the smaller Fourth-Order Administrative Division.
What are the differences between First-Order Administrative Division and Second-Order Administrative Division? A country may be divided into several parts like regions or states or provinces, then further divided into municipalities or counties. The highest administrative division is called “First-Order” or “First-Level” Administrative Division, whereas the subdivision is called “Second-Order” or “Second-Level” Administrative Division.
In GeoDataSource, there are only two levels of administrative divisions supported, which are the First-Order Administrative Division and the Second-Order Administrative Division. The First-Order Administrative Divisions are the regions or states of a country. Thus, the “First-Order Administrative Division’s Full Name” is the full name of a complete region name that used to identify the First-Order Administrative Division. The name of the First-Order Administrative Division of GeoDataSource is in compliance with the International Standards Organization ISO3166-2 standard with several exceptions that are listed below.
- 49 countries do not have the official ISO3166-2 subdivisions defined.
- 1 exception for Bahamas – New Providence region, which does not have ISO3166-2 associated.
- 1 exception for Singapore – we categorize Singapore as a single subdivision.
Anguilla | Antarctica | American Samoa | Aruba | Aland Islands |
Saint Barthelemy | Bermuda | Bahamas | Bouvet Island | Cocos (Keeling) Islands |
Cook Islands | Curacao | Christmas Island | Western Sahara | Falkland Islands (Malvinas) |
Faroe Islands | French Guiana | Guernsey | Gibraltar | Guadeloupe |
Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands | South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands | Guam | Hong Kong | Isle of Man |
British Indian Ocean Territory | Jersey | Cayman Islands | Saint Martin (French Part) | Macao |
Northern Mariana Islands | Martinique | Montserrat | New Caledonia | Norfolk Island |
Niue | French Polynesia | Saint Pierre and Miquelon | Pitcairn | Puerto Rico |
Reunion | Singapore | Svalbard and Jan Mayen | Sint Maarten (Dutch Part) | Turks and Caicos Islands |
French Southern Territories | Tokelau | Holy See | Virgin Islands, British | Virgin Islands, U.S., |
Mayotte |
For the Second-Order Administrative Division, this is only applicable to the United States (US). For instance, Hill County, Pender County etc. are some examples of Second-Order Administrative Division’s full name that are supported in GeoDataSource for the United States.