ISO 3166-2
Enable an agent to recognise ISO 3166-2, assess the authority and currency of its subdivision-code information, and use that information without confusing code assignments with geographic or legal facts.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to recognise ISO 3166-2, assess the authority and currency of its subdivision-code information, and use that information without confusing code assignments with geographic or legal facts.
ISO 3166-2 is the part of the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166 standard that assigns codes to principal subdivisions of countries and other territories represented in ISO 3166-1.
It can be Resolve a supplied code against an identified authoritative snapshot; Validate code structure and assignment separately; Retrieve the recorded subdivision designation and country context; Compare snapshots and flag changes requiring downstream review; Propose evidence-backed mappings to national or application-specific identifiers; Determine whether a particular representation may be reused for the intended operation.
Distinguishing features
The designation identifies Part 2 of ISO 3166, concerning country subdivision codes, rather than country codes alone. [ISO standard record](https://www.iso.org/standard/72483.html)
A subdivision code combines an ISO 3166-1 two-letter code, a separator and up to three alphanumeric characters; a bare country code or unqualified subdivision suffix does not identify the same kind of assignment. [ISO glossary](https://www.iso.org/glossary-for-iso-3166.html)
A candidate string must be checked against an authoritative assignment at a relevant date; matching the code pattern alone cannot establish that ISO assigned it.
The standard, a dated edition, a maintained assignment and a downloaded representation are distinguishable records with different identity and currency questions.
A code assignment identifies a subdivision within this coding system; it does not itself supply a boundary polygon or establish legal jurisdiction.
Scope
+ Identity of ISO 3166-2 within the ISO 3166 family
+ Structure and interpretation of subdivision code elements
+ Country-specific subdivision names, categories and recorded relationships
+ Authority, editions, data snapshots and assignment changes
+ Validation, mapping and permitted reuse of subdivision-code information
- Independent modelling of ISO 3166-1 country codes or ISO 3166-3 formerly used country names
- Subdivision geometry, coordinates and boundary surveying
- Legal authority, sovereignty and territorial-dispute adjudication
- Complete national administrative classifications beyond ISO's recorded coverage
- Postal routing, address validation and geocoding systems
- Individual PDF files, database exports or printed copies as standalone artifacts
Characteristics
- Standard identity
- ISO 3166-2; country subdivision coding standard Distinguishes the registered thing from neighbouring parts of ISO 3166 and from particular code elements.
- Normative edition
- Identified ISO edition and its authoritative publication record Makes the rules being applied explicit without treating an edition date as the date of every assignment.
- Assignment snapshot
- Source, retrieval date and supplied update or release identifier Supports reproducible lookups and distinguishes current evidence from an older cached list.
- Country-code dependency
- Referenced ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 assignment Establishes the namespace in which the subdivision suffix is interpreted.
- Code element
- Full country-prefixed subdivision code preserved as text Prevents suffix collisions and loss of significant characters through numeric conversion.
- Subdivision designation
- Source-recorded subdivision names, language annotations, category and parent relationship where supplied Connects the identifier to its documented referent without assuming globally uniform administrative levels.
- Assignment assessment
- Agent assessment: confirmed at date, historical, unconfirmed or conflicting evidence Keeps uncertainty visible without presenting these assessment labels as ISO's own status vocabulary.
- Reuse permission
- Verified permissions and restrictions for the particular document, dataset or service Determines whether the agent may cache, transform, redistribute or embed the acquired material.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 17 findings · 27 questions.
Standard and representation Identify the ISO 3166-2 standard separately from its editions and data carriers.
An agent must know whether it is interpreting a normative rule, consulting maintained assignments or reading a derivative copy.
Place in ISO 3166
Establish the scope contributed by Part 2 and its dependency on country identifiers.
Subdivision coding scope
Record the part designation and the subdivision-coding scope supported by the identified edition.
- What does the applicable edition specify as ISO 3166-2's subdivision coverage? definition
- Which country-identification rules belong to ISO 3166-1 rather than this model? boundary
Edition and data carrier
Separate the standard's edition from the assignment data and their particular delivery formats.
Identified consulted resource
Identify whether the evidence is an edition, an online record, an export or a derivative dataset, with its own date and provenance.
- Which edition and which assignment snapshot does the consulted resource represent? provenance
- Is this resource authoritative for the proposed lookup, or must its claims be checked against ISO? action
Code elements and validation Interpret full code elements and distinguish structural validity from a confirmed assignment.
A plausible string can still be unassigned, historical or misinterpreted outside its country context.
Country-qualified syntax
Preserve the country prefix, separator and subdivision suffix as a single textual identifier.
Lossless code parsing
Determine the applicable character and length rules and retain the original input alongside any normalised candidate.
- Does the complete input satisfy the applicable edition's code-element syntax? measurement
- Would normalisation remove significant characters, or treat an isolated suffix as globally unique? boundary
Assignment resolution
Resolve a structurally acceptable code against a specified assignment source and date.
Evidenced code membership
Report whether the consulted evidence confirms the assignment, without treating lookup failure in a partial dataset as proof of nonexistence.
- Which authoritative record confirms this full code and its subdivision at the requested date? provenance
- Should the agent accept, reject or defer the input when evidence is incomplete or contradictory? action
Subdivision semantics Connect code assignments to documented names, subdivision categories and country-specific organisation.
Name matching and administrative comparisons require more than a code string and must respect differences between countries.
Names and language
Distinguish recorded subdivision names from translations, aliases and application display labels.
Source-qualified designations
Preserve source-provided spelling and language annotations while recording separately any locally introduced labels.
- Which names and language annotations are actually supplied by the authoritative record? provenance
- What evidence distinguishes an alternate name for one assignment from a similarly named different subdivision? boundary
Categories and hierarchy
Interpret country-specific subdivision categories and parent relationships only where documented.
Documented administrative context
Record the category and any parent relationship without assuming every country uses the same depth or that suffixes encode hierarchy.
- What subdivision category and parent relationship, if any, does the country entry explicitly record? definition
- Which geographic units or administrative levels fall outside this country's recorded ISO coverage? boundary
Maintenance and time Track the authority and temporal interpretation of assignment information.
A fixed edition citation does not by itself establish whether a local code list is current or suitable for historical records.
Authoritative maintenance
Identify ISO maintenance evidence and distinguish it from third-party update claims.
Maintenance evidence
ISO identifies its Maintenance Agency as responsible for country and subdivision assignments and points to the Online Browsing Platform for access. [ISO country codes](https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html)
- Which ISO record supports the particular addition, deletion or other change being asserted? provenance
- When was the local snapshot retrieved, and what evidence establishes its update coverage? measurement
Historical interpretation
Keep changes to codes, names and administrative entities distinguishable.
Change-aware record handling
Represent documented changes without assuming a rename, code replacement and territorial reorganisation have identical consequences.
- Does the evidence describe a name change, code change, category change or change to the represented subdivision? definition
- Can a historical record be migrated unambiguously, or should its original code and date be retained pending review? action
Interoperation and reuse Control mappings to other systems and establish permissions for the material used.
Operational use requires both a justified identifier mapping and evidence that the chosen document or dataset can be used as intended.
External code mappings
Evaluate crosswalks to national codes, postal systems, statistical regions and geographic datasets.
Qualified crosswalk
Record mapping evidence, date and cardinality, with unresolved differences in coverage or territorial meaning.
- Does the external identifier denote the same subdivision at the same date, or only an overlapping or similarly named area? boundary
- Is the proposed mapping one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one or unresolved? measurement
Resource use conditions
Assess the specific terms governing normative text, online access, exports and derivative datasets.
Permitted material use
Attach permission evidence to the particular resource and intended operation; accessibility alone does not establish redistribution rights.
- Which terms apply to the exact document, export or service the agent acquired? provenance
- Do those terms permit the intended caching, transformation, embedding or redistribution? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- This description is recalled knowledge; no sources were consulted.
- Verify the applicable edition and current ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency updates before using individual assignments operationally.
- Check country-specific coverage and historical code changes rather than assuming all administrative units are included.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of ISO 3166-2 this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- ISO standard designation - ISO 3166-2 - Identifies the standard part; a dated edition additionally includes a publication year.
- ISO 3166-2 subdivision code - AA-X to AA-XXX - An ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, a hyphen, and one to three alphanumeric characters identifying a subdivision; for example, US-CA identifies California.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of ISO 3166-2 this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- ISO 3166-2, issued by ISO, specifies codes for country subdivisions.
- ISO 3166-1, issued by ISO, supplies the country and territory codes used as prefixes.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of ISO 3166-2 this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Identifying administrative subdivisions in databases and data exchanges.
- Normalizing state, province, or region fields in address records.
- Joining geographic, statistical, and business datasets by subdivision.
- Supporting subdivision selection in software interfaces.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of ISO 3166-2 this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Outdated code lists can misrepresent subdivisions after administrative changes.
- Removing the country prefix destroys the full identifier and can create collisions.
- Assuming every country uses the same subdivision types or administrative levels produces incorrect comparisons.
- Treating a subdivision code as a postal code or a boundary geometry confuses distinct kinds of information.
- Assuming codes are permanent can corrupt historical records when assignments change.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of ISO 3166-2 this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Covered subdivision categories vary by country and can include states, provinces, regions, departments, and other administrative units.
- Subdivision suffixes can be alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric.
- Coverage and administrative hierarchy vary between country entries; the standard does not impose a uniform worldwide administrative structure.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of ISO 3166-2 this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- ISO 3166-1 - Identifies countries and certain territories rather than their principal subdivisions.
- ISO 3166-3 - Codes formerly used country names rather than current country subdivisions.
- Postal code - Supports postal routing or delivery geography rather than identifying subdivisions under ISO 3166-2.
- Administrative boundary dataset - Represents geographic boundaries; ISO 3166-2 supplies identifiers and associated subdivision information, not boundary geometry.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of ISO 3166-2 this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Which normative edition and dated assignment source should govern the intended Vercy deployment?
- What country-specific coverage exceptions and hierarchy conventions must be verified before implementing subdivision selection?
- What authoritative historical records are available to establish change dates and successor relationships without guessing?
- Which exact acquisition and reuse terms apply to the ISO resources or third-party datasets selected for integration?
- How should Vercy resolve conflicting crosswalks when national administrative records, geographic datasets and ISO assignments reflect different dates?