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Research draft

administrative territorial entity of France

vr.tr.administrative-territorial-entity-of-france · PHY.PLC

Let an agent handle French administrative divisions by level, code, powers, boundaries and changes, using official INSEE data.

Thing Registry Physical world and living systems

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.

written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify

Researched by: Claude

Purpose and description

Let an agent handle French administrative divisions by level, code, powers, boundaries and changes, using official INSEE data.

Any administrative or territorial division of France, including regions, departments, arrondissements, cantons and around 35,000 communes, municipal arrondissements of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, intercommunal groupings, and collectivities with special status such as Corsica and overseas collectivities.

What it is for: Administration, statistics, elections and addresses in France.

It can be identify the level and code of a French division; find which commune, department or region an address is in; understand the powers of each level in general terms; track mergers and boundary changes.

Distinguishing features

Several nested levels

Official codes

Frequent commune mergers

Special statuses overseas and in Corsica

What it looks like

Areas on maps with official names and INSEE codes.

How it is recognised

INSEE commune and department codes

Regions, departments and communes

Postal codes are not administrative codes

Related models

is a kind of - category

administrative territorial entity of a single country

is coded by - identifier

INSEE Official Geographic Code

is part of - country

France

includes - example

commune of France

In practice

Families and kinds

regions

departments

arrondissements and cantons

communes and communes nouvelles

municipal arrondissements and intercommunal bodies

Identifiers

INSEE COG official geographic code division code

Standards and regulation

General Code of Territorial Authorities

INSEE Official Geographic Code

Laws on territorial reform

Failure modes and hazards

Using outdated codes after mergers

Confusing postal codes and INSEE codes

Confusing arrondissement types

Also called

municipal arrondissement of FrancePaysmunicipal arrondissement of Lyonmunicipal arrondissement of Marseillequartier of Nantesadministrative quartertransit countryadministrative quarter of Marseilledelegated communeassociation of French communesparçan of Occitaniaterritorial collectivity of Franceétablissement public de coopération intercommunalecanton of Franceformer quartiers of Parisadministrative divisions of Saint Pierre and Miquelondistrict of Francesubdivision of ParisRevolutionary section of Parisconstituency of the French Fifth Republicdepartementzone d'études et d'aménagement du territoirefraction cantonaleacademic districtcustomary area of New-Caledoniaigamiesection of communeSubdélégationDefense and Security zone of Franceacademic regionadministrative subdivision of French Polynesiaadministrative territorial entity of New CaledoniaRégion de Franceterritorial collectivity of France with special statusdistrict of the French Southern and Antarctic Landsprovince of New Caledoniacustomary kingdom of Wallis and Futunapublic institution of intermunicipal cooperation with own taxationétablissement public territorialsyndicat intercommunal

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Where this came from

wikidata · CC0 1.0

Drafted structure

Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.

Level Which division.

Levels nest.

Identify

Level and code.

Identify

Identity.

  1. Which level is this division, and what is its INSEE code? provenance
  2. Which higher divisions contain it? provenance

Address

Address lookup.

Address

Address lookup.

  1. Which commune, department and region contain this address? provenance
  2. Does the postal code match the commune? boundary
Powers Responsibilities.

Levels have competences.

Competences

What each level does.

Competences

Competences.

  1. Which services is this level responsible for, in general terms? provenance
  2. Which law sets them? provenance

Contact

Offices.

Contact

Contacts.

  1. How can the mairie, department or region be contacted? provenance
  2. Which official portal applies? provenance
Changes Reforms and mergers.

Boundaries change.

Mergers

Communes nouvelles.

Mergers

Mergers.

  1. Has this commune merged into a commune nouvelle, and when? provenance
  2. What is its new code? provenance

History

Historical divisions.

History

History.

  1. How did this division change historically, such as the 2016 region reform? provenance
  2. Which sources document it? provenance
Special Special statuses.

Statuses vary.

Overseas

Overseas territories.

Overseas

Overseas divisions.

  1. What status does this overseas territory have under French law? provenance
  2. How does it differ from a department? definition

Cities

Paris, Lyon, Marseille.

Cities

Municipal arrondissements.

  1. How do municipal arrondissements of Paris, Lyon and Marseille work? provenance
  2. Which services do they provide? provenance

What the second pass must settle

  • Should each level be a separate entry?
  • How should yearly code changes be tracked?
  • How should overseas statuses be modelled?