Units of governance with a legal identity, such as regions, municipalities and parishes. Other data refers to them by their code: Danmarks Statistik tables per kommunekode, registers that record the municipality of a person or a company.
Sphere: Reference Framework
One identity, many geometries
The code is the reference; the boundary is one of several geometries for it. A Danish municipality has the full-resolution DAGI boundary for detailed mapping, and the same unit appears as a generalised boundary in Eurostat’s LAU at 1:1M. Each reference realisation lists its geometries per scale and version under reference_units, so a map can borrow the geometry that suits its scale.
Scope
- Danish administrative units (DAGI): regions (regionskode), municipalities (kommunekode), parishes (sognekode), and police and judicial districts
- Other countries’ administrative units, when the network grows beyond Denmark
Key Distinction: Administrative vs Statistical Units
A unit defined by law and governance belongs here. A unit defined for reporting statistics is a statistical unit. Some are both: in Denmark the Eurostat LAU units are the municipalities.
Leaves
| Leaf | Question | Lens | Connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative Units | Which administrative area does a location belong to? | primary | |
| Statistical Units | Which statistical unit does a location or a statistical figure belong to? | member |
Classical Theme Mappings
| Standard | Theme | Link |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 19115 | Boundaries | Boundaries |
| INSPIRE | Administrative Units | Administrative Units |