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Nova Scotia's
Geographic Information
Standards
Chapter 7
Linkage
(continued)
7.4 Topic:
Corporate Database Identifiers - Reporting Regions [Endnote 4]
7.4.1 Background:
The combining of heterogeneous databases to support GIS and tabular analysis has always been a
problem, particularly when the databases being accessed do not have a series of standards upon which
to structure the data. During the 1995-96 fiscal year interest in GIS and its applications continued
to increase in many government departments. Programs interested in applying GIS technology faced
situations where their datasets did not share a common regional framework with other datasets. This
led to a problem in attempting to report their business activities in relation to other agencies. In fact,
within the 16 government departments, there were some 24-plus different reporting regions being
used. With so many diverse reporting systems database comparability was, and still continues to be,
cumbersome.
7.4.2 Standard:
Agencies generating new databases which may be accessed for the purpose of reporting
government activities must apply the standard set of geographically referenced reporting regions.
Agencies with databases in place prior to this standard are not discouraged from maintaining those
databases in their existing system, however they must disseminate their data to others as per the
standard set of geographically referenced reporting regions.
The geographically referenced reporting regions are as follows: Central, Eastern, Northern, and
Western. An additional region identified as Out of Province is provided for areas or activities carried
on outside of the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia.
7.4.3 Standard:
All new databases must adopt the standard set of two character alphanumeric codes
corresponding to the reporting regions identified in 7.4.2 The codes are outlined in section 7.4.3.1
Agencies with coding systems in place prior to this standard are not discouraged from maintaining
their existing codes, however, they must provide an appropriate mechanism (such as a look-up table)
to cross reference their codes to the standard set.
7.4.3.1 Description:
Table 7.4.3.1 below presents the name, code and county constructs for each region.
Table 7.4.3.1
Standard Set of Reporting Regions and Associated Codes
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Standard
Reporting Region:
[RPT_RG_N]
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Standard
Reporting Region Codes:
[RPT_RG_CD]
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Counties contained within :
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Central Region
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CR
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Hants, Halifax
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Eastern Region
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ER
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Antigonish, Guysborough, Cape Breton, Richmond, Inverness, Victoria
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Northern Region
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NR
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Cumberland, Colchester, Pictou
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Western Region
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WR
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Kings, Annapolis, Digby, Yarmouth, Shelburne, Lunenburg, Queens
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Out of Province Region
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OR
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Provided for reporting government activities relating to locations outside of the jurisdiction of Nova
Scotia.
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7.4.4 Additional Information:
Please refer to section 7.3 for a detailed description of the guidelines for database development, and
the coding rationale. A complete list of corporate code identifiers can also be found at the end of
Chapter 7.
7.5 Topic:
Corporate Database Identifiers - Counties [Endnote 5]
7.5.1 Background
There are many databases throughout government which have some reference to a county as a
geographic area. In some instances a database design has taken advantage of the county's full name,
while in others the design uses abbreviations or codes. When it comes time to merge these
heterogenous databases, based upon the notion that each has a common county reference, any number
of problems can arise. Assuming the counties being referenced cover the same geographic area, at
the very least, there may be incompatibilities due to spelling or abbreviation differences. A standard
corporate identifier for county referencing will allow database users to build databases, and or make
them compatible, based upon some common ground.
7.5.2 Standard:
Agencies generating new databases which have information geographically referenced
to the county must adopt the standard two character alphanumeric code. The codes are outlined in
section 7.5.2.1 Agencies with databases in place prior to this standard are not discouraged from
maintaining those databases in their existing system, however they must disseminate their data to
others as per the standard set of county names and codes. In addition to the 18 county codes a 19th
code is provided for areas or activities carried on outside of the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia.
7.5.2.1 Description:
Table 7.5.2.1 provides a listing of the 19 standards names and associated two character alphanumeric
codes.
7.5.3 Additional Information:
Please refer to section 7.3 for a detailed description of the guidelines for database development, and
the coding rationale. A complete list of corporate code identifiers can also be found at the end of
Chapter 7.
Table 7.5.2.1
Standard Set of Counties by Name and Associated Codes
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County Name (Standard Reference):
[COUNTY_N]
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Standard County Code:
[COUNTY_CD]
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Annapolis County
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AP
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Antigonish County
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AT
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Cape Breton County
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CB
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Colchester County
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CO
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Cumberland County
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CU
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Digby County
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DI
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Guysborough County
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GU
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Halifax County
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HX
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Hants County
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HN
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Inverness County
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IN
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Kings County
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KI
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Lunenburg County
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LU
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Out of Province (Provided for reporting government activities
relating to locations outside of the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia.)
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OP
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Pictou County
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PI
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Queens County
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QU
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Richmond County
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RI
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Shelburne County
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SH
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Victoria County
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VI
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Yarmouth County
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YA
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Chapter 7 continued -
[Sections 7.0 to 7.2]
[Section 7.3]
[Sections 7.6]
Endnotes:
(4) A Reporting Region is defined as an aggregation of Nova Scotia counties into a larger area for
the purpose of analysing government business activities and social outcomes. Delineation of the
regional boundary would be dictated by the outer perimeter of each of the counties that comprise the
region. [ Priorities and Planning Secretariat, 1996]
(5) A County is defined as a court administrative region as established by provincial statute in the
eighteenth or nineteenth century, before the establishment of the rural municipalities. [Department
of Municipal Affairs, 1996]
 Chapter Seven Table of Contents
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