This document defines the different location types that can be included in a display location string. The location types are Country, Region, City, and Other. Country refers to sovereign nations and territories. Region includes major subdivisions of certain countries. City encompasses incorporated and unincorporated settlements. Other contains additional concepts like Vatican City, constituent countries of the UK, and islands wholly contained within larger locations. The location types help structure how geographic information is presented.

1. Location Type
Whennot blank, LocationType indicates:
 That thisconcepthas beenchosenforinclusioninthe displaylocationstring
 Whetherthe conceptcorrespondstoone of the three IPTClocationfields(Country,Region,City)
or is insome othercategory
Onlyreal landareas onEarth are eligibleforaLocation Type (nofictional places,bodiesof water,or
placesnoton Earth),thoughtheydo not have to be inhabited.
LocationType is assignedonlytopresent-daylocations;the displaycannotaccommodate historical
names(SovietUnion,Rhodesia, Constantinople,etc.). Whensuchnamesare used askeywords,the
displayshowsthe present-dayequivalent.
Country
Everydisplaylocationshouldincludea“Country”(as definedbelow) asthe lastor onlyitem;nothing
shouldappearafterit.
Countrymore or lesscorrespondstothe listthat can be foundat the CIA WorldFactbook
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html),whichaccountsforall
landareas of the world.It includes:
 Sovereign andUN membernations(USA, France,Denmark)
 Dependentterritories(PuertoRico,FrenchPolynesia,Greenland)
 Areasthat are disputed(WestBank,Kosovo) orthathave no recognizedgovernment
(Antarctica)
Exceptionscanbe made.For example,currentlyVaticanCity (asovereignnation) walksuptoItaly,soit
has to be excludedfromthe Countrygroup(itstype is Otherinstead).Also,we are includingNagorno-
Karabakhas a disputedareaeventhoughthe CIA hasnotgivenititsown page (yet).
All sovereignnations,andalmostall otherareasthatqualifyforthe Countrytype,alreadyare inthe CV.
Anyadditionsmostlikelywill be forCountriesthatdonotexisttoday.
Region
“Region”consistsof majorsubdivisionsof fourselectedcountries:
 Statesof the USA
 Provincesof Canada
 Countiesandcouncil areasof the UK
 Provincesof China
Thislistiscomplete andwill notchange unlessthe regionsthemselveschange orwe decide toinclude
more or fewercountries.

2. City
“City”consistsof “populatedplaces”and“locales,”including:
 Incorporatedsettlements(cities,towns,villages)
 Unincorporated settlements notpartof anothercity(census-designatedplaces)
 Localities thathave nopermanentpopulation,butare namedand not part of anothercity (ghost
towns)
Unlike the otherLocationTypes,the Citylistwill continue togrow withoutlimit.
Citiesnormally are the smallestunitthatcan be includedin the display,exceptfora few special cases
(see following).
Other
“Other”consistsof additional conceptsthathave beenselectedforinclusioninthe displaylocationbut
that do notcorrespondto anyof the three IPTCfields.ThisLocationType canoccupy anypositioninthe
displaysequence. Included are:
 Vatican City (see above underCountry).
 The four constituentcountries of the UK (England,Scotland,Wales,NorthernIreland) (theUK
itself isaCountry).
 Islands thatare whollycontainedwithinthe place thatfollowsthem inthe display sequence
(Maui,Hawaii;Sicily,Italy).Thisdefinitionexcludes(forexample)BorneoandHispaniola,since
theyare notwhollycontainedwithinanythinglarger.Special exceptionshave beenmade for
Great Britainand Honshu;eventhoughthese are islands whollycontainedwithinacountry,we
omitthembecause theywouldapplythe vastmajorityof the time.Onlyindividual islandsare
included,notgroupsof islands (Canary Islands,Azores),unlessthe groupqualifiesundersome
othercategory (Hawaii,Maldives).
 Government-protectedareasatnational or state level:national parks,state parks,wildlife
refuges,national forests,Indianreservations,etc. Suchplacesalmost alwayshave thiskindof
genericphrase withintheirnames. Usuallythesetake the place of acity inthe display,butitis
possible foracityto be containedwithinone of these orvice versa,inwhichcase both are
displayed.Cityandcountyparksare excluded,asare reservesthatare privatelyownedandnot
administeredbyagovernment (suchasthose ownedbyThe Nature Conservancy).
 The boroughs of NewYork City (The Bronx,Brooklyn,Queens;the othertwoalreadyqualify
because theyare islands).
 French overseasdepartments that donot alreadyqualifyasislands(Guadeloupe,French
Guiana,Mayotte).Eventhoughthese areasare part of France,theyare notunderFrance inthe
CV because theylie outside Europe. We treatthemeffectively asif theywere Countries,
omittingFrance,sothat France doesnot have to be movedoutfromunderEurope.