- from User_talk:Tobias Conradi -

Hello Tobias,
Thought you'd like to know I've recently concluded a useful email correspondence with a member of staff at the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). In short, it appears the NGA uses a four to five level system not unlike NUTS+LAU; I've transcribed it from the table sent by email into the wikitable below:

 Feature Designation Code  Name                                  Text ADM1  first-order administrative division   a primary administrative division of a country, such as a state in the United States ADM2  second-order administrative division  a subdivision of a first-order administrative division ADM3  third-order administrative division   a subdivision of a second-order administrative division ADM4  fourth-order administrative division  a subdivision of a third-order administrative division ADMD  administrative division               an administrative division of a country, undifferentiated as to administrative level

The NGA leaves the definitions ("Text" in the above table) of ADMs 2-4 "intentionally vague... All we attempt to identify with the ADM is the hierarchical structure, and if there is no hierarchy, then the level of importance or size (with ADM1 being the largest)."

In a table of global country subdivisions, would you expect all those entities found in a particular column (i.e. at a particular level) to be similar in "importance or size" – presumably where "size" might mean area or population...?

Regards,