Metadata
Variable names for level 0 (country)
| Variable | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| UID | Integer | Unique ID across all geometries at the highest level of subdivisions |
| ID_0 | Integer | Unique numeric ID for level 0 (country) |
| GID_0 | String | Preferred unique ID for level 0. ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code when available |
| NAME_0 | String | Country name in English |
Variable names for level i, where i can be 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5
| Variable | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GID_i | String | Preferred unique ID at level i. See the note below |
| ID_i | Integer | Alternative unique identifier at this level |
| NAME_i | String | Official name in Latin script |
| VARNAME_i | String | Variant name. Alternate names in usage for the place, separated by pipes | |
| NL_NAME_i | String | Non-Latin name. Official name in a non-Latin script (for example Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Korean) |
| HASC_i | String | HASC. A unique ID from Statoids |
| CC_i | String | Country code. Unique ID used within the country |
| TYPE_i | String | Administrative type in the local language |
| ENGTYPE_i | String | Administrative type in English (following commonly used translations) |
| VALIDFR_i | String | Valid from. Date from which the data is known to have started. Default: Unknown. Format is YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY |
| VALIDTO_i | String | Valid to. Date at which the data is no longer valid. Default: Present or Current. Format is YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY |
| REMARKS_i | String | Comments about edits, relevant to history. For example “This is a split from Matam region.” |
A note on IDs
GADM has always had multiple unique IDs associated with a record. In the future there will only be the GID, and associated tables that link the GID to other ID systems such as ISO, FIPS, and HASC.
The GID starts with the three letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code. If there are subdivisions these are identified by a number from 1 to n, where n is the number of subdivisions at level 1. This value is concatenated with the country code, using a dot to delimit the two. For example, AFG.1, AFG.2, …, AFG.n. If there are second-level subdivisions, numeric codes are assigned within each first-level subdivision and these are concatenated with the first-level identifier, using a dot as delimiter. For example, AFG.1.1, AFG.1.2, AFG.1.3, …, and AFG.2.1, AFG.2.2, …. And so forth for the third, fourth, and fifth levels. Finally there is an underscore followed by a version number appended to the code. For example, AFG.3_1 and AFG.3.2_1.
The GID codes are persistent after version 3.6 (there were errors in the codes in version 3.4). If an area changes, for example if it splits into two new areas, two new codes will be assigned, and the old code will not be used any more. The version only changes when there is a major overhaul of the divisions in a country, for example when a whole new set of subdivisions is introduced.