Australia
The Urban Centre data in Level 4 will not be contiguous, nor will its boundaries form part of the hierarchy or align with the boundaries from other layers. Urban Centre polygons may be bigger than Suburbs and Localities (for example, one Urban Area may contain multiple suburbs). One Urban Area may also contain multiple Local Government Areas (LGAs) but may also be only a part of another LGA. Level 5 Suburb and Localities data will be contiguous, however. Based on local knowledge, these are known to be the next level of detail below Urban Centres. This is information is called out not just because of hierarchy concerns, but because normally a contiguous layer would not be placed below a sparse coverage layer.
Canada
Level 5 in Canada provides localities modeled from postal areas. These will not have a consistent hierarchy with higher-order boundaries.
Japan
Names are in Kanji. Alternate names in Kana are not currently available with Romanized characters.
There are many ways in which municipalities and cities in Japan are structured. This can be confusing and difficult to model into cohesive layers. Currently, municipalities that make up designated cities, towns, wards and Tokyo’s special wards (Ku) are contained in the Municipality layer. A layer that merges districts with designated cities, Tokyo, and maintains other surrounding towns and municipalities in level 4 will be included in a future release.
Hierarchy:
- Level 1 – Country
- Level 2 – Prefecture
- Level 3 – No data
- Level 4 – Designated City
- Level 5 – Municipality
- Level 6 – Machi-oaza
United States
US Territories (with exception of Puerto Rico) are provided as their own countries.