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Settlements of the European Community from UNEP/GRID-Geneva
Entry ID: GNV00160

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Summary

Abstract: The Settlements of the European Community (EC) data set shows the location of over 2000 cities in EC member states and includes information on certain characteristics of those cities. The data were collected by the Eurostat office of the EC on the basis of national censuses during 1981/82 and include for most countries all settlements having more than 20.000 inhabitants. Caution should be exercised when using the population figures, because the definition of 'settlement' can differ from country to country. If available, data on the morphological agglomeration or built-up area have been incorporated. In many cases, however, data are only available for administrative areas, which can be either larger or smaller but almost never coincide with the built-up area of a city. Comparison between countries also remains difficult because small discrepancies may result from differences in the census year and in the definition of the surveyed 'resident population'.

The Arc/Info point coverage provided to GRID by Eurostat is in the Lambert Azimuthal projection, which is the EC standard projection. GRID has re-projected the coverage to fit the Latitude/Longitude coordinate system. Furthermore, GRID has checked and edited the coverage, while data supplied by Eurostat for population size, names and surface areas have been added to assure greater consistency within the data.

The resulting EC Settlements data set, covering all 12 EC member states, contains 2055 cities as points and includes attribute data for the name and population size of the city in 1981. In Arc/Info uncompressed 'EXPORT' format, the coverage comprises 501 Kb of data. The coverage is called STECGLL and can be read from tape to disk using Arc/Info's TAPEREAD command, and subsequently be imported using Arc/Info's command:

IMPORT COVER STECGLL STECGLL.

The data set extends geographically from -25 40' 1'' West to 28 13' 59'' East Longitude and from 27 55' 1'' to 57 28' 44'' North Latitude. The coverage is also available in the original Lambert Azimuthal projection.

The source for the EC Settlements data set is: Commission of the European Communities, Eurostat - GISCO, Luxembourg.

The reference to the data set is: The CORINE Database Manual; Directorate General for the Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection, Commission of the European Communities, Version 2.2, Brussels, November 1989.

The Arc/Info attributes are explained below:

STECGLL.PAT ---------------- Item: Description: Values:

STSICD Settlement Site Code STSINM Settlement Site Name NURGCD NUTS Region Code see list (NUTS-III) STPUNR Settlement Population Number No. of inhabitants 1981, morphological agglomeration X-COORD X-coordinate of location in Longitude decimal degrees Y-COORD Y-coordinate of location in Latitude decimal degrees

(Redefined Items:) NURGCD0 NUTS Region Code level 0 country level STSICDAG Settlement Agglomeration Code short settlement code

Geographic Coverage

N: 58.0

S: 28.0

E: 29.0

W: -26.0

Location Keywords

CONTINENT > EUROPE

Science Keywords

HUMAN DIMENSIONS >BOUNDARIES >ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS    [Definition]

HUMAN DIMENSIONS >INFRASTRUCTURE >CULTURAL FEATURES    [Definition]

HUMAN DIMENSIONS >POPULATION >POPULATION SIZE    [Definition]

HUMAN DIMENSIONS >BOUNDARIES >POLITICAL DIVISIONS >COUNTRY BOUNDARIES    [Definition]

ISO Topic Category

BOUNDARIES
SOCIETY

Project

UNEP/GRID >UNEP/Global Resources Information Database [Information]

Keywords

ARC/INFO

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS

GIS

GNV00160

IDN_NODE GSFC/UNEP/GRID

MAPS/CHARTS

UNEP/GRID

Originating Center

UNEP/GRID-Geneva

Data Center

Global Resource Information Database - Geneva, Division of Early Warning and Assessment, United Nations Environment Programme [Information]
Data Center URL: http://www.grid.unep.ch/
Dataset ID: GNV00160

Data Center Personnel

Name: HY DAO
Phone: 41-22-917-82-25
Fax: 41-22-917-80-29
Email: Hy.Dao at unep.org
Contact Address:
Head of Metadata & Socio-Economics Unit
City: Geneva
Postal Code: 1219
Country: SWITZERLAND

Personnel

TYLER B. STEVENS
Role: DIF AUTHOR
Phone: (301) 614-6898
Fax: 301-614-5268
Email: Tyler.B.Stevens at nasa.gov
Contact Address:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Global Change Master Directory
City: Greenbelt
Province or State: MD
Postal Code: 20771
Country: USA

HY DAO
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: 41-22-917-82-25
Fax: 41-22-917-80-29
Email: Hy.Dao at unep.org
Contact Address:
Head of Metadata & Socio-Economics Unit
City: Geneva
Postal Code: 1219
Country: SWITZERLAND

Publications/References

Commission of the European Communities, Eurostat - GISCO, Luxembourg.

The CORINE Database Manual; Directorate General for the Environment,
Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection, Commission of the European
Communities, Version 2.2, Brussels, November 1989.

Creation and Review Dates

Last DIF Revision Date: 2012-11-08

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