Designation codes

Named features in the database are identified with designation codes the first letter of which will give the most general type of the feature:

• a = names of administrative units (counties, parishes, etc.)
• c = names of cultural features (fields, grasslands, haylands)
• f = names of flora and landscape (forests, mires, etc.)
• h = hydronyms (names of water bodies)
• o = oronyms (names of relief: mountains, valleys, etc.)
• p = populated places (incl. towns, farms, etc.)
• r = names of regions (islands, capes, reserves, historical regions, etc.)
• u = urbonyms (names of urban areas: streets, parks, also organizations, localities typically in cities)
• x = other names (constructions, buildings, roads, bus stops, etc.)

For detailed list of the designation codes see the appropriate table (in .pdf-format), most frequent ones are as follows:

• a1 = 1st-order administrative unit (in Estonia: county)
• a2 = 2nd-order administrative unite (in Estonia: urban or rural municipality)
• a9 = other division (in Estonia: church parish)
• c1 = field
• f1 = forest
• f2 = mire
• h1 = sea
• h2 = lake
• h31 = sound, strait
• h32 = bay, gulf
• h4 = river
• o1 = mountain, hill
• o2 = valley
• p0 = populated place (general type)
• p1 = urban settlement
• p2 = rural settlement (in Estonia: for unofficial settlement units only)
• p20 = official populated place (in Estonia: inner-parish town, borough, small borough, village)
• p31 = locality (smaller place than village or city district)
• p32 = part of populated place
• p4 = farm, rural living house
• r1 = island
• r21 = cape
• r22 = peninsula
• r3 = natural region
• r5 = other region
• u01 = city district
• u02 = city quarter
• u1 = street, square (address unit)
• u2 = minor place (non-address unit)
• u20 = minor place with an official name
• u3 = institution, company, organization
• x1 = construction
• x2 = building (commercial)
• x21 = church
• x3 = road, way
• x4 = station or stop (x41 = railway station or stop; x4bu = bus stop, etc.)

NB! Urban (p1) and rural (p2) populated places are differentiated only in Finland, Russia and some former Soviet republics; in other countries populated places have generally a code p0.

In addition to designation codes some features may contain also the ID codes of national listings. These always begin with #. The first character after that will denote the type of the listing.

• #H = index of administrative and territorial units of Estonia (official)
• #J = listing of Estonian lakes
• #M = listing of navigation aids (official)
• #S = listing of sea islands (according to A. Loopmann)
• #T = listing of roads (official)
• #V = listing of rivers and other streams (official)

How it is possible to query more specific feature types?

The query form contains the most used feature types that should be adequate for the vast majority of queries. It was not possible to include all types and sub-types as it would have made the form unpractical. However, it is possible to inquire more specific types by editing the query lines and modifying the element named "nimeliik".

Example. If you query 1st-order administrative divisions of Russia, you will have in the output oblasts (code a1), republics (code a1re), etc. In order to have in the output only the republics, the query line in the browser location/address window (URL: /cgi-bin/mkn.cgi?..) should be modified replacing nimeliik=a1 by nimeliik=a1re, and then push ENTER. The output would then be only republics. Unfortunately it would not be possible to select in the output only oblasts (a1) as they do not have any specifying extensions.