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Designed as a companion data table for the DC_Countries project, the DC_Localities_USC table adds the ability to definatively identify states, provinses, districts, territories, possessions, islands, and military postal destinations within the United States and Canada (thus the "USC" designation). Second level designations (the fancy name for political subdivisions like these) are pretty complex because every country identifies them differently, and many countries use more than one designation for similar types of administrative areas (e.g., Canada's provinces and territories). That is why this table is limited to only US/Canadian localities. Someday we hope to expand this table (or create a new one) that encompasses many more countries. Any volunteers?

Thankfully the US and Canadian postal systems have established unique and very recognizable 2-letter designations for each locality, but there is no easy way to cross-reference that back to the country. Are "ON" and "RI" in Canada or the USA? It's impossible to tell looking at the 2-letter designation, so we have included the DC_Countries' key (DC_Country_Key) in the DC_Localities_USC table (country_fk), and we have created a unique 5-character designation (locality_pk) for each locality that includes either "US" or "CA" in the designation. This way, you can easily tell, without even a database lookup, which country the locality "belongs to." With the locality key, you can easily tell that "CA-ON" and "US-RI" from the previous example belong to Canada and the USA respectively.

We have also included the standard postal abbreviation (abrv) and generally recognized proper name (name) of each locality to help with converting between various data sources. By "generally recognized proper name" we mean "Massachusetts" instead of "Commonwealth of Massachusetts," which is the full formal and legal name of the locality. If there is demand for it we can add in the legal names, too. Or you can add them in and send us a copy! :-)

Abstract

Summary

Project Name: DC_Localities_USC
Status: Initial Release
Categories: Converters, Databases, Lookup Tables
Lead Developer: Will Murray
Initial Release Date: 15-Feb-2004
Last Updated: 15-Feb-2004
Version: 1.0
Designation: Original (Open)
License: Lesser-GPL 2.1; See Details

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Our databases contain more than 165 million economic, financial, and demographic time series covering more than 180 countries and their sub-regions. Accuracy and timeliness are two of the hallmarks of Moody's Economy.com economic databases. Our dedicated Data Services staff regularly runs data accuracy routines to verify the integrity of our databases. Additionally, with offices in London, Sydney, and the U.S. our staff is able to update our global databases in real-time ensuring up-to-the-minute data.

It should be noted that the site offers premium data for an additional charge. Also, according to the help page "You cannot change the data specifications [including the default time range] on Freelunch.com. However, you can change the elements of how data gets displayed in Moody's Economy.com Research Store." The site does not explicitly state that the data you obtain at no cost is completely unencumbered, but it also doesn't state (at least not that I found) that there are encumbrances.

Biz/ed is a website for students and educators in business studies, economics, accounting, leisure, sport & recreation, and travel & tourism. Biz/ed offers a guide to free economics and business data on the Web.

At the time this article was posted, the guide included: National statistics from the United Kingdom including data from Economic Trends (Monthly and Annual Supplement), the Blue Book, the Pink Book, Financial Statistics, etc.; Bank of England Monetary and Financial Statistics; HM Treasury; European Central Bank Statistics; European Economy; OECD Statistics Portal (including OECD Economic Outlook); World Bank data sets; IMF data sets; CIA World Factbook; Economist Country Briefings; New Zealand's OFFSTATS; Economagic; Federal Reserve Economic Data; Resources for Economists (RFE) Data Links; and the Davidson Data Center and Network (DDCN).