FEWS NET IDs
- Allison Nederveld
FEWS NET assigns unique FEWS NET identification numbers (FNIDs) to new administrative units. Having a unique identifier for every administrative unit allows the query of specific administrative units.
FEWS NET uses four types of shapefiles:
Administration Units (A codes)
Crop Regions (R codes)
Livelihood Zones (L code)
Food Security Classification Units (C codes)
All polygons are assigned a unique alpha-numeric FNID. The structure of these codes is explained below:
Code Element | Places Needed | Description |
|---|---|---|
ISO_CODE | 2 Digits | Standard ISO 2-digit country code |
Version (year) | 4 Digits | The effective year of the geographic unit set version |
Type | 1 Digit (letter) | A=Admin unit, C= Food security classification, L= Livelihood Zone, R= Crop region |
Unit level | 1 Digit | This is the location in the geographic unit hierarchy. For example, A3 is the type and level of an Admin 3 unit. |
Level codes | 2 Digits per level | Each level is represented by two digits (e.g., 00, 01, 13). At each level, each unit must have a unique ID. Apply this process for as many levels as necessary. See Example 1 below. |
Example 1: Level codes
To create the last part of an FNID, you will need to combine the codes for each relevant level. For example, if you are creating a code for an Admin 3 unit, you will need to combine codes for Admin levels 1, 2, and 3.
Note the following in the image below:
Every Admin 1 has its own ID. e.g., Tigray is 01 and Afar is 02
Every Admin 2 that falls within an Admin 1 has a unique ID. e.g., Zone 3 is 03, Zone 4 is 04.
ID numbering resets when a unit falls under a new unit at the previous level. e.g., Admin 2 ID go from 05 for Zone 5 to 01 for North Gondar because the Admin 1 unit changed from Afar to Amhara.
Admin 1 and Admin 2 codes combine to create an Admin 2 ID. e.g., for Oromia, the Admin 1 code is 03, the Admin 2 code is 10. These combine into an Admin 2 ID of 0310. This process should be applied to all necessary levels.
Example 2: Creating a C-type FNID in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, FEWS NET maps FIC data using the intersection of Admin 2 (districts) and livelihood zones. The FNIDs for these intersect units are structured as follows:
Country: AF
Year: 2018
Type: C
Level: 3
Kabul admin 2 code: 0101
LHZ code: AF08
These are combined to create the following FNID: AF2018C3010108.