Talk:United Nations geoscheme

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[edit] Purpose of the 'UN Geoscheme'

I think it should be made clear in the article that the macroregions and subregions in this scheme were devised purely for statistical convenience, and are simply an arbitrary division of the world that facilitates statistical analysis. A full explanation is at [[1]]), NB especially the following statements:

The designations employed and the presentation of material at this site do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations.

Also, as far as I can see, the term used by the UN to refer to this scheme is 'Standard country or area codes and geographical regions for statistical use', not 'UN geoscheme', so I'm wondering why the article has that title. Dougg 00:48, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

The term 'UN geoscheme' is an in-house invention here at Wikipedia. This year has seen a long-running battle over the meaning of 'America' and the definition of 'North America', and related matters about continents and 'regions'. Like, is Mexico part of North America or Central America?

It seemed simplest just to take whatever the UN seemed to be saying, and refer to that as their POV. One day Israel is 'racist', the next day they're not, depends the General Assembly resolution on "Zionism is Racism". --Uncle Ed 01:02, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Okay, fair enough about 'geoscheme'. But surely the scheme presented here is not what the UN is saying, but is just one scheme that they use, this one being designed for statistical purposes? I think the article should make that clear, otherwise (as has happened in another article) people will get upset, thinking the UN is imposing a particular regional division on the world. Dougg 07:42, 30 July 2006 (UTC)


[edit] WHO gave these people the right to use the UN model as a standard

First of all we dont even know where the borders go between europe and asia as they are not official, thats why we dont even know which countries are transcontinental, which are completely european or not european at all. I understand that many people rely too much on the UN classification which is absolutely not correct. even though the UN has the power to recognize the borders of a sovereign state (in case of consensus among the majority of the member states) they have nothing to do with defining borders between the continents or inside a continent.WHat these borders are, is that they were created as an administrative entitiess for THE UN, and for the Functioning of the UN and thats exactly according to what they have different parts in the organization that have to "take care" of particular regions. There are many other organization who have devided continents or some regions with their own version of borders which does not mean that they are official, its purely for their organizational functioning. if the UN will call the council session where majority of the countries in the world/continent will agree on where borders go, in case of consencus(just like on this FORUM) they can make the borders official. Until then, if noone can provide any sources that says that the UN had a session where countries VOTED / AGREED on this issue, until there is a charter that says that the borders are official and etc.these borders do not set a standard for anyone in the world. they are purely for the UN in order to implement their administrative functions.(just like the US army has different commands that have to take care of particular region in the world.)
in this map all of those "transcontinental" countries are in the European command (which does not necesarily mean that they are european, though, because these are just the administrative entitys, for the functioning of the certain organization and etc. and nothing else)
We should not stop preffering the UN version over others for whatever reason it was done before--DScheffer (talk) 18:34, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Region and subregion pages

This page links to the region and subregion pages, but those words are very general geographic terms, not UN geoscheme specific, as this page seems to imply. I've been adding to the region page to make it more about the general geographic concept of "region". The subregion page seems more confusing than useful, especially if it is meant to be UN geoscheme specific. Perhaps the links on this page ought to be changed to Region (UN geoscheme) and Subregion (UN geoscheme) -- that is, if the topics actually require pages. Why not just describe the whole thing here on the UN geoscheme page? ..in any case, the changes being made over at region are going to make this page's first link ("The UN geoscheme divides the world into "macro regions"...) into a kind of change of topic. Just saying... Pfly 06:31, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Map w/ Translations

Has anyone put this map together with labels in different languages? I'm using it in Campaigns Wikia, and we have 10 languages. I'd like to use the same map for each of our Voters Guide pages, but I need the labels in the local language instead of English. Can anyone help? Chadlupkes 15:10, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge with Subregion

The Subregion page was almost entirely about UN "subregions", part of the UN geoscheme as described here. But the term "subregion" means a lot more than that, and over time the content of "subregion" has creeped and become increasingly messy and confusing. As I wrote above, last October, I don't see why the UN subregion concept requires its own page. Why not address the topic here instead? Pfly 08:16, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Actually, no: the 'subregion' article lists many sub/regions which may or may not equate with the subregions in this article. This article deals with a specific system (which is also used in various spots in Wikipedia), and I do not think the 'subregion' article (which is a far broader concept) has creeped so much that a merge is required. And even if that article does creep, what of it? After all, the concept of regions and subregions is somewhat tenuous, wherein the topic of this article is not. Quizimodo 09:12, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
I just didn't see the point of the subregion page at all. If subregions are a kind of region, then the page would make more sense being part of the region page. But since the subregion page was originally about the UN geoscheme subregion concept, I thought it should just be explained here instead of on its own page. In any case the subregion page is more confusing than helpful, whatever it is about. "Merging" with either this page or the region page would basically mean deleting the subregion page. Is there actually anything there that isn't already explained here or, thanks to creep, region? Anyway, it doesn't matter. Pfly 15:19, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History

What was this geoscheme proposed/set into force? What is its evolution (if any)? Please don't answer me here, expand the article instead. `'Míkka>t 00:05, 10 April 2008 (UTC)