Familypedia
Advertisement

UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, is a geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), a unit of the United Nations. UN/LOCODE assigns codes to locations used in trade and transport with functions such as seaports, rail and road terminals, airports, post offices and border crossing points. The first issue in 1981 contained codes for 8,000 locations. The version from 2011 contained codes for about 82,000 locations.[1]

Anglicized names[]

Beside the abbreviation, UN/LOCODE also defines a spelling for each location that can be written using only letters of the English alphabet. This was achieved by stripping off the diacritics from the romanized local name.[2]

Structure[]

UN/LOCODEs have five characters. The first two characters are letters. They code a country by the table defined in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2. The three remaining characters code a location within that country. Letters are preferred, but if necessary digits 2 through 9 may be used, excluding "0" and "1" to avoid confusion between "O" and "0" and between "I" and "1".

For each country there can be a maximum of 26*26*26 = 17 576 entries, using only letters, or 34*34*34 = 39 304 entries using letters and digits.

For the US, the 17 576 possible letter combinations have been almost exhausted. In 2006, the Secretariat added 646 entries to the 2006-2 issue of UN/LOCODE, in which the third position of 3-character codes is a digit from 2 to 9. The 2007 issue of UN/LOCODE contains 689 such US entries.

Loose consistency with existing IATA airport codes[]

For airports, the three letters following the country code are not always identical to the IATA airport code. According to the Secretariat note for Issue 2006-2, there are 720 locations showing a different IATA code.[2]

Official UN/LOCODE tables[]

UN/LOCODEs are released as a table. An individual revision is officially referred to as an "issue". A discussion of the table's structure follows.

Examples[]

Examples of locations as shown in Issue 2006-2[3]
Ch LOCODE Name NameWoDiacritics SubDiv Function Status Date IATA Coordinates Remarks
US NYC New York New York NY 12345--- AI 0401 4042N 07400W
= IN  MAA Chennai Chennai CH 12345--- -- 0401 1308N 08027E
DE BER Berlin Berlin BE 12345--- AF 0207 5231N 01323E
DE TXL Berlin-Tegel Apt Berlin-Tegel Apt BE ---4---- AF 9501
FR PAR Paris Paris 75 123-5--- AF 9501
GB PAR Par Par CON 1------- AF 9501
SE GOT Göteborg Goteborg O 1--45--- AI 0207 XWL
= SE Gothenburg = Göteborg Gothenburg = Goteborg
Explanations
  • IN MAA  for Chennai City(formerly termed as MADRAS during British colonization) in India. Subdivision is the Indian state of TamilNadu . Function: port, rail, road, airport, postal. IATA code is MAA. Coordinates: 13°08′N 80°27′E / 13.133, 80.45.
  • DE TXL  for Berlin-Tegel Airport in Germany. Function: airport. IATA code is TXL.
  • FR PAR  for Paris (city) in France. Subdivision is the French department of Paris (see ISO 3166-2:FR). Function: port, rail, road, postal.
  • SE GOT  for Göteborg (Goteborg without diacritics) in Sweden. Subdivision is the Swedish county of Västra Götaland (see ISO 3166-2:SE). Function: port, airport, postal. The IATA code of XWL indicated in the table is that of a train station in the city centre of Göteborg (though not the Central Station), while the IATA code for the main airport (Göteborg-Landvetter Airport) is actually GOT. It also has a separate reference entry showing an alternate spelling of Gothenburg.

Data fields[]

The fields are listed in the official order.

Ch (Changes)[]

A change from the previous issue is indicated by one of the following characters in the first column:[2]
X  Marked for deletion in the next issue
#  Change in location name (usually spelling)
¦  Other change in the entry (not location)
+  Entry added to the current issue
=  Reference entry
!  Retained for certain entries in the USA code list ("controlled duplications")

Locode[]

The code is represented with a space between the country code and the 3-letter element.

Name[]

The name of the location.

Name Without Diacritics[]

The name of the location, but all non-latin-base characters are converted.
Can contain ' e.g. L'viv

SubDiv (Subdivision)[]

The ISO 1 to 3 character alphabetic and/or numeric code for the administrative division (state, province, department, etc.) of the country, as included in ISO 3166-2/1998. Only the latter part of the complete ISO 3166-2 code element (after the hyphen) is shown.

Function[]

Each defined function gets a classifier; the most important are:

  • 1 = port (for any kind of waterborne transport)
  • 2 = rail terminal
  • 3 = road terminal
  • 4 = airport
  • 5 = postal exchange office
  • 6 = Inland Clearance Depot – ICD or "Dry Port", "Inland Clearance Terminal", etc.
  • 7 = fixed transport functions (e.g. oil platform)"; the classifier "7" is reserved for this function. Noting that the description "oil pipeline terminal" would be more relevant, and could be extended to cover also electric power lines and ropeway terminals.
  • B = Border crossing function

Status[]

Indicates the status of the entry by a 2-character code. The following codes are used at present:
  • AA: Approved by competent national government agency
  • AC: Approved by Customs Authority
  • AF: Approved by national facilitation body
  • AI: Code adopted by international organisation (IATA or ECLAC)
  • AS: Approved by national standardisation body
  • RL: Recognised location - Existence and representation of location name confirmed by check against nominated gazetteer or other reference work
  • RN: Request from credible national sources for locations in their own country
  • RQ: Request under consideration
  • RR: Request rejected
  • QQ: Original entry not verified since date indicated
  • XX: Entry that will be removed from the next issue of UN/LOCODE

Date[]

The date the location was added or updated: 0207 is July 2002, 9501 is January 1995, etc.

Observation: The edition published in 2008 contains for additions the value 0701, while in other cases the exact month is used like 9710, 0212.

IATA[]

The IATA code for the location if different from the second part of the UN/LOCODE.

Coordinates[]

Some entries have coordinates in the database. They are represented by two numbers: the first followed by either N or S, the second by either E or W.

Remarks[]

The remarks column can among other things contain a hint to what specifically was changed (See data field - "Change").

Errors[]

In 2006-07 IQ IRB for Irbil was added while IQ ABL Arbil with almost the same coordinates existed. In the 2007 edition IQ ABL gets marked for deletion and IQ EBL Erbil International Apt is added to the database, but with a different coordinates, reflecting the distance between airport and city. The error is to delete ABL and to insert IRB.}

Occasionally locations are listed twice; this is not necessarily an error. In issue 2006-1, ARSMC San Miguel de Tucumán (functions 2,3) was added while ARTUC Tucumán (function 1) already was in the list. The coordinates are with very little deviation the same. Also in 2006-1, ARSSJ San Salvador de Jujuy was added (function 4) while ARJUJ Jujuy (functions 1,2,3,5) already existed.

2007 added a 2nd code for Bánovce nad Bebravou.

SK  BAN Bánovce Nad Bebravou—3----- RL 0701 4843N 01815E
SK  BNB Bánovce nad Bebravou -23–6-- RL 0607 4843N 01815E

The 2007 edition contains character encoding errors in the .txt and .csv files. The name for the new code FR ONM Moёlan-sur-Mer does not show the ё correctly. In the .mdb file it is encoded correctly but the column "NameWoDiacritics" contains the name with diacritics .i.e. "Moёlan-sur-Mer". Users who cannot access .mdb files, cannot obtain from the website a correct list for their databases.

Another error from 2007 code list:

  DE  GXD Gross-Umstadt Gross-Umstadt HE—3----- RL 0201 4952N 00855E
+ DE  UMS Gross-Umstadt Gross-Umstadt HE -23----- RL 0701 4952N 00856E

US TRI + US BOS, same coor and within TRI different coor

US BFS Bristol                            VA RL -234---- 0212 3636N 08211W cf US JCI, US BSO, US TRI
US BSO Bristol Apt                        TN RL -234---- 0212 3635N 08210W cf US JCI Apt, US BSO Apt, US TRI Apt
US TRI Bristol-Johnson City-Kingsport Apt TN RL -234---- 0212 3635N 08210W cf US JCI, US BSO, US TRI
US TRI Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol Apt TN RL -234---- 0212 3635N 08210W cf US JCI, US TRI, US BSO
US TRI Kingsport-Bristol-Johnson City Apt TN RL -234---- 0212 3635N 08210W cf US JCI, US TRI, US BSO
US TRI Kingsport Apt                      TN AI ---4---- 0212 3632N 08233W cf US BSO Apt, US JCI Apt

2009-1[]

The 2009-1 release added several entries for Ukraine where the longitude is off by a few orders of magnitude. Ranging from 23230E to 38829E, they are outside what would constitute an eastern longitude. Ivano Frankovsk and Chuguyev have two entries now, along with Nikolayev. For all three, the romanized spelling varies.

+  UA IVA Ivano Frankivsk                   26–3----- RL 0901      4855N 24422E
   UA IFO Ivano-Frankovsk                       ---4---- AI 0001
+  UA CHU Chuguev                           63–3----- RL 0901      4950N 36411E
+  UA CGV Chuguyev                          63  -23----- RL 0901      4950N 03641E
   UA NLV Nikolaev                              ---4---- AI 0001
   UA NIK Nikolayev                             1------- AI 9501

Other entries with wrong coordinates:

+  UA BOH Bohorodchany                      26–3----- RL 0901      4848N 24321E
+  UA IZI Iziaslav                          7   --3----- RL 0901      5606N 26492E
+  UA KAM Kamianets-Podilskyi               68–3----- RL 0901      4841N 26345E
+  UA KHA Khartsyzk                         14–3----- RL 0901      4802N 38829E
+  UA KHM Khmelnytskyi                      68–3----- RL 0901      4950N 36411E
+  UA KIR Kirovohrad                        35–3----- RL 0901      4830N 32157E
+  UA KON Konstantinovka—3----- RL 0901      4722N 32170E
+  UA MIR Mironovka                         14–3----- RL 0901      4829N 38150E
+  UA MYR Myronivka                         32–3----- RL 0901      4939N 30590E
+  UA POL Nikopol                           12–3----- RL 0901      4734N 34240E
+  UA LAH Nova Vodolaha                     63–3----- RL 0901      4943N 35520E
+  UA OVI Ovidiopol                         51–3----- RL 0901      4616N 30260E
+  UA CRY Ripky                             74  -----6-- RL 0901      5148N 31600E
+  UA TAL Talne                             71–3----- RL 0901      4853N 30421E
+  UA TRU Truskavets                        46–3----- RL 0901      4917N 23300E
+  UA VOR Vorzel                            32–3----- RL 0901      5033N 30090E
+  UA YAV Yavoriv                           46–3----- RL 0901      4956N 23230E
+  UA ZHO Zhovkva—3----- RL 0901      5040N 23580E

For the US more codes with one letter and the number 9 alone were added. For the range H to M they are:

+  US R9  Harpersville                        VA—3----- RL 0901      4313N 07626W
+  US T9  Henrietta                           MO  -23----- RL 0901      3914N 09356W
+  US U9  Hugo                                MN  -----6-- RL 0901      4509N 09259W
+  US D9  Indian Head                         MD  -----6-- RL 0901      3836N 07709W
+  US F9  Lindenwood                          IL  -----6-- RL 0901      4203N 08901W
+  US T9  Mantua                              OH  -----6-- RL 0901      4117N 08113W
+  US W9  Matthews                            MO  -----6-- RL 0901      3645N 08935W
   US L9  Maylene                             AL—3----- RL 0701      3312N 08652W
+  US N9  Milan                               NM—3----- RL 0901      3510N 10753W
   US D9  Minidoka                            ID  -23----- RL 0701      4245N 11330W
   US C9  Mitchell                            MS—3----- RL 0701      3443N 08851W
+  US R9  Morgan                              PA  -----6-- RL 0901      3955N 07939W
+  US V9  Morrisville                         NJ—3--6-- RL 0901      3958N 07503W
   US H9  Mount Hope                          OH—3--6-- RL 0701      4037N 08147W
   US F9  Munroe Falls                        OH  -23----- RL 0701      4109N 08126W

Problems[]

Some entries do not have coordinates, so it is not clear where they actually refer to. If an IATA code changes, then the UN/LOCODE could also be considered to have changed.

MS MNI Montserrat Montserrat AI ---4---- 9601
  • Gerald's Airport from 2005, ICAO: TRPG
  • W. H. Bramble Airport until 1997, ICAO: formerly TRPM

For Kochi / Cochin the postal function has KOC (1998) and all other functions have COK (2003).

IN KOC Kochi  Kochi     AI ----5--- 9805
IN COK Cochin Cochin KL AA 1234-6-- 0307 0958N 07614E

Release history[]

Notes
+  Additions to the current issue
¦  Other changes
#  Change in location (spelling or other)
X  Entries marked for deletion in the next issue
Issue Date Entries Changes Notes
+ ¦ # X Total
2002-1 [4] 2002 35,460 2,503 597 100 24 3,224 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 34,766
2002-2 [5] 2002-07-29 [6] 36,005 1,235 252 93 6 1,586 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 35,977
2003-1 [7] 2002-12-20 [6] 38,000 707 523 2,779 2 4,011 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 36,678
2003-2 [8] 2003-08-01 [6] 40,000 2,402 1,099 283 324 4,108 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 39,078
2004-1 [9] 2004-02-18 [10] 47,725 1,958 694 208 167 3,027 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 40,712
2004-2 [11] 2004-07-27 [10] 50,000 1,707 87 26 5 1,825 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 42,252
2005-1 [12] 2005-02-28 [10] 50,000 2,291 196 46 16 2,549 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 44,538
2005-2 [13] 2005 50,000 929 178 55 8 1,170 Based on 2006-1, entries should be 45,451
2006-1 [14] 2006-06-09 [10] 48,553 3,110 42 43 11 3,206
2006-2 [2] 2007-04-30 [10] 54,705 6,400 79 15 157 6,651
2007 [15] 2008-03-20 [10] 58,875 4,327 753 153 24 5,257
2009-1 [16] 2009-09-23 [10] 71,665 13,271 0 0 8 13,279
2009-2 [17] 2010-02-08 [10] 76,375 4,377 347 85 165 4,974
2010-1 [18] 2010-10-29 [10] 79,973 3,800 121 32 55 4,008
2010-2 [19] 2010-12-18 [10] 81,464 1,538 23 0 47 1,608
2011-1 [1] 2011-09-22 82,358 567 654 1,819 477 3,517
2011-2 [20] 2012-02-28 [10] 83,287 1,655 0 7 0 1,662 loc112sec.pdf: "main code list has now over 84 000 entries"
2012-1 [21] 2012-09-14 [22] 88,300 5,311 495 142 3 5,951 The loc121txt/loc121sec.pdf says: "UN/LOCODE 2012-1 includes 83 287 entries."
2012-2 [23] 2013-03-07 [24] 2,299 479 221 116 3,115 The loc122sec.pdf says: "UN/LOCODE 2012-2 main code list has now over 90 000 entries."

See also[]

  • List of airports by IATA code
  • List of IATA-indexed train stations

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2011-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2011-09-22. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/loc111sec.pdf. 
  2. ^ a b c d "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2006-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2007-04-30. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc062sec.pdf. 
  3. ^ "UN/LOCODE (United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations), Issue 2006-2". 30 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070509020918/http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/. 
  4. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2002-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2002. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc021sec.pdf. 
  5. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2002-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2002-07-29. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc022sec.pdf. 
  6. ^ a b c "UN/CEFACT: News". UNECE. Archived from the original on 2003-08-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20031205053132/http://www.unece.org/cefact/. 
  7. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2003-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2002-12-20. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc031sec.pdf. 
  8. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2003-2" (PDF). UNECE. 1 August 2003. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc032sec.pdf. 
  9. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2004-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2004-02-18. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc041sec.pdf. 
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "UN/CEFACT: News Archive". UNECE. http://www.unece.org/cefact/cf_news_archive.html. Retrieved 2012-08-26. 
  11. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2004-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2004-07-27. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc042sec.pdf. 
  12. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2005-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2005-02-28. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc051sec.pdf. 
  13. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2005-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-03-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20060304114519/http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/loc052sec.pdf. 
  14. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2006-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2006-06-09. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc061sec.pdf. 
  15. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2007" (PDF). UNECE. 2008-03-20. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc07sec.pdf. 
  16. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2009-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2009-09-23. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc091sec.pdf. 
  17. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2009-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2010-02-08. Archived from the original on 2010-04-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20100414172935/http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/loc092sec.pdf. 
  18. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2010-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2010-10-29. http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/loc101sec.pdf. 
  19. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2010-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2010-12-18. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/Archive/loc102sec.pdf. 
  20. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2011-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2012-02-28. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/loc112sec.pdf. 
  21. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2012-1" (PDF). UNECE. 2012-09-14. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/loc121sec.pdf. 
  22. ^ "UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT)". UNECE. http://www.unece.org/cefact.html. Retrieved 2012-10-07. 
  23. ^ "Secretariat Note to the users of UN/LOCODE 2012-2" (PDF). UNECE. 2013-03-09. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/loc122sec.pdf. 
  24. ^ "UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT)". UNECE. http://www.unece.org/cefact/indexFrench.html. Retrieved 2013-03-09. 

External links[]


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at UN/LOCODE. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
Advertisement