A feature thesaurus presents a typology of geographical features.These categories of geographic places thus help express the general nature of a given place. Overall, the VCP thesaurus constitutes a hierarchical array of conceptual categories that show the relationship between different types of places. It is centered on buildings, mostly in urban areas

. This feature thesaurus is under constant development and will soon be turned into a databse. For reference purposes, we have here pulled together some of the feature typologies that we use.

This is the typology used for the designation of the buildings in the GIS database. It shall be used to characterize the attributes of all buildings in each city. It is based on the Alexandria gazetteer and the classification system (industries) of the French INSEE (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques), with the addition of items pertaining to the history and structures of China and Vietnam.

Anyone can add items, but no one can change the level 1-3 categories. You can enrich Level 3 and above categories (see below how to proceed). If you feel the typology does not meet your needs for Level 1 & 2, consult with Christian before any change. Any major reshuffling of the typology will have a strong impact on all the data already entered in the GIS server.

As it is quite complex to modify the typology on line, if you have proposals about additions or modifications, simply download the Excel file attached here, make all proposed changes and mark each modified cell with a highlighted color. Then email the modified file to virtualshanghai(at)tge-adonis.fr

typology_buildings.xls

Please beware that there are 8 levels in this typology. On the wiki page, only the first five levels are visible. To see the three supplementary levels, use the moving bar at the bottom of the page (or download the Excel file above).