New York State Office of Cyber Security
Geographic Information Systems Clearinghouse
Four Character County Code Standard
Subject Area/Scope:
The standard provides a set of four-character codes to identify New York
State counties. The standard is simple and consistent, using
capitalized versions of the first four letters of each county's
name as the code. The standard is appropriate for use by all
users for either database attribution or file-naming.
Need:
A number of NYS agencies have adopted a number of differing three-character
alphabetic codes/abbreviations for counties. A problem of these
three character county codes is that a substantial number of NYS counties
have very similarly spelled names (ex: Schenectady, Schoharie,
Schuyler). This similarity at least partially explains the
variety in arbitrarily designed code sets each agency uses. Consequently,
this complicates interpretation of these codes, particularly when transferring
datasets between agencies. Adopting a standard four character
abbreviation that is consistently derived for all county names will
result in more efficient data transfer, improved accuracy, and enhanced
attribute value interpretation.
There are also a number of numeric-based county codes (e.g., SWIS, the recently withdrawn FIPS, and the GNIS codes under development) but these cannot be interpreted without a code list. This reduces efficient interpretation and can complicate file naming. The four-character county codes are NOT intended to replace these numeric-based codes.
Integration:
No additional budget or additional resources are foreseen to be needed
to adopt this standard. Organizations are encouraged to incorporate
and begin using this standard with their own data sets. To assist
adoption HTML, DBF, and text format versions of the county codes are
provided for download via the Spatial Reference Codes page of the NYS
Clearinghouse website (http://gis.ny.gov/coordinationprogram/workgroups/wg_1/related/spcodes/index.html).
Note: St. Lawrence County - On March 3, 1802 the New York State Assembly and Senate created the County and officially named it "St. Lawrence", not "Saint Lawrence" as confirmed by County officials at the St. Lawrence County Planning Office.
Four Character County Code Standard
Name |
CODE |
Name |
CODE |
Albany |
ALBA |
Niagara |
NIAG |
Allegany |
ALLE |
Oneida |
ONEI |
Bronx |
BRON |
Onondaga |
ONON |
Broome |
BROO |
Ontario |
ONTA |
Cattaraugus |
CATT |
Orange |
ORAN |
Cayuga |
CAYU |
Orleans |
ORLE |
Chautauqua |
CHAU |
Oswego |
OSWE |
Chemung |
CHEM |
Otsego |
OTSE |
Chenango |
CHEN |
Putnam |
PUTN |
Clinton |
CLIN |
Queens |
QUEE |
Columbia |
COLU |
Rensselaer |
RENS |
Cortland |
CORT |
Richmond |
RICH |
Delaware |
DELA |
Rockland |
ROCK |
Dutchess |
DUTC |
St. Lawrence |
STLA |
Erie |
ERIE |
Saratoga |
SARA |
Essex |
ESSE |
Schenectady |
SCHE |
Franklin |
FRAN |
Schoharie |
SCHO |
Fulton |
FULT |
Schuyler |
SCHU |
Genesee |
GENE |
Seneca |
SENE |
Greene |
GREE |
Steuben |
STEU |
Hamilton |
HAMI |
Suffolk |
SUFF |
Herkimer |
HERK |
Sullivan |
SULL |
Jefferson |
JEFF |
Tioga |
TIOG |
Kings |
KING |
Tompkins |
TOMP |
Lewis |
LEWI |
Ulster |
ULST |
Livingston |
LIVI |
Warren |
WARR |
Madison |
MADI |
Washington |
WASH |
Monroe |
MONR |
Wayne |
WAYN |
Montgomery |
MONT |
Westchester |
WEST |
Nassau |
NASS |
Wyoming |
WYOM |
New York |
NEWY |
Yates |
YATE |