Canada admin level
Provinces and territories are tagged as admin_level=4. If a province is divided into major regions (larger than regional municipalities), those regions are tagged as admin_level=5.
Ontario has two tiers of municipalities. The upper-tier municipalities and single-tier municipalities are tagged as admin admin_level=6, while the lower tier municipalities are tagged as admin admin_level=8.
Quebec has Administrative Regions tagged as admin_level=5, which cover the entire province. Regional county municipalities (RCM or MRC) and Urban agglomerations, tagged as admin_level=6 do not cover the entire province. "Geographic" MRCs (MRCG) and Equivalent territories (TE) do cover the province when combined, but they are statistical tools and do not represent a real government and are therefore should not be included in OSM. Indian Reserves should be tagged with boundary=aboriginal_lands and can have any or no admin_level. Cities, towns, and other municipalities are tagged admin_level=8.
British Columbia has regional districts tagged as admin_level=6, within which incorporated municipalities are single-tier and tagged as admin_level=8. Unincorporated places located outside of the municipalities are grouped into "electoral areas", governed directly by the regional district. Incorporated municipalities must be relations, and should have one node with the "admin_centre" role, indicating the location of the municipal hall, be it a city hall, town hall, village hall, or district office. Electoral areas, all of which must be relations as well, are also tagged as admin_level=8, but do not use the "admin_centre" role. Municipalities enclaved within a single electoral area must have their borders tagged as part of the surrounding electoral area, but with Role:inner.
The remaining provinces use single-tier municipalities, which are tagged at admin_level=6. This includes regional municipalities (like counties) and local municipalities (like cities, towns, and sometimes villages). In these provinces, incorporated towns or villages are not part of the surrounding county, so their border should be tagged as part of the surrounding county with Role:inner. Populated areas in regional municipalities that are named and somehow recognized, but not incorporated (like hamlets), are tagged as admin_level=8.
Cities themselves are divided into boroughs, quarters, and neighbourhoods at admin_level=8, admin_level=9, and admin_level=10 respectively. The exact definition of these terms varies between cities, and might not match the terms used by the city itself. For example, the areas that the City of Calgary refers to as "neighbourhoods" are tagged as suburbs.
For more information, see w:Administrative divisions of Canada.
Rural areas
| admin_level=4 | admin_level=5 | admin_level=6 | 7 | admin_level=8 | unsorted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province or territory |
Administrative regions place=region |
Single-tier municipalities and upper-tier municipalities (place=county, municipality, city, district, town) |
N/A | Lower-tier municipalities and unincorporated places (place=town, village, hamlet) | |
| Alberta | N/A | incorporated municipalities (city, town, village, summer village, municipal district, specialized municipality) |
N/A | unincorporated places (hamlets, urban service areas) | |
| British Columbia | N/A | regional districts | N/A | incorporated municipalities (with admin_centre role used) and rural electoral areas (without admin_centre role) | |
| Manitoba | N/A | incorporated municipalities (rural municipalities, cities, towns, villages) |
N/A | unincorporated places (hamlets, northern communities, settlements) | |
| New Brunswick | counties | incorporated municipalities (city, town, village, regional municipality) local service districts |
N/A | unincorporated places | historic parishes |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Newfoundland, Labrador | incorporated municipalities (cities, towns) |
N/A | N/A | |
| Northwest Territories | administrative regions | municipalities (cities, towns, villages, hamlets, self-governing communities) |
N/A | designated authorities | |
| Nova Scotia | counties | incorporated municipalities (regional municipalities, towns, county municipalities, district municipalities) |
N/A | unincorporated places (villages, communities) | |
| Nunavut | regions | N/A | N/A | communities | |
| Ontario | regions | districts, upper-tier municipalities, single-tier municipalities | N/A | lower-tier municipalities (communities) | |
| Prince Edward Island | counties | incorporated municipalities (cities, towns, rural municipalities, resort municipalities) |
N/A | unincorporated communities |
historic lots |
| Quebec | administrative regions | regional county municipalities, urban agglomerations | some reserves | lower-tier municipalities (cities, towns, villages, townships) | |
| Saskatchewan | N/A | incorporated municipalities (cities, towns, villages, resort villages, rural municipalities, northern towns, northern villages, northern hamlets) |
N/A | unincorporated places (hamlets) | |
| Yukon | unincorporated divisions | incorporated Municipalities (cities, towns) | N/A | hamlets, localities unincorporated places |
Urban areas
In every province except Quebec suburbs, quarters, and neighbourhoods are tagged as admin levels 8, 9, and 10 respectively. However, these are usually not the terms officially used by cities. What a city calls a "neighbourhood" might be tagged as as suburb, quarter, or neighbourhood on the map. Use the chart below to decide how city subdivisions should be tagged.
| admin_level=6 | admin_level=7 | admin_level=8 | admin_level=9 | admin_level=10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| place=city | place=town | place=suburb | place=quarter | place=neighborhood | |
| AB | Calgary | neighbourhood | |||
| Edmonton | city district | community | neighbourhood | ||
| BC | city | town centre | neighbourhood | ||
| MB | Winnipeg | neighbourhood cluster | neighbourhood | ||
| NL | St. John's | neighbourhood | |||
| NS | Halifax | community | subdivision or locality | neighbourhood | |
| ON | Hamilton | community | neighbourhood | ||
| Ottawa | district | ward | neighbourhood | ||
| Toronto | administrative district | ward | neighbourhood | ||
| QC | urban agglomerations place=county |
municipalities place=city place=town |
arrondissement/borough place=suburb |
First nations
First nations reserves are tagged with boundary=aboriginal_lands. If a first nation government controls more than one reserve, the boundaries of each reserve should be part of two relations both tagged with boundary=aboriginal_lands. One relation is for the individual reserve, and the other relation is for the nation as a whole. For example, Alexander First Nation controls multiple reserves, so this relation is for Alexander Indian Reserve #134, while this relation is for Alexander First Nation as a whole.
To further differentiate them from the surrounding county, reserves may also be tagged with admin_level=6, but don't do this for land that is owned by the first nation but is still part of the regional municipality. A few very large self-governing regions are tagged as admin_level=5. Villages within first nations can be tagged as admin_level=8 if they are recognized by the first nation government.
Areas that are self-governing due to modern treaties and are not reserves can also be tagged as boundary=aboriginal_lands, but there are variations based on the specific treaty. For example, Tłı̨chǫ Lands are the area owned and administered by the Tłı̨chǫ government and is tagged as boundary=aboriginal_lands, while Wekʼèezhìı is a larger area in which the Tłı̨chǫ government has certain resource and land management authority and is tagged as boundary=special_economic_zone.