Governmental Jurisdiction

Governmental Jurisdiction: Why not use Location for this

2008-01-30T00:15:08.0000Z

Sure; San Francisco is indeed a different Location from the Sunset District. But San Francisco is also a Governmental Jurisdiction, and so has a “Government Positions” property and a “Government Bodies” property. The Sunset District is not a Governmental Jurisdiction, and so does not have those properties, which would not be meaningful there.

By analogy, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Film Actor and a Politician, as well as a Person. It would not make sense to have “Film Performances” or “Government Positions Held” properties on Person, as they would go unused for most people. So we make special types, which include Person. Similarly,”Government Bodies” does not make sense as a property for Coney Island, the Atlantic Ocean, or my house. The property does make sense for cities, states, provinces, nations, etc., so we have a type for modeling those entities.

Does that help?

Governmental Jurisdiction: Why not use Location for this

2008-01-29T16:18:32.0007Z

Got it - but in theory couldn't you create a location for each instance of these that are different. The name of the location would describe what it was. Or to use my other term Electoral District could have a property called Jurisdiction, which would point to a location that describes the area covered.

I know this may be too much of an effort to "normalize" the structure instead of just free flowing with types and sub types. I'll get the hang of this yet.....

Governmental Jurisdiction: Why not use Location for this

2008-01-29T05:13:30.0000Z

The answer lies in reciprocal properties. A Governmental Jurisdiction has a government body (or bodies) and government offices associated with it. San Francisco has a city & county government, a mayor, a sheriff, and a board of supervisors; the Sunset district of SF has none of those things, nor does 631 Howard St. in San Francisco, so a Governmental Jurisidiction allows us to be more precise about what properties a place has that may not be applicable to every Location.

Governmental Jurisdiction: Why not use Location for this

2008-01-29T01:36:02.0012Z

Why can't location be used to represent an area of jurisdiction?

Ray