Geographic Unit Sets | FEWS NET Help Center

This page outlines the processes for adding and managing Geographic Unit Sets in FDW, including setting up new spatial Source Documents and Geographic Unit Sets, and managing Geographic Unit Set Versions.

Spatial Source Documents

Each Geographic Unit Set is assigned to a Data Source Document. Before adding a new Geographic Unit Set, you must create a new Source Document:

To access the Add Source Document screen, go to Metadata Management > Warehouse > Source documents.
Select Add Source Document and complete the all required fields. Key fields include:
1. Source Document: Name the Source Document in relation to the Document Type field, as described in the table below.
2. Document Type: Select the Document Type that describes the geographic unit set as detailed in the table below. You can also review the list of Geographic Unit Set Document Types from the FEWS NET API: https://fdw.fews.net/api/documenttype/?data_domain=GeographicUnitSet.
3. See Source Organizations and Source Documents for details on additional fields.

Mixing different data types, such as administrative unit boundaries and administrative unit definitions, under the same Source Document is not recommended. Create a separate Source Document and Geographic Unit Set for each type of data.

Spatial Document Types

Document Type name	Description	Source Document naming convention
Border points		[Data Source Organization], [Country], Border Points
Crop reporting administrative unit boundaries	Administrative units adjusted to be used for crop data reporting.	Crop production level unit boundaries, [Country]
Crop reporting administrative unit definitions	Administrative unit definitions adjusted to be used for crop data reporting (do not contain spatial data).	Crop production level unit definitions, [Country]
FEWS NET administrative unit boundaries	FEWS NET approved administrative unit boundaries.	[Data Source Organization],[Country], Administrative Boundaries
FEWS NET administrative unit definitions	FEWS NET approved administrative unit definitions (do not contain spatial data).	[Data Source Organization], [Country], Administrative Definitions
Food security classification units	Food security classification units including admin and livelihood zones as well as their combination. Also includes remote monitoring units.	[Data Source Organization], Food Security Classification Units
Health zones		Health zones, [Country]
IDP camps		[Data Source Organization], [Country], Settlements of Displaced Populations
Livelihood zone boundaries		[Data Source Organization], [Country], Livelihood Zones
Markets		[Data Source Organization], [Country], Markets

Adding Geographic Unit Sets

Once the Source Document has been created, you can add a new Geographic Unit Set:

Go to Metadata Management > Spatial > Geographic Unit Sets.
Select Add Geographic Unit Set and complete the fields as follows.
Name: Best practice is to use the same Source Document name for the Geographic Unit Set name.
Country: Select the country from the dropdown list.
Data Source Document: Select the Source Document specific to the data.
Description: Provide extra information if necessary.
1. When possible, include this information in the Source Document description field instead.
Select Save.

Managing Geographic Unit Set Versions

FEWS NET maintains multiple Geographic Unit Set Versions corresponding to different periods of time for administrative boundaries, livelihood zones, food security classification units, and crop production reporting regions. Other unit types, mainly markets and border points, are not typically given a Start or End Date.

Add a Geographic Unit Set Version

To add a Geographic Unit Set Version, follow these steps:

Go to Metadata Management > Spatial > Geographic Unit Set Versions.
Select Add Geographic Unit Set Version and complete the fields as follows.
Geographic Unit Set: Select the appropriate Geographic Unit Set to autopopulate the Name, Country, and Data Source Document fields.
Start: The first date that this unit set version is used. Typically set as <year>-01-01. For example, the 2016 Mali Administrative Boundaries the start date is 2016-01-01.
End: The last date that this unit set version was used. For the 2016 Mali Admin Boundaries, the end date could be 2017-12-31 if they end the following year. If there is no newer version, the End will be left blank.
Description: Enter additional information (optional).
File: Upload the file, such as a ZIP file for geographic boundaries or a CSV file for geographic definitions.
Metadata: Enter ISO 19139 Geographic Information Metadata XML (optional).
Select Save.
Review the Layers section at the bottom of the page for accuracy.

Make sure your column headings are spelled correctly to avoid upload errors. See Geographic Unit Set Versions: Administrative and Crop Production for detailed guidance on file preparation.

View and modify Geographic Unit Set Versions

Updates to existing Geographic Unit Set Versions in FDW may occur under the three scenarios described in the table below.

	Updates	Approach
Scenario 1	The geography (shape) and/or some of the informational attributes have changed. The FNIDs and names have not changed.	Upload the shapefile directly to the existing unit set version by locating the unit set version on the FDW, selecting the new zipped folder and saving the unit set version.
Scenario 2	The FNIDs and/or names have changed, but the Geographic Unit Set Version does not have any data linked to it.	In these cases, existing features may need to be deleted so they are not in conflict with new features being added. Coordinate with the FEWS NET Hub to ensure the deletion of features will not have negative downstream effects.
Scenario 3	The FNIDs and/or names have changed and the Geographic Unit Set Version has data linked to it (e.g. acute food insecurity classifications or crop production data).	If data is linked to a Geographic Unit Set Version, be sure to coordinate with the Hub before trying to change FNIDs or names. The Hub will need to adjust linkages in the database to ensure the linked data is not lost.

You can view and modify a Geographic Unit Set Version by selecting it from the admin screen found at Metadata Management > Spatial > Geographic Unit Set Versions.

You can also view and modify all Geographic Unit Set Versions for a given Geographic Unit Set from the Change Geographic Unit Set screen.

Go to Metadata Management > Spatial > Geographic Unit Sets.
Use the search and filter options to find the Geographic Unit Set.
Click on the Geographic Unit Set name to go to the change screen.
Scroll down to the Versions section.
View or modify the Start and End dates, Description, and File.