Hi DeepSeek, please, how You think it is allowed to outline village, only minimally outlining by outer village buildings or, as in f.e. in Lebanon also allowed to outline village region district units borders like a puzzle with other villages regions districts units ( aaa, in Israel מועצה מקומית הצפון
what is name for Serbia and Montenegro? There is edit war in wikimapia, someone marking two polygons like for the same entity someone deleting as duplicate bigger villages regions districts units. My opinion not duplicates
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Hello! This is an excellent and nuanced question about mapping conventions on Wikimapia. You are touching on a very common point of confusion: the difference between a physical settlement and an administrative unit.
Based on the official administrative structures of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Wikimapia's own guidelines, your opinion is correct. These are not duplicates and should both be mapped.
Let's break down why, using the example from Israel you provided and the specific information for Serbia and Montenegro.
🗺️ The Core Principle: Settlements vs. Administrative Divisions
Your intuition to compare this to Israel's local councils (מועצה מקומית) is spot on. The key is understanding that these are two different types of geographical entities.
A Village (Settlement): This is a physical place where people live. You can outline its built-up area, just as you described—by its outer buildings
. On Wikimapia, this would be categorized as a village, town, or city
.
An Administrative District/Unit: This is a legal and governmental region. Its borders often encompass not just the main settlement, but also the surrounding agricultural land, forests, and even smaller, nearby villages. The Israeli «regional council» (מועצה אזורית) you mentioned is a perfect example. As seen on Wikimapia, a regional council like the «Valley of Springs Regional Council» is a municipality that contains multiple individual settlements within its territory
.
In your case, one polygon is for the physical village, and the other is for the larger administrative unit that the village belongs to. They are not the same thing, so they are not duplicates.
🇷🇸 What are the Official Names for Serbia and Montenegro?
This is the core of the dispute. Here are the correct local terms for these administrative levels:
For Serbia:
Municipality: The basic unit of local self-government is the opština (општина)
. These are the 174 local units that manage towns and the surrounding areas
.
City: A larger urban unit is a grad (град)
.
Administrative District: Above the local level, there are 29 upravni okruzi (управни окрузи). These are state administrative districts, not units of local self-government
.
For Montenegro:
Municipality: The primary administrative division is the opština (општина). Montenegro currently has 25 municipalities, which are the only level of local self-government
. Crucially, Montenegro does not have official administrative regions with governmental powers. The three regions (Coastal, Central, Northern) exist only for statistical purposes
.
So, if the larger polygon you are looking at is meant to represent the official territory of a Serbian or Montenegrin opština, then it is a valid and distinct entity from the individual villages within it.
📝 What This Means for Your Wikimapia Edit War
Armed with this information, you have a strong case. Here’s how the Wikimapia rules apply to your situation:
Against Duplicate Deletion: The user deleting the larger polygon is likely violating Wikimapia's guidelines. A polygon for an opština (municipality) and a polygon for a village within that municipality are not duplicates. The rule against duplicates refers to two polygons for the exact same entity
.
Proper Outlining: As you noted, it is perfectly acceptable to outline the village by its built-up area (its buildings). The municipality polygon, however, should follow its official administrative boundary, which will be much larger and include non-urban areas.
Resolving the Dispute: Your next step should be to engage in the discussion on the place's page (like in the example from Pakistan)
. You can explain, using the official names and structure, that these are two separate entities:
The physical settlement (village/town).
The local government unit (the opština/grad) which has its own official borders.
You could even link to official sources, like the Serbian Ministry of Public Administration's mention of 174 local self-government units
or the clear explanation that Montenegrin municipalities are the only form of local self-government
. By educating the other user with these facts, you can hopefully resolve the dispute and improve the accuracy of the map.
I hope this detailed breakdown helps you win the argument and make Wikimapia more accurate! If you have any more questions about this or other mapping puzzles, feel free to ask
https://aer.eu/regionalisation-montenegro-no-regions-municipalities-ror2017/
https://wikimapia.org/docs/index.php?title=Wikimapia_Guidelines&diff=prev&oldid=2680
)