Template talk:Infobox Town DE

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Sample infobox

Coordinates: 51°31′N, 6°20′E

Geldern
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Administrative region	Düsseldorf
District	Cleves
Population	34,000 source (2005)
Area	96.91 km²
Population density	351 /km²
Elevation	27 m
Coordinates	51°31′ N 6°20′ E
Postal code	47591-47608
Area code	02831
Licence plate code	KLE
Mayor	Ulrich Janssen (CDU)
Website	geldern.de

The wikicode below will create the Infobox at the right:

{{Infobox Town DE
  |name = Geldern
  |name_local =  
  |image_coa =  Wappen Geldern.jpg
  |image_map =  Lage der Stadt Geldern in Deutschland.png
  |state = [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]
  |regbzk = [[Düsseldorf (region)|Düsseldorf]]
  |district = [[Cleves (district)|Cleves]]
  |population = 34,000 
  |population_as_of = 2005
  |population_ref =  [http://www.lds.nrw.de/statistik/datenangebot/ source] 
  |pop_dens = 351
  |area = 96.91 
  |elevation = 27
  |lat_deg = 51
  |lat_min = 31
  |lat_hem = N
  |lon_deg = 6
  |lon_min = 20
  |lon_hem = E
  |postal_code = 47591-47608
  |area_code = 02831
  |licence = KLE
  |mayor = Ulrich Janssen ([[CDU]])
  |website = [http://www.geldern.de/ geldern.de]
}}

[edit] Sample infobox with optional imperial measurements

Coordinates: 48°38′N, 9°1′E

Holzgerlingen
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Administrative region	Stuttgart
District	Böblingen
Population	11,642 (2004)
Area	13.39 km² (5.17 mi²)
Population density	869 /km² (2,252/mi²)
Elevation	475 m (1,558 ft)
Coordinates	48°38′ N 9°1′ E
Postal code	71084-71088
Area code	07031
Licence plate code	BB
Mayor	Wilfried Dölker
Website	holzgerlingen.de

The wikicode below will create the Infobox at the right:

{{Infobox Town DE
  |name = Holzgerlingen
  |name_local =  
  |image_coa =  Wappen Holzgerlingen.png
  |image_map =  Karte_Holzgerlingen_Deutschland.png
  |state = [[Baden-Württemberg]]
  |regbzk = [[Stuttgart (region)|Stuttgart]]
  |district = [[Böblingen (district)|Böblingen]]
  |population = 11,642 
  |population_as_of = 2004
  |population_ref =   
  |pop_dens = 869
  |area = 13.39
  |elevation = 475
  |pop_dens_imp = 2,252
  |area_imp = 5.17
  |elevation_imp = 1,558
  |lat_deg = 48
  |lat_min = 38
  |lat_hem = N
  |lon_deg = 9
  |lon_min = 1
  |lon_hem = E
  |postal_code = 71084-71088 
  |area_code = 07031
  |licence = BB
  |mayor = Wilfried Dölker
  |website = [http://www.holzgerlingen.de/ holzgerlingen.de]
}}

[edit] Purpose and use of the template

This template has replaced the various infoboxes that were in use for German cities and towns (see e.g. the article histories of Düsseldorf, Bamberg, Kaiserslautern, Kiel, Rostock, Mannheim, Munich and Witten (Germany)).

[edit] The used fields

• name: the name, as commonly used in English
• name_local: the (full) German name (leave blank if it's the same as "name")
• image_coa: image file name of the coat of arms
• image_map: image file name of the location map
• state: English name of the state the town is in
• regbzk: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony have Regierungsbezirke. Leave blank for other states
• district: English name of the district the town is in. For district-free cities: [[List of German urban districts|urban district]].
• population: census data
• population_as_of: year of the census
• population_ref: source of the population data (for links see [1])
• pop_dens: population divided by area
• area: in km²
• elevation: in m above mean sea level (for town centre)
• pop_dens_imp = population divided by area per mile squared
• area_imp = in miles²
• elevation_imp = in feet above mean sea level (for town centre)
• lat_deg, lat_min, lat_hem, lon_deg, lon_min, lon_hem: coordinates
• postal_code: one number for small towns, a range for bigger ones
• area_code: telephone area code
• licence: car licence code
• mayor: maybe leave this one out for smaller towns
• website: link, see example

[edit] Information deliberately left out of this template

• Address of the city administration
• E-mail addresses of the city administration, tourist information etc.
• Community Identification Number
• ISO 3166-2:DE (for states, not towns)
• Old postal codes (before reunification)
• Old car licence codes
• Subdivisions
• City flag

[edit] Discussion

Please leave your remarks about this template below. Markussep 19:24, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Hi Teutsch, I see you're working on this template. About the width: I think 350px (was 300px)is a bit too wide, is that standard (the infobox river is also 300px)? About district-free cities: I wrote none at Dresden, Aachen and Cologne, you wrote [[Districts of Germany|Kreisfreie Stadt]] at Bonn. If you think the latter is better, we can make it a guideline (see the used fields above). Markussep 15:17, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

I thought 350px fits better with the text. Furthermore, 350px was used in a similar table for the city of Bonn. If you want to reduce it to 300px it's no problem as long as the text in the cells remains legible... mr-t 16:54, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

300px works on my home PC. The text is not very wide ("Administrative region" is the widest), let me know if it falls off the line in another browser. How about the district free cities? Markussep 17:36, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

This source for population figures field looks like a good idea. I'd suggest to use the plain link:

population_ref = http://www.lds.nrw.de/statistik/datenangebot/amtlichebevoelkerungszahlen/rp3_juni05.html

and to use it in the template like this:

<small>[population_ref source]</small>

Add it to the example on this talk page once you're satisfied with it. Too bad we have to add this field to all articles that already have the infobox now, because the software doesn't understand absent fields. Any idea how to fix that with little effort? Markussep 13:28, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

Three suggestions for improvement:

• Drop the word "federal" from "federal states". It's a persistent mistranslation that is characteristic of English texts drafted by native German speakers, but is not correct. The primary meaning of "federal state" in English is a "Bund", vide discussion elsewhere in Wikipedia. In Australia/India/USA, the term is plain "state", which is certainly sufficient here as the context is unambiguous.
• In the case of "area code", you have the reverse problem. The context is ambiguous. It's not clear that the phone system is meant. Other country sections of Wikipedia use "Dialing code" which is clear in meaning.
• The mayor's name is too much of a good thing. This information changes too often for an encyclopedia article. The infobox is setting up a set of basics you want in town articles. Contributors are not likely to keep this info up to date for all of the hundreds of German towns. Let them put the mayor's name in the text if they want it. I'd nominate transferring "mayor's name" to the category "Information deliberately left out of this template."

--PubliusTacitus 20:31, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Missing fields

Why not community identification number and seats in town council?

I didn't include them because I think they're both not very interesting. If you want to know that number, you can look it up via Community Identification Number. Numbers of seats in town councils: probably via the municipality internet sites. I don't think this infobox (or wikipedia) is the place for that kind of local, specialistic information. Markussep 15:57, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

These fields were the ones that were left over when I converted the Ahrensburg info box to use this template. I guess that the information, still visible in the remains of the old info box, can simply be removed or added to a section (politics maybe?) within the article. How is this done on the articles on other towns? I also think it's good to aim for a unified approach! 19:50, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

For some of the cities I converted I have thrown information out. If someone thinks this was valuable, they could add it, or updated information from German wikipedia. They have a lot more (also unemployment rates, age distributions, addresses, composition of the town council), but that's because it's about Germany. Personally, I think that's only interesting on larger levels (states), maybe also for the bigger cities. Markussep 13:06, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Region

We need for the coordinates also the Info about the region. Region is not only "EU". DE for Germany and DE-HE for Hesse! So we can better sort the coordinates for Google Earth or other applications. -- Stefan Kühn 10:48, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

What do you mean exactly? The way it is now, clicking the coordinates in the infobox links you to a Europe-specific "Map sources" page. I don't think there is a Germany-specific "Map sources" page (except the ones in German). Markussep 16:31, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Indeed, as Wiki:Map_sources/DE is in German, I changed the region to "EU". -- User:Docu

[edit] Avoiding meta-templates

An equivalent version of Infobox Town DE, using no meta-templates, is demonstrated here. — FREAK OF NUR_xTURE (TALK) 08:06, Jan. 11, 2006

Looks similar except that the coordinates "N/A" thing doesn't work. Personally, I think "N/A" is something worth having or something "not to avoid". -- User:Docu

[edit] Complement EU

On December 16, 2004, The World Factbook, a publication of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) added an entry for the European Union. [2] According to the CIA, the European Union was added because the EU "continues to accrue more nation-like characteristics for itself". Their reasoning was explained in this small statement in the introduction:

The evolution of the European Union (EU) from a regional economic agreement among six neighboring states in 1951 to today's supranational organization of 25 countries across the European continent stands as an unprecedented phenomenon in the annals of history... ... for such a large number of nation-states to cede some of their sovereignty to an overarching entity is truly unique... ... the EU ... has many of the attributes associated with independent nations: its own flag, anthem, founding date, and currency, as well as an incipient common foreign and security policy in its dealings with other nations. In the future, many of these nation-like characteristics are likely to be expanded. Thus, inclusion of basic intelligence on the EU has been deemed appropriate as a new, separate entity in The World Factbook. However, because of the EU's special status, this description is placed after the regular country entries.

I might add that EU citizens have EU- numberplates, -passports, drivinglicense, the EU institutions, and regular election. I hope you support the small extension I made... all the best Lear 21 18:31, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Oppose The EU is not a country, but a political organization. Do we want to include G8, NATO etc in the box on towns as well? --Bob 22:21, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Coordinates

The coordinates seem to be appearing above the infobox, as well as inside it. Could someone remedy this, please? Noisy | Talk 08:16, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

There is a problem with co-ordinates. The co-ordinates at the top are only visible with certain Wikipedia skins, but having them up there appears to have extra benefits (User:Dschwen/WikiMiniAtlas). Not sure how to solve this. - 52 Pickup 18:36, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why no repres_image?

So far, I have not found any entries that make use of the repres_image field. Is there a reason for this? I have recently been experimenting with a couple of city infoboxes and was surprised to find that this is not in use. From my tests on the Cologne infobox, it is clear that this field should be made use of. - 52 Pickup 15:06, 12 December 2006 (UTC)