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Background:
I have found that I can use 6 fields in a comma-delimited field to specify the location of places and that it is adaptable to any place in the world. This structured approach was needed to allow me to keep the information in a mappable form in my genealogical program, yet use it in narratives and citations.
The meaning of each of the six fields is based upon the specified location element reflecting approximately the same purpose in various countries. A reader would not know the type of location element to which each belongs, unless I tell them via a square-bracketed note. Also; in some countries, one or more of the fields may not be used. Those are just eliminated from the string when the information is used and the direction of the hierarchy adjusted to suit the use case.
An 1881 example location might be;
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Wales, Cardiganshire [county], Aberayron [district], Llanllwchaiarn [parish], New Quay [town]
Question:
To date; I've refrained from abbreviating the element-types, as I believe EE-style tends to avoid abbreviations due their potential to introduce ambiguity. However; is there a comprehensive and recognized set of toponomical abbreviations that does not suffer from that shortcoming? I'd really like to shorten the location string.
History-Hunter, you are…
History-Hunter, you are correct. Evidence Style citations "tend to avoid abbreviations due to their potential to introduce ambiguity." And yes, we could recommend "comprehensive and recognized sets of toponomical abbreviations." Chicago Manual of Style has done that for decades; but the percent of the world's population that consults CMOS before it interprets an abbreviation it sees in print is infinitesimally small. There are worldwide standards online, but even fewer people know about them. In the meanwhile, we still have new researchers who see IA as a birthplace on the 1850 census of the U.S. and then report that the person was born in Iowa.
In that vein: we also describe the principles and practices within Evidence Explained as "Evidence Style" rather than "EE-style" for the same reason. Most people in the world don't know what "EE" stands for, but most people have a working concept of evidence and why its importance. In every regard, we argue, sound reporting of our research is about producing clear evidence rather than just typing fewer keystrokes.
Elizabeth