Here are some reasons why I think that units of ~100 households are ideal. The post itself has more examples.
It’s best for detailed planning. There is a type of humanitarian/development work that tries to reach every household in a region. Think vitamin A supplementation, vaccination programs, bednet distributions, cash transfers, … For these, one typically needs logistics per settlement, such as a contact person/agent/community health worker, some means of transportation, a specific amount of bednets/simcards/..., etc.
Of course, the higher levels of the location hierarchy (health areas, counties, districts, …) are also needed. But these are often not sufficient for planning. Also note that some programs use other units of planning altogether (e.g., schools or health centers), but the settlement is common.
It’s great for monitoring. The interventions mentioned above typically want to reach 100% settlement coverage. It makes sense to monitor things at that level, i.e., ensure that each settlement is reached.
It’s great for research. Many organizations use household sampling surveys. These are typically clustered, which means that researchers select a given number of “enumeration units”, and then sample a fixed number of households in each unit. Ideally, these enumeration units have roughly even size, clear and well-understood boundaries, and known population counts. The type of locations that I’m aiming for would make good enumeration units.
This type of place name is used and known. For example, people in the region will know where “Kalamu” is. There will likely be a natural contact person, such as a village chief. There will be a road that leads there and a way to obtain transportation. One can ask questions like “is there cellphone coverage in Kalamu” and get a good answer. In the majority of cases, a place name is a well-understood, unambiguous and meaningful concept.
The final reason is about data availability: settlement names are usually the most detailed names available, and their names are reasonably stable and accepted. The data exists, we only need to collect and aggregate and publish it. In contrast, streets or buildings often don’t have names, so we can’t easily have more fine-grained data than place names. Plus, there are some solutions like Plus Codes for situations where address-like data are preferred.
Here are some reasons why I think that units of ~100 households are ideal. The post itself has more examples.
It’s best for detailed planning. There is a type of humanitarian/development work that tries to reach every household in a region. Think vitamin A supplementation, vaccination programs, bednet distributions, cash transfers, … For these, one typically needs logistics per settlement, such as a contact person/agent/community health worker, some means of transportation, a specific amount of bednets/simcards/..., etc.
Of course, the higher levels of the location hierarchy (health areas, counties, districts, …) are also needed. But these are often not sufficient for planning. Also note that some programs use other units of planning altogether (e.g., schools or health centers), but the settlement is common.
It’s great for monitoring. The interventions mentioned above typically want to reach 100% settlement coverage. It makes sense to monitor things at that level, i.e., ensure that each settlement is reached.
It’s great for research. Many organizations use household sampling surveys. These are typically clustered, which means that researchers select a given number of “enumeration units”, and then sample a fixed number of households in each unit. Ideally, these enumeration units have roughly even size, clear and well-understood boundaries, and known population counts. The type of locations that I’m aiming for would make good enumeration units.
This type of place name is used and known. For example, people in the region will know where “Kalamu” is. There will likely be a natural contact person, such as a village chief. There will be a road that leads there and a way to obtain transportation. One can ask questions like “is there cellphone coverage in Kalamu” and get a good answer. In the majority of cases, a place name is a well-understood, unambiguous and meaningful concept.
The final reason is about data availability: settlement names are usually the most detailed names available, and their names are reasonably stable and accepted. The data exists, we only need to collect and aggregate and publish it. In contrast, streets or buildings often don’t have names, so we can’t easily have more fine-grained data than place names. Plus, there are some solutions like Plus Codes for situations where address-like data are preferred.