For context, see previous posts:
Below is a list of useful standards and commonly used codes for a few entities you may encounter in data projects. I’ve tried to focus on the most commonly used codes, rather than making the lists overly comprehensive. Each entity comes with it’s own set of challenges, and each identifier with its pros and cons. Note that some codes are only available under commercial terms.
- Airlines: IATA and/or ICAO codes
- Airports: IATA codes, ICAO codes
- Books: International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
- Car manufacturers: World Manufacturer Identification (WMI)
- Cars: License plate numbers (and country) or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
- Companies: This is a messy area, and no good, global system exists. Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is an emerging scheme, but its coverage is very small; Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) is a proprietary system but widely use and with very broad, global coverage; various national ID schemes exist in varying degrees of openness; Stock ticker symbols may work for publicly traded companies, but tend to be proprietary as well (and there is not always a 1-to-1 relationship between a company and a traded security)
- Countries: ISO-3166
- Currencies: ISO-4217
- Geographical regions: ISO 3166–2 and ISO 3166–3; Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS, no kidding) for Europe; ZIP-codes for the USA and other postal-codes elsewhere. A wide variety of regional codes exist and may be applicable based on scope and use case.
- Industries: International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), North American Industry Classification System (NAISC), Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
- Languages: ISO-639
- Movies: Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR), IMDB id
- People: This one is worth a whole post of its own, so stay tuned for that (update: here it is) but commonly used IDs and codes for identifying people in data include: email address; phone number; social media handle; Social Security Numbers (SSN) and equivalents — with varying degrees of openness — in countries other than the US; even biometric IDs of some sort. Which one to use depends on the project, applicable regulation, purpose, etc.
- Places: United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations
(UN/LOCODE), Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) - Products: Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN), Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS Classification)
- Serial publications (such as magazines and science journals): International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
If you know of other useful standards or codes for these or other types of entities, please leave them in the comment section below.