Talk:Georgia (country)/Geographical hierarchy

Map of Georgia's Regions

I would like to sort out the geographical hierarchy for Georgia. I have two possible schematics in mind, one that would simply divide the country into two regions:

1. Western (Colchis) Georgia and Eastern (Iberian) Georgia. This is a very clear cut regionalization based on historical, cultural, climactic, and geographic differences, but gives the traveler only a very macro and rather uninformative perspective on the country.

2. More of a itinerary-based regionalization that would group related and nearby destinations under subregions. Here's an attempt at this:

• Kakheti
• Central Georgia (country)
  • Kartli
    • Kvemo Kartli
    • Shida Kartli
    • Tbilisi
  • Mtskheta-Mtianeti
  • South Ossetia
• Rioni region
  • Imereti
  • Racha
• Southwestern Georgia
  • Samtskhe-Javakheti
  • Guria
  • Ajara
• Northwestern Georgia
  • Abkhazia
  • Samegrelo
  • Svaneti

I would love to hear other contributors' input! --(WT-en) Peterfitzgerald ^Talk 17:02, 25 April 2007 (EDT)

I think its a great idea. (WT-en) CanadianTraveler 12:57, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

OK, I am still feeling unsure of how to proceed. In general, I like the itinerary based hierarchy better because it conveys a lot of useful information and breaks the country down into more manageable "chunks." The one problem that sticks out, however, is that South Ossetia and Samtskhe-Javakheti don't fit very well into any regional groups, but I don't think they should get their own top-level regions (because South Ossetia is contained within Shida Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti just doesn't seem prominent enough). I can also imagine that Ossetes might take offense at being included in "Central Georgia." I've uploaded a png of the two regional schematics and would like to hear what others think. Perhaps I should stop being such a perfectionist and go for the itinerary schematic? --(WT-en) Peterfitzgerald ^Talk 18:13, 20 May 2007 (EDT)

I say go with the more fine-grained division. Creating just two regions doesn't accomplish much, and no matter where we draw the lines, there are always going to be people who don't like being lumped in with ____. If the name "Central Georgia" is a problem, is there another name you can give the region, related to a shared geographical feature? - (WT-en) Todd VerBeek 19:05, 20 May 2007 (EDT)

Ok, I think I have settled on the itinerary scheme. I'll wait until next week for any other comments, and then will begin making the region pages. --(WT-en) Peterfitzgerald ^Talk 01:12, 25 May 2007 (EDT)

I think the map looks good. You're right, separating Ossetia from Shida Kartli makes a bit of a statement, but reflects the reality of the situation for the traveler. Its possible that Samtskhe-Javakheti could stand alone as its own region since Borjomi, Akhaltsekhe, and Vardzia are there, if I'm not getting the regions confused. The reconstruction of the highway there may also open up more tourist sites and be an entry point from Armenia. But it really could go either way.(WT-en) Cuttino 09:26, 25 May 2007 (EDT)

Actually, now that I think about it...Samtskhe-Javakheti probably fits better with central Georgia. Transportation-wise, Borjomi is only 30-45 minutes from Khashuri (Shida-Kartli) and its often easier to pass through there to get west. I think its more of a natural fit with Shida-Kartli and central Georgia than Adjara.(WT-en) Cuttino 09:31, 25 May 2007 (EDT)

Ah, I forgot that Borjomi is in Samtskhe-Javakheti. I definitely see your point about grouping it with Central Georgia, but that region starts to look to big to me when it is included. I might prefer your first option of giving the region its own top-level category just because its geography is so different from Kartli and because it takes so long to get to Akhaltsikhe (unless that Millenium Challenge road has already been built...). But in any rate, I do think you're right that it doesn't make sense to group it with Ajara and Guria. --(WT-en) Peterfitzgerald ^Talk 12:53, 25 May 2007 (EDT)

Well, I'm going with Samtskhe-Javakheti as a top-level region. In the future, if anyone sees problems with this hierarchy, this is the place to discuss them. --(WT-en) Peterfitzgerald ^Talk 14:15, 31 May 2007 (EDT)

I just changed "Central Georgia" to Kartli, since I just found out that Mtskhetia-Mtianeti is actually considered part of Kartli. --(WT-en) Peterfitzgerald ^Talk 17:51, 31 May 2007 (EDT)

Current regional hierarchy

• Kakheti
• Kartli
  • Kvemo Kartli
  • Shida Kartli
    • South Ossetia
  • Tbilisi
  • Mtskheta-Mtianeti
• Rioni region
  • Imereti
  • Racha
• Southwestern Georgia
  • Guria
  • Ajara
• Samtskhe-Javakheti
• Northwestern Georgia
  • Abkhazia
  • Samegrelo
  • Svaneti

Disambiguation

We have a sort of disambiguation issue with the regions of Georgia (country) and Georgia (state). When I saw a "new" Northwestern Georgia article, I thought "Waitaminute! I created that region a year ago! But no: that was Northwest Georgia, in the state. Either one's a perfectly valid way to name them, but I can see people typing one when they want the other. Should we put some variation of Template:Otheruses on these (and also Southwest/ern and Central)? - (WT-en) Todd VerBeek 08:45, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

Ah, yes, we definitely should dab these a bit, I'll try and get a useful version of the otheruses template on the Northwest/ern and Southwest/ern pages. Fortunately, I found a way to get rid of "Central Georgia (country)" (--> Kartli). --(WT-en) Peterfitzgerald ^Talk 14:35, 1 June 2007 (EDT)

Yes, but we still have a Central Georgia (state), which people might link to without checking, thinking it'll take them to the the country. We should probably put a pointer on the top of that as well. - (WT-en) Todd VerBeek 16:25, 1 June 2007 (EDT)