The GEDCOM standard is not real specific on this, but it says:
The jurisdictional name of the place where the event took place. Jurisdictions are separated by commas, for example, "Cove, Cache, Utah, USA." If the actual jurisdictional names of these places have been identified, they can be shown using a PLAC.FORM structure either in the HEADER or in the event structure. (See {PLACE_HIERARCHY}, page 58.)
So... The place names are only slightly positional in that if the event happened in the county you would only indicate {county_name}, {state_name}, USA
In places where a city does not reside in a county then the city name precedes the state without a county between.
The standard also says that a FORMate is used after the PLAC to indicate a variance from the values in the HEADer.
Personally, I think:
1) always be consistant, if you use the word "county" or "Co." or "Cnty" always use it.
2)Sometimes Township is a "Jurisdiction" because a city does not exist. Use this even though this does not fit into the FTM setup.
3) Sometimes a city spans two (or more) counties, what do you do? I use the first county the city was found in.
I try to be as accurate as I can without becoming "too anal". The place field is not really enough to be acurate all the time. Some countries don't have the same divisions as the USA so you will have to learn what they use.
The jurisdictional name of the place where the event took place. Jurisdictions are separated by commas, for example, "Cove, Cache, Utah, USA." If the actual jurisdictional names of these places have been identified, they can be shown using a PLAC.FORM structure either in the HEADER or in the event structure. (See {PLACE_HIERARCHY}, page 58.)
So... The place names are only slightly positional in that if the event happened in the county you would only indicate {county_name}, {state_name}, USA
In places where a city does not reside in a county then the city name precedes the state without a county between.
The standard also says that a FORMate is used after the PLAC to indicate a variance from the values in the HEADer.
Personally, I think:
1) always be consistant, if you use the word "county" or "Co." or "Cnty" always use it.
2)Sometimes Township is a "Jurisdiction" because a city does not exist. Use this even though this does not fit into the FTM setup.
3) Sometimes a city spans two (or more) counties, what do you do? I use the first county the city was found in.
I try to be as accurate as I can without becoming "too anal". The place field is not really enough to be acurate all the time. Some countries don't have the same divisions as the USA so you will have to learn what they use.