The database covers the whole France, i.e. the metropolitan France and the five overseas departments. The geographical reference of the database is the Official geographical code (COG) of the municipalities on 01/01/2023.

In municipalities divided into arrondissements (Paris-Lyon-Marseille), the district has been chosen as the municipal level for locating facilities.

The services and facilities of the BPE are grouped into types of facilities. There are 209 in the 2023 BPE allocated in seven groups :

• personal services;
• businesses ;
• education ;
• health and social services ;
• transports and travel ;
• sports-leisure-culture ;
• tourism.

The nomenclature of types of facilities is updated each year.

Additional characteristics are provided for types of facilities in the fields of education and sport, leisure and culture : presence of canteen, boarding school, covered, lighted sports facilities, number of training areas, multiplex cinema, etc. New variables relating to certain types of facility are included in the BPE 2023: the management method for waste collection centres, the types of France services facilities, the type of collective accommodation for holiday homes, and several variables in the field of sport (disabled access, seasonal opening, presence of showers, etc.).

The types of facilities are located at the level of the municipalities, the sub-municipal areas that make up the Iris, and in coordinates (x,y). Geolocation makes it possible to get rid of pre-existing zoning (municipalities or IRIS).

It thus allows for more detailed spatial or territorial studies, with data independent of predefined zoning.

Geographical coordinates are thus available for the entire BPE 2023 (except for Mayotte), with the exception of 1.6 % of sport facilities.

The nomenclature of types of facilities :

The services and facilities present in the 2023 BPE are grouped according to a nomenclature that is created ad hoc and updated each year to take account of changes in sources, the introduction of new facilities, etc.

• The first level of the nomenclature contains 7 groups : personal services, businesses, education, health and social services, transport-travel, sports-leisure-culture and tourism.
• The second level contains 27 sub-groups which are subdivided into 209 types of facilities at the third level.

The constitution of facilities ranges :

The ranges bring together services and facilities that have a similar implantation logic, in the sense that they are often present at the same time in the municipalities.

The facilities ranges are based on the 2023 permanent database of facilities, facilities selected are divided into three ranges :

• the proximity range includes services that are present in the largest number of municipalities. It focuses on only 32 different services, but with many locations (1.8 million access points). It includes, for example, post offices, bakeries, general practitioners, playgrounds ;
• the medium range includes 50 types of facilities : for example, banks, medical analysis laboratories or public swimming pools ;
• The upper range (61 types of facilities) includes shops such as fishmongers or hypermakets, medical emergency services and cinemas. They are less common and more likely to be located in major cities than the services in the local range.

Otherwise, 66 types of facilities are not included in the assortment. They correspond to services or facilities that are much rarer or that are not primarily intended for permanent residents of the areas (example : hotels).

The purpose of the BPE is to cover the maximum number of services and facilities avalaible to the population, whether commercial or not.

Concept: facility

A facility is a service, commercial or not, accessible to the public. It can be a layout (bathing zone, remarkable space, heritage), an infrastructure (gymnasium, swimming pool, station, etc.) or a service (shops, bank, court, etc.). It is listed in the Permanent database of facilities on January 1st of each year.

In most cases, the establishment is the unit identified as the facility, but the facility may also refer to the service provided within an establishment (for example, a maternity service may be provided in an autonomous establishment or in a multidisciplinary establishment).

Facilities are grouped into categories called types of facilities. The types of facilities are grouped into 7 groups:

• personal services;
• businesses ;
• education ;
• health and social services ;
• transports and travel ;
• sports-leisure-culture ;
• tourism.

The nomenclature of types of facilities is updated each year.

Other types of grouping can be carried out for specific needs.

• This is the case for BPE products in evolution. For example, the type of facilities E01G - Railway station includes the railway stations of travelers of national (E107), regional (E108) and local interest (E109).
• This is also the case for the ranges of facilities. For example, AR03 brings together post offices (A206), post relays (A207) and postal agencies (A208).

The classification of the groupings is specific to each of the two cases, although the groupings may be identical : the grouping relating to railway stations is identified by the codes E01G in the BPE in evolution and by ER02 in the ranges.

Facility

More than 2.7 million facilities are listed in the 2023 BPE.

January 1, 2023 (except for sport facilities, January 1, 2024 and health professionals, January 1, 2022)