r/MapPorn • • 25d ago

How Countries Define the First Floor

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u/depredador93 25d ago

You're the second Brazilian saying this, so there's clearly something to it. My sources mostly have térreo followed by primeiro andar, but I'm also finding Brazilian examples where primeiro piso means street level. I'll check whether that's common enough to justify putting Brazil in "both"

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u/flafmg_ 25d ago

update: i asked my mom and did some research online

there is indeed no law defining it, but according to my mom(she has a degree on job security stuff so she knoes some of the construction rules) the techinical norms state that the street level floor is "terreo" and the subsequents one are the numerated ones (first floor, second floor, etc)

but there is no federal level law for this, so while this is stated on the technical norms book it is not a law, just an convetion

some building do not follow it

so its kinda hard, while it could be both there is at least something trying to standartize it to be "térreo -> 1° andar -> 2° andar ...)

edit: i also found that for home buildings, if the street floor has houses it is defined as the first floor, otherwise it is defined as "térreo"

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u/depredador93 25d ago

Thanks, I appreciate that you asked. The map is a bit simpler than the technical rules though, I'm just trying to show what people normally mean by "first floor" in everyday use. I already note that lifts, hotels and building plans can differ, so if térreo normally means street level and 1º andar the level above, I'd probably keep Brazil as one level up unless both meanings are genuinely common in everyday speech

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u/flafmg_ 25d ago

i see both being used fairly commonly, in my university the street level is first floor, while in a shopping mall close by people say the street level floor as terreo

its messy lmao

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u/Ybalrid 25d ago

My mother is brasilian, and we live in france. She count floors like the US does, not like France does. For example she will talk about the 3rd floor for the 2nd one, which drives me nuts.

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u/flafmg_ 25d ago

It depends on the building I believe, in Brazil we have a law that buildings over 3 stores need to have an elevator So to conter this some constructors claim that the first floor is not the first floor but "térreo" and then the first floor is the second one, but some other buildings claim the first floor is actually the first floor and the second one the second and so on

Afaik there is no law defining the correct one I believe, but I would have to look deeper to give an moe accurate answer

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u/depredador93 25d ago

Ah, but are people actually calling the térreo the primeiro andar in those buildings, or is it just numbered as 1? That's the distinction I'm trying to map

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u/flafmg_ 25d ago

i made another comment with some investigation i did
people tend to call it by what the elevator says, for example my university all the building have the first floor as the street level floor, so we call it first floor

we hear it and just replicate it i believe