vehicles 0.4.1 → 0.8.0

data/README.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 > [!TIP]
 > **🚀 Ship your next Rails app 10x faster!** I've built **[RailsFast](https://railsfast.com/?ref=vehicles)**, a production-ready Rails boilerplate template that comes with everything you need to launch a software business in days, not weeks. Go [check it out](https://railsfast.com/?ref=vehicles)!
 
-`vehicles` gives your Rails app a clean, curated list of vehicle makes and models — **~17k models across 850+ makes: cars, motorcycles, mopeds, vans, trucks and buses**, reconciled from official registers of 14 countries — ready for dropdowns, search, and validation. No API keys, no database table, no migration — it works **fully offline** the second you `bundle install`, because the data ships inside the gem. (Optionally, it can [refresh](#staying-current-optional) the data without a gem upgrade.)
+`vehicles` gives your Rails app a clean, curated list of vehicle makes and models — **~15k models across 850+ makes: cars, motorcycles, mopeds, vans, trucks and buses**, reconciled from official registers of 15 countries — ready for dropdowns, search, and validation. No API keys, no database table, no migration — it works **fully offline** the second you `bundle install`, because the data ships inside the gem. (Optionally, it can [refresh](#staying-current-optional) the data without a gem upgrade.)
 
 ✨ Perfect for marketplaces, carpooling & rideshare apps, fleet tools, parking & EV-charging apps, insurance and booking forms — anywhere a user has to pick their vehicle.
 
@@ -75,12 +75,15 @@ Vehicles.models("toyota")     # case-insensitive
 Vehicles.models("VW")         # => Volkswagen   (common abbreviation)
 Vehicles.models("merc")       # => Mercedes-Benz
 Vehicles.models("alfa-romeo") # slug form
+Vehicles.models("marcedes")   # => Mercedes-Benz (typo: one make is clearly closest)
 ```
 
+Typos resolve too: when nothing matches exactly, the closest make within a small edit distance wins (1 edit up to 5 characters, 2 from 6 up, none under 4) — but only if ONE make is closest, so `"Acra"` (one edit from both Acura and Acma) stays `nil` rather than guessing. Pass `fuzzy: false` (`Vehicles.make("marcedes", fuzzy: false) # => nil`) when you need exact-only matching; the validators always do, so a typo never validates as a stored make. Three more guards keep it from guessing: a swap of two neighbouring letters counts as one edit (`"telsa"` is equally close to Tesla and Temsa, so it stays `nil`); a match may not drop a whole word (so `"Volvo V 60"` never turns into Volvo "60"); and every word keeps its first letter (so `"citroen e"` is not Citroën DS). Your configured `other_label` never fuzzy-matches a real make. Machine input never fuzzes either: Symbols, anything with `/`, `_`, `+` or `\` (ids like `car/mercedes-benz/c-class`, paths like `/makes/marcedes`), and single-case hyphenated slugs (`marcedes-benz`, `MARCEDES-BENZ`) resolve exactly or return `nil` — so routes and stored ids can never land on a guessed make. The MCP server tools are exact-only.
+
 Unknown make? You get an empty array, never an exception:
 
 ```ruby
-Vehicles.models("DeLorean")   # => []
+Vehicles.models("Zzyzx Motors")   # => []
 ```
 
 ## Smart lookup & search
@@ -179,8 +182,18 @@ car.popular?           # => true     decile ≤ 2 (and `false` when unranked —
 car.availability       # => ["es", "fi", "gb", ...]   countries with official evidence
 car.available_in?(:th) # => true
 
-# The most popular models — perfect for "common choices" pre-filled pickers:
-Vehicles.top_models(kind: :car, country: :nl, limit: 10)   # => [Model, ...]
+# The most popular models — perfect for "common choices" pre-filled pickers.
+# With `country:`, ordered by THAT country's own registration rank (ranks are per kind,
+# so pass `kind:`; countries whose sources record presence only — us, ca for cars —
+# have no ranks and keep the global order):
+Vehicles.top_models(kind: :car, country: :gb, limit: 3).map(&:name)  # => ["Fiesta", "Golf", "Corsa"]
+Vehicles.find("vw golf").rank_in(:gb)   # => 2    rank among all GB cars (nil where unranked)
+
+# Two different "popularity" questions — pick the one you mean:
+car.global_decile      # presence average: "popular in MANY countries" (equal country weight)
+car.mass_decile        # registration mass per kind: "how many EXIST" (1 = heaviest 10%)
+                       #   nil until your data is 2026.10.1+ (refresh! or a newer gem)
+Vehicles.top_models(kind: :car, by: :mass_decile, limit: 10)  # [] on older snapshots
 Vehicles.top_models(kind: :motorcycle, limit: 10).map(&:full_name)
 ```
 
@@ -303,7 +316,7 @@ They're forgiving the same way the lookups are (aliases, case, slugs), and they
 
 ### An "Other / not in the list" escape hatch
 
-Make/model dropdowns should never be a dead end — ~17k models is a lot, but
+Make/model dropdowns should never be a dead end — ~15k models is a lot, but
 someone always shows up with the one car that isn't there. Turn on a first-class
 "Other" option and the pieces agree by construction: `include_other:` adds it to
 the picker, `allow_other:` lets it through validation.
@@ -398,6 +411,12 @@ car&.body_type                                      # => :hatchback
 car&.suv?                                           # => false
 ```
 
+It reads what people actually type: case, accents and spacing don't matter
+(`"XCeed"` is Kia's `"X Ceed"`, `"A 5"` is `"A5"`), BMW's Spanish/Italian
+`"Serie 3"` is the `"3 Series"`, and a name that exists as several kinds
+(Toyota's Land Cruiser: car, van, truck, bus) answers with the car unless you
+pass `kind:` — `Vehicles.model("Toyota", "Land Cruiser", kind: :bus)`.
+
 **Only accept the kinds you support.** Filter every list/lookup by `kind:` so
 the picker only ever offers vehicles your app handles — and widening later (when
 new kind packs ship, or when you decide to accept them) is a one-word change, not
@@ -422,8 +441,8 @@ Vehicles.find("vw golf").available_in?(:nz)     # => true
 Vehicles.top_models(kind: :car, country: :es)   # country-scoped popularity
 ```
 
-The bundled snapshot is **global** (official registers of 14 countries across
-Europe, North America, SE Asia, Oceania and Ukraine — see [Where the data
+The bundled snapshot is **global** (official registers of 15 countries across
+Europe, North America, South America, SE Asia, Oceania and Ukraine — see [Where the data
 comes from](#where-the-data-comes-from)), so the region gate accepts every
 region query — `region: :eu` callers from 0.1.x keep working unchanged:
 
@@ -432,6 +451,50 @@ Vehicles.makes(region: :eu)   # fine — a global snapshot covers the EU
 Vehicles.region               # => :global
 ```
 
+## License plates
+
+The gem bundles the VehiclesDB **registration-mark dataset** (PRD-PLATES): every plate series per jurisdiction, researched to the issuing authority's own documents — formats, eras, alphabets, designs. Ask it whether a typed registration is real:
+
+```ruby
+Vehicles.plate("12-GB-BD", jurisdiction: :nl).valid?    # => true — exact, as issued
+Vehicles.plate("12gbbd", jurisdiction: :nl).suggestion  # => "12-GB-BD"  (did you mean)
+Vehicles.plate("12-AB-CD", jurisdiction: :nl).strict?   # => false — vowels aren't issued
+```
+
+Matching is **two-tier**: exact as-issued first, then a separator-forgiving tier — `"1234XYZ"`, `"1234 xyz"` and `"1234-XYZ"` all resolve to the same serial, with `suggestion` giving the formatting the plate actually wears. Leniency forgives punctuation, **never the alphabet**: the strict regexes encode what the authority really issues (the Dutch vowel purge, the Spanish consonant-triplet rule…). `Match#strict?` separates authority-alphabet hits from recall-only catch-alls (export plates accept any current shape, by law).
+
+```ruby
+Vehicles.plates              # => every jurisdiction
+Vehicles.plates(:es).series  # => 18 series: formats, periods, sourced designs
+```
+
+Pilot coverage (gate L0): 🇳🇱 🇪🇸 🇩🇪 + US-Florida, 73 series, corpus-proven in NL. Same posture as everything else here: bundled, offline, forgiving in, honest out.
+
+**Prefer HTTP?** The same matcher and the full format corpus are hosted endpoints on the [VehiclesDB API](https://vehiclesdb.com/api): `GET /api/v1/plates/{code}` (a jurisdiction's every series, with 1:1 SVG render URLs) and `GET /api/v1/plates/{code}/match?plate=…` (validity + as-issued formatting + a render of *that* registration on the real plate design). Free API keys at [vehiclesdb.com](https://vehiclesdb.com).
+
+### Drawing a plate without sending it anywhere
+
+A registration is personal data. To show a user their own plate on the real VehiclesDB plate art, the gem fetches a **blank template** (the series, the registration's *shape* — `NNNN LLL`, character classes only — and an optional region) and fills it **locally**:
+
+```ruby
+Vehicles::Plates.render("1234 BCD", jurisdiction: :es)
+# => "<svg … aria-label=\"Spain plate 1234 BCD\">…</svg>"  (nil when it can't)
+
+Vehicles::Plates.render("1234 BCD", jurisdiction: :es, label: "Matrícula 1234 BCD") # your language
+Vehicles::Plates.render("AB-123-CD", jurisdiction: :fr, region: "75")             # FR département band
+```
+
+Only `GET {api_base_url}/plates/es/es-national-2000/template.svg?shape=NNNN_LLL` goes on the wire: no registration, no API key (the route is public). Anything ambiguous (a German `MAB1234` could be `M-AB` or `MA-B`) or unreachable answers `nil` — keep drawing whatever you drew before. Templates are cached in-process; share them across processes with any store that has `read` / `write(key, value, expires_in:)`:
+
+```ruby
+Vehicles.configure do |config|
+  config.plate_template_cache = Rails.cache
+  config.plate_template_ttl   = 7 * 24 * 3600 # templates are public and change only with the plate art
+end
+```
+
+The pieces are public too: `Vehicles::Plates.template(code:, series:, shape:, region:)` returns the blank SVG, and `Vehicles::Plates::TemplateFill.fill(svg, registration)` is the dependency-free filler (stdlib `json` only) if you fetch templates yourself — in a browser, say.
+
 ## 🔓 More with VehiclesDB
 
 `vehicles` is the free, open-source SDK for [**VehiclesDB**](https://vehiclesdb.com) — a hosted API for richer vehicle data. The gem is **fully standalone and always will be**; pointing it at VehiclesDB is purely additive. Drop in an API key and the same objects you already use light up with more:
@@ -442,11 +505,20 @@ Vehicles.configure do |config|
 end
 
 car = Vehicles.find("vw golf")
-car.years                       # => 1974..2024            production years
-car.segment                     # => :hatchback / :hot_hatch   editorial segment
-car.image                       # => "https://cdn.vehiclesdb.com/volkswagen/golf.webp"
-car.image(year: 2020)           # year-accurate photo
-car.image(year: 2020, color: :silver)
+
+# Rendered vehicle imagery — LIVE today. Mint a key at
+# https://vehiclesdb.com/settings/api-keys
+car.image                        # => "https://vehiclesdb.com/…/md.webp"  (640×360)
+car.image(size: :lg)             # :sm 320×180 · :md 640×360 · :lg 1280×720
+car.image(color: "red")          # color-accurate; un-rendered colors fall back honestly
+car.images(color: "red")         # the full payload: every variant + dimensions,
+                                 #    rendered palette, served-vs-requested color
+# color slugs are the gem's own canon — Vehicles.colors — so a stored
+# dropdown value maps 1:1 to the rendered imagery.
+
+# Enrichment — the wired-up seam; ships next. nil until then, same objects.
+car.years                        # => 1974..2024            production years
+car.segment                      # => :hatchback / :hot_hatch   editorial segment
 ```
 
 Under the hood this is a simple **provider** model: a `LocalProvider` (the bundled data) is always available, and a `HostedProvider` activates only when an API key is configured. Calls prefer the hosted data when it's there and **fall back to the local data otherwise — never raising, never blocking** your request:
@@ -522,6 +594,7 @@ Vehicles.catalog(kind: :car)            # => { "Audi" => ["A3", ...], ... }
 Vehicles.make("Audi")                   # => Vehicles::Make | nil
 Vehicles.find("audi a3")                # => Vehicles::Model | nil  (one free-text string)
 Vehicles.model("Audi", "A3")            # => Vehicles::Model | nil  (a stored make+model pair)
+Vehicles.model("Toyota", "Land Cruiser", kind: :bus)  # pick a kind (default: the car)
 Vehicles.search("a3")                   # => [Vehicles::Model]
 
 # Popularity & availability (open data, measured from official registers)
@@ -556,7 +629,7 @@ Vehicles.reload!                        # drop the in-memory dataset (reload fro
 
 ## Where the data comes from
 
-The bundled dataset is [**VehiclesDB**](https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb) — an open dataset **reconciled from official vehicle registers of 14 countries on 4 continents** (the Dutch RDW, UK DfT, Spanish DGT, Finnish Traficom, German KBA, US EPA, New Zealand's Motor Vehicle Register, Thailand's DLT, Ukraine's MVS, and more). A model ships only when **two independent official sources corroborate it** — or one shows a registration count no typo could produce — so you get real nameplates without the registry noise.
+The bundled dataset is [**VehiclesDB**](https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb) — an open dataset **reconciled from official vehicle registers of 15 countries on 5 continents** (the Dutch RDW, UK DfT, Spanish DGT, Finnish Traficom, German KBA, US EPA, New Zealand's Motor Vehicle Register, Thailand's DLT, Ukraine's MVS, and more — the exact list for the bundled 2026.10.0 snapshot is `countries` in the data repo's `manifest.json`). A model ships only when **two independent official sources corroborate it** — or one shows a registration count no typo could produce — so you get real nameplates without the registry noise.
 
 Every record is shaped like this:
 
@@ -574,7 +647,7 @@ Every record is shaped like this:
 - **Nameplate-level, on purpose.** "Golf" covers the GTI, the Variant, the R — that's what a dropdown wants. Two-wheelers keep displacement granularity ("Wave110i", "CBR600RR") because that's how riders and registers both speak. Per-trim and per-generation detail is a VehiclesDB API concern.
 - **Popularity is measured**, from real registration/fleet counts — never scraped rankings. **Availability is evidence** (a country appears because an official source shows the model there), not marketing history.
 - **Source data:** openly-licensed government sources only, every license pinned and verified at build time — [full source list](https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb/blob/main/SOURCES.md) and [attribution notices](https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb/blob/main/ATTRIBUTION.md).
-- **This dataset** (`data/vehicles.json`): **CC-BY 4.0**. Attribution: *"Vehicle data by VehiclesDB (CC-BY 4.0), built from official public registers."*
+- **This dataset** (`data/vehicles.json`): **CC-BY 4.0**. Visible credit with a link is a condition of the license (§3(a)). The form we request: *"Vehicle data by [VehiclesDB](https://vehiclesdb.com)"* — on websites, a followable link (deep links to the make/model page you used are even better); in apps, name us in an about/credits screen. Ready-made snippets (HTML, Markdown, BibTeX, badge): [vehiclesdb.com/attribution](https://vehiclesdb.com/attribution). Prefer not to credit, or need the enriched paid layer? [Commercial license](https://vehiclesdb.com) — it waives only OUR credit, never the upstream register notices.
 - **The gem code:** MIT.
 
 The data is versioned (`Vehicles.data_version`). Each gem release bundles a known snapshot — the offline, deterministic floor. To get newer data, either upgrade the gem or enable [refresh](#staying-current-optional) (which pulls published releases without a gem bump). Either way it's explicit and versioned — no silent mutations.
@@ -590,7 +663,7 @@ No magic, just good defaults:
 
 ## Roadmap
 
-Bundled today: 19k models across 6 kinds and 14 countries, with popularity +
+Bundled today: ~15k models across 6 kinds and 15 countries, with popularity +
 availability, plus the MCP server. On the way:
 
 - 🌍 More **countries** (Switzerland next; the dataset grows monthly)

data/data/PROVENANCE-vehicles.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Bundled vehicles dataset
+
+`data/vehicles.json` is the public data repo's `dist/vehicles.json`
+(the gem projection) at a release tag:
+
+- **Source**: https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb `dist/vehicles.json`
+- **Tag**: `v2026.10.0` (commit `794c27b1881fe561182ff2ee797683cc96047f20`), dataset version `2026.10.0`
+- **country_ranks**: 0 model(s) carried it natively; 14880 merged from
+  the same tag's `catalog/<kind>/models.json` `popularity.by_country[cc].rank`
+- **License**: CC-BY 4.0 (see the data repo's LICENSE + ATTRIBUTION.md)
+
+Refresh: `rake "data:refresh[<tag>]"` (this file is generated by it).

data/data/plates/PROVENANCE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Bundled plates dataset (PRD-PLATES, full corpus)
+
+Copy of `plates/` from the public data repo (EXCLUDING `_art/`),
+refreshed on gem releases:
+
+- **Source**: https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb `plates/`
+- **Commit**: `c7dd65c6f4144d39c62706b7be10231a12bc27e1`
+- **License**: CC-BY 4.0 (see the data repo's LICENSE + ATTRIBUTION.md)
+
+Refresh: `rake plates:refresh` (this file is generated by it).

data/data/plates/_decode/at-districts.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,287 @@
+# plates/_decode/at-districts.yml — Austrian Behördenbezeichnungen im Kennzeichen.
+#
+# THE SOURCE FINDING, and it is the opposite of Germany's: the Austrian
+# district code list IS IN THE REGULATION. § 48 Abs. 5 KFG 1967 delegates it
+# ("Durch Verordnung sind die Bezeichnung der Behörde und die sachlichen
+# Bereiche, das System der Zeichen, unter denen die Fahrzeuge bei der Behörde
+# vorzumerken sind (Abs. 4) ... festzusetzen"), and § 26 Abs. 1 KDV 1967
+# discharges the delegation by pointing at ANLAGE 5d: "Die Bezeichnung der den
+# Zulassungsschein ausstellenden Behörde im Kennzeichen bestimmt sich nach
+# Anlage 5d." Anlage 5d is a CLOSED, PRIMARY, 98-row table printed inside the
+# regulation — so unlike the German ~400-code Bundesanzeiger list (PRD-PLATES
+# §2.4), it is authored here in full, verbatim, in the annex's own order
+# (by Bundesland, then as the annex prints them).
+#
+# The non-geographic prefixes are NOT in Anlage 5d — they are in § 26 KDV
+# itself (Abs. 2 the federal letter A, Abs. 3 the nine Land letters, Abs. 4 the
+# seven sachliche Bereiche, Abs. 5 the diplomatic D and consular K suffixes).
+# They are recorded below in their own blocks, because a parse API needs all
+# four sets to resolve a prefix and because several of them COLLIDE with
+# Anlage 5d district codes (see `collisions`).
+#
+# Referenced by: plates/at.yml (at-standard, at-motorcycle, at-moped,
+# at-historic, at-electric, at-dealer-probefahrt, at-temporary-*,
+# at-trailer-foreign, at-wunschkennzeichen) via region_encoding.
+#
+# PERIOD DISCIPLINE (PRD-PLATES §2.4): these are the codes in the CONSOLIDATED
+# Anlage 5d in force on the access date (Fassung im RIS seit 26.09.2024,
+# NOR40265416). Austrian district reform has repeatedly merged Bezirke
+# (Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, Hartberg-Fürstenfeld, Murtal and Südoststeiermark are
+# themselves 2012/2013 merger codes), and codes withdrawn from the annex stay
+# on the road because a plate is only exchanged on re-registration. WITHDRAWN
+# CODES ARE THEREFORE NOT IN THIS TABLE AND ARE A RECORDED GAP for L4 — a
+# decode of a physical plate whose prefix is absent here must be treated as
+# unresolved, never as invalid.
+jurisdiction: at
+topic: districts
+authority:
+  name: "Kraftfahrgesetz-Durchführungsverordnung 1967 (KDV 1967), Anlage 5d (zu § 26 Abs. 1)"
+  url: "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Anlage=5d"
+sources:
+  - "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Anlage=5d  # Anlage 5d 'Bezeichnung der Behörde im Kennzeichen', all 98 rows in nine Bundesland blocks; Dokumentnummer NOR40265416, im RIS seit 26.09.2024. Accessed 2026-08-02"
+  - "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Paragraf=26  # § 26 KDV 1967: Abs. 1 (delegation to Anlage 5d), Abs. 2 (letter A), Abs. 3 (nine Land letters), Abs. 4 (sachliche Bereiche BP/FV/PT/BD/BH/JW/FW), Abs. 5 (diplomatic D / consular K, and the Graz exception), Abs. 6 (the Vormerkzeichen grammar), Abs. 7 (hyphen for the Wappen in writing). Accessed 2026-08-02"
+  - "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011384&Paragraf=48  # § 48 Abs. 4 KFG 1967: the prefix is 'einem oder zwei Buchstaben als Bezeichnung der Behörde, in deren örtlichem Wirkungsbereich das Fahrzeug zugelassen ist'; Abs. 5 the delegation. Accessed 2026-08-02"
+period: { start: 1989 }
+period_evidence: enacted-commencement
+period_note: >-
+  1989 is the commencement of the CODE SYSTEM these rows belong to, not of the
+  individual rows: BGBl. Nr. 375/1988 (11. KFG-Novelle) Artikel V Abs. 4 lit. b
+  put the rewritten § 48 Abs. 4 KFG (one or two letters for the AUTHORITY, in
+  place of the pre-1989 single BUNDESLAND letter) into force on 1 January 1989.
+  Individual rows are younger or older than that; per-row periods are a
+  recorded gap.
+
+# A parse API must carry these, because Austrian prefixes are NOT
+# self-delimiting the way German ones are.
+maximal_munch: true
+maximal_munch_note: >-
+  Take the LONGEST matching code. The split point is unambiguous for ORDINARY
+  registrations because § 26 Abs. 6 Z 2 lit. e KDV requires the Vormerkzeichen
+  to BEGIN WITH A DIGIT — so the prefix is exactly the leading letter run. It is
+  genuinely AMBIGUOUS for WUNSCHKENNZEICHEN, whose Vormerkzeichen must begin
+  with a LETTER (Z 3 lit. e): "BZAB1" is both B (Bregenz) + "ZAB1" and BZ
+  (Bludenz) + "AB1", and nothing in the string resolves it. Record the
+  ambiguity; do not average it away.
+
+collisions:
+  - "B — BH Bregenz (Anlage 5d, Vorarlberg) AND the Burgenland Land letter (§ 26 Abs. 3)"
+  - "K — LPD Kärnten/Klagenfurt (Anlage 5d) AND the Kärnten Land letter (§ 26 Abs. 3) AND the consular suffix letter (§ 26 Abs. 5 lit. b)"
+  - "S — LPD Salzburg/Salzburg (Anlage 5d) AND the Salzburg Land letter (§ 26 Abs. 3)"
+  - "W — Landespolizeidirektion Wien (Anlage 5d) AND the Wien Land letter (§ 26 Abs. 3)"
+  - "G — LPD Steiermark/Graz (Anlage 5d) AND, per the § 26 Abs. 5 Graz exception, the base of the diplomatic prefix GD and consular prefix GK"
+  - "BD — Bundesbus sachlicher Bereich (§ 26 Abs. 4 lit. f) AND the Burgenland diplomatic prefix B+D (§ 26 Abs. 5 lit. a)"
+  - "ND — BH Neusiedl am See (Anlage 5d) AND the Niederösterreich diplomatic prefix N+D"
+  - "SD — BH Schärding (Anlage 5d) AND the Salzburg diplomatic prefix S+D"
+  - "GD — BH Gmünd (Anlage 5d) AND the Graz diplomatic prefix G+D"
+  - "NK — BH Neunkirchen (Anlage 5d) AND the Niederösterreich consular prefix N+K"
+  - "VK — BH Völkermarkt (Anlage 5d) AND the Vorarlberg consular prefix V+K"
+  - "BH — Heeresfahrzeuge (§ 26 Abs. 4 lit. g) AND, in the annex's own prose, the abbreviation for Bezirkshauptmannschaft (which is NOT a code) AND an expressly forbidden Wunschkennzeichen combination (§ 26 Abs. 8 Z 2, 'Blood and Honour')"
+collisions_resolution: >-
+  The diplomatic/consular collisions resolve on the SERIAL, not the prefix:
+  § 26 Abs. 6 Z 2 lit. d and e require an ordinary Vormerkzeichen to contain one
+  to three letters and to END WITH A LETTER, whereas the Abs. 5
+  (diplomatic/consular) Vormerkzeichen need only begin with a digit and is in
+  practice digits-only — so "ND-12345" is Niederösterreich diplomatic and
+  "ND-123XY" is Neusiedl am See. Where an Abs. 5 Vormerkzeichen does carry a
+  trailing letter block the collision is UNRESOLVABLE from the string alone.
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# ANLAGE 5d — the 98 authority codes, verbatim, in the annex's own order.
+# `authority` is the annex's own wording, abbreviations expanded once:
+# BH. = Bezirkshauptmannschaft, Mag. = Magistrat, Exp. = Expositur,
+# LPD = Landespolizeidirektion.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+codes:
+  # I. BURGENLAND
+  - { code: E,  land: Burgenland, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Burgenland für das Gebiet der Gemeinden Eisenstadt und Rust", landeshauptstadt: true }
+  - { code: EU, land: Burgenland, authority: "BH. Eisenstadt" }
+  - { code: ND, land: Burgenland, authority: "BH. Neusiedl am See" }
+  - { code: MA, land: Burgenland, authority: "BH. Mattersburg" }
+  - { code: OP, land: Burgenland, authority: "BH. Oberpullendorf" }
+  - { code: OW, land: Burgenland, authority: "BH. Oberwart" }
+  - { code: GS, land: Burgenland, authority: "BH. Güssing" }
+  - { code: JE, land: Burgenland, authority: "BH. Jennersdorf" }
+  # II. KÄRNTEN
+  - { code: K,  land: Kärnten, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Kärnten für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Klagenfurt am Wörthersee", landeshauptstadt: true }
+  - { code: VI, land: Kärnten, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Kärnten für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Villach" }
+  - { code: VL, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. Villach" }
+  - { code: WO, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. Wolfsberg" }
+  - { code: SP, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. Spittal an der Drau" }
+  - { code: FE, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. Feldkirchen" }
+  - { code: HE, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. Hermagor" }
+  - { code: SV, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. St. Veit an der Glan" }
+  - { code: KL, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. Klagenfurt" }
+  - { code: VK, land: Kärnten, authority: "BH. Völkermarkt" }
+  # III. NIEDERÖSTERREICH
+  - { code: P,  land: Niederösterreich, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Niederösterreich für das Gebiet der Gemeinde St. Pölten", landeshauptstadt: true }
+  - { code: AM, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Amstetten" }
+  - { code: BN, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Baden" }
+  - { code: BL, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Bruck an der Leitha" }
+  - { code: GF, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Gänserndorf" }
+  - { code: GD, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Gmünd" }
+  - { code: HL, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Hollabrunn" }
+  - { code: HO, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Horn" }
+  - { code: KO, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Korneuburg" }
+  - { code: KR, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Krems an der Donau" }
+  - { code: LF, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Lilienfeld" }
+  - { code: ME, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Melk" }
+  - { code: MI, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Mistelbach" }
+  - { code: MD, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Mödling" }
+  - { code: NK, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Neunkirchen" }
+  - { code: PL, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. St. Pölten" }
+  - { code: SB, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Scheibbs" }
+  - { code: TU, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Tulln" }
+  - { code: WT, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Waidhofen an der Thaya" }
+  - { code: WB, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Wiener Neustadt" }
+  - { code: ZT, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH. Zwettl" }
+  - { code: WN, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Niederösterreich für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Wr. Neustadt" }
+  - { code: KS, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "Mag. Krems an der Donau" }
+  - { code: WY, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "Mag. Waidhofen an der Ybbs" }
+  - { code: SW, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Niederösterreich für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Schwechat und die im Gebiet der Gemeinden Fischamend, Klein-Neusiedl und Schwadorf gelegenen Teile des Flughafens Wien-Schwechat" }
+  - { code: KG, land: Niederösterreich, authority: "BH Tulln für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Klosterneuburg (Außenstelle Klosterneuburg)" }
+  # IV. OBERÖSTERREICH
+  - { code: L,  land: Oberösterreich, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Oberösterreich für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Linz", landeshauptstadt: true }
+  - { code: BR, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Braunau am Inn" }
+  - { code: EF, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Eferding" }
+  - { code: FR, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Freistadt" }
+  - { code: GM, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Gmunden" }
+  - { code: GR, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Grieskirchen" }
+  - { code: KI, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Kirchdorf an der Krems" }
+  - { code: LL, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Linz-Land" }
+  - { code: PE, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Perg" }
+  - { code: RI, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Ried im Innkreis" }
+  - { code: RO, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Rohrbach im Mühlkreis" }
+  - { code: SD, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Schärding" }
+  - { code: SE, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Steyr-Land" }
+  - { code: UU, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Urfahr-Umgebung" }
+  - { code: VB, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Vöcklabruck" }
+  - { code: WL, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "BH. Wels" }
+  - { code: SR, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Oberösterreich für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Steyr" }
+  - { code: WE, land: Oberösterreich, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Oberösterreich für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Wels" }
+  # V. SALZBURG
+  - { code: S,  land: Salzburg, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Salzburg für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Salzburg", landeshauptstadt: true }
+  - { code: SL, land: Salzburg, authority: "BH. Salzburg-Umgebung" }
+  - { code: HA, land: Salzburg, authority: "BH. Hallein" }
+  - { code: JO, land: Salzburg, authority: "BH. St. Johann" }
+  - { code: ZE, land: Salzburg, authority: "BH. Zell am See" }
+  - { code: TA, land: Salzburg, authority: "BH. Tamsweg", note: "the consolidated annex prints 'BH- Tamsweg' — a typo in the instrument, reproduced here as a finding, not corrected in the source" }
+  # VI. STEIERMARK
+  - { code: G,  land: Steiermark, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Steiermark für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Graz", landeshauptstadt: true }
+  - { code: GU, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Graz-Umgebung" }
+  - { code: BM, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Bruck-Mürzzuschlag" }
+  - { code: DL, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Deutschlandsberg" }
+  - { code: HF, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Hartberg-Fürstenfeld" }
+  - { code: MT, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Murtal" }
+  - { code: LB, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Leibnitz" }
+  - { code: LN, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Leoben" }
+  - { code: LI, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Liezen" }
+  - { code: MU, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Murau" }
+  - { code: SO, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Südoststeiermark" }
+  - { code: VO, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Voitsberg" }
+  - { code: WZ, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH. Weiz" }
+  - { code: GB, land: Steiermark, authority: "Exp. Gröbming" }
+  - { code: LE, land: Steiermark, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Steiermark für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Leoben" }
+  - { code: BA, land: Steiermark, authority: "BH Liezen für das Gebiet der Gemeinden Bad Aussee, Altaussee, Grundlsee und Bad Mitterndorf (Außenstelle Bad Aussee)" }
+  # VII. TIROL
+  - { code: I,  land: Tirol, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Tirol für das Gebiet der Gemeinde Innsbruck", landeshauptstadt: true }
+  - { code: IL, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Innsbruck" }
+  - { code: IM, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Imst" }
+  - { code: KB, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Kitzbühel" }
+  - { code: KU, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Kufstein" }
+  - { code: LA, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Landeck" }
+  - { code: RE, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Reutte" }
+  - { code: SZ, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Schwaz" }
+  - { code: LZ, land: Tirol, authority: "BH. Lienz" }
+  # VIII. VORARLBERG
+  - { code: B,  land: Vorarlberg, authority: "BH. Bregenz" }
+  - { code: FK, land: Vorarlberg, authority: "BH. Feldkirch" }
+  - { code: BZ, land: Vorarlberg, authority: "BH. Bludenz" }
+  - { code: DO, land: Vorarlberg, authority: "BH. Dornbirn" }
+  # IX. WIEN
+  - { code: W,  land: Wien, authority: "Landespolizeidirektion Wien", landeshauptstadt: true }
+
+landeshauptstadt_note: >-
+  `landeshauptstadt: true` marks the codes this pass reads as
+  "in den Landeshauptstädten ... zugewiesen" for the purposes of § 26 Abs. 6
+  Z 2 lit. a KDV (one Vormerkzeichen character MORE than elsewhere). It is
+  flagged as an INFERENCE, not a primary: the annex names those authorities
+  "Landespolizeidirektion X für das Gebiet der Gemeinde <Landeshauptstadt>",
+  which is why the nine are picked out, but the KDV never says that the
+  extra character attaches to those CODES. Vorarlberg is the case that proves
+  the inference is not safe: its Landeshauptstadt is Bregenz, whose plates
+  are issued by "BH. Bregenz" (code B) over a whole district, and the annex
+  gives Vorarlberg no Landespolizeidirektion row at all — so B is left
+  unmarked here and the question is a recorded gap.
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# THE NON-GEOGRAPHIC PREFIXES — § 26 KDV itself, not Anlage 5d.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+federal_letter:
+  source: "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Paragraf=26  # § 26 Abs. 2"
+  A: >-
+    Fahrzeuge, die zur Verwendung für den Bundespräsidenten, die Präsidenten des
+    Nationalrates, die Präsidenten des Bundesrates, die Mitglieder der
+    Bundesregierung, die Staatssekretäre, die Mitglieder der Volksanwaltschaft,
+    den Präsidenten oder Vizepräsidenten des Rechnungshofes, des
+    Verfassungsgerichtshofes und Verwaltungsgerichtshofes oder des Obersten
+    Gerichtshofes bestimmt sind
+
+land_letters:
+  source: "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Paragraf=26  # § 26 Abs. 3, verbatim list"
+  scope: >-
+    Fahrzeuge, die zur Verwendung für die Präsidenten der Landtage sowie für die
+    Mitglieder der Landesregierungen sowie für die Mitglieder der
+    Landesvolksanwaltschaften bestimmt sind
+  codes:
+    B: Burgenland
+    K: Kärnten
+    N: Niederösterreich
+    O: Oberösterreich
+    S: Salzburg
+    ST: Steiermark
+    T: Tirol
+    V: Vorarlberg
+    W: Wien
+  note: >-
+    ST is the only THREE-position prefix base in the system and the reason the
+    § 26 Abs. 5 Graz exception exists (see diplomatic_consular below). N and O
+    appear ONLY here — no Anlage 5d district carries them.
+
+sachliche_bereiche:
+  source: "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Paragraf=26  # § 26 Abs. 4 lit. a-i (lit. b repealed by BGBl. II Nr. 275/2007, lit. d by BGBl. II Nr. 376/2002)"
+  codes:
+    BP: "Fahrzeuge, die zur Verwendung im Bereich der Bundespolizei bestimmt sind"
+    FV: "Fahrzeuge, die zur Verwendung im Bereich der Finanzverwaltung bestimmt sind"
+    PT: "Fahrzeuge, die zur Verwendung im Bereich der Post bestimmt sind"
+    BD: "Omnibusse, die zur Verwendung im Kraftfahrlinienverkehr der Österreichischen Bundesbahnen und der Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung (Bundesbusdienst) bestimmt sind"
+    BH: "Heeresfahrzeuge"
+    JW: "Fahrzeuge, die zur Verwendung im Bereich der Justizwache bestimmt sind"
+    FW: "Fahrzeuge, die zur Verwendung für die Feuerwehr bestimmt sind"
+  note: >-
+    FW is the ONE prefix whose serial encodes geography: § 26 Abs. 6 Z 1 lit. b
+    requires a fire-brigade Vormerkzeichen to "mit zwei oder drei Ziffern
+    beginnen und es folgen ein oder zwei Buchstaben, die der Bezeichnung der
+    Behörde im Sinne der Anlage 5d entsprechen müssen, in deren Sprengel das
+    Fahrzeug zugelassen ist" — so the district code moves to the END of the
+    string and the `codes` table above decodes the SUFFIX, not the prefix.
+
+diplomatic_consular:
+  source: "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Paragraf=26  # § 26 Abs. 5 lit. a (D) and lit. b (K), plus the Graz exception in the opening sentence"
+  mechanism: >-
+    For the vehicles listed in § 54 Abs. 3 and Abs. 3a lit. a und b KFG 1967
+    (the CD and CC entitlement classes), the sachlicher Bereich is "die
+    Buchstaben gemäß Abs. 3" — i.e. the LAND letter — "bei Fahrzeugen mit dem
+    Standort in Graz ist an Stelle der Buchstaben gemäß Abs. 3 die Bezeichnung
+    der Behörde gemäß Anlage 5d zu verwenden" (so G, not ST). That base letter
+    is then followed by D for the diplomatic corps and internationally
+    equivalent officials, or K for the consular corps.
+  diplomatic_prefixes: [BD, KD, ND, OD, SD, STD, TD, VD, WD, GD]
+  consular_prefixes:   [BK, KK, NK, OK, SK, STK, TK, VK, WK, GK]
+  derivation_note: >-
+    The twenty prefixes above are DERIVED by applying the § 26 Abs. 5 rule to
+    the § 26 Abs. 3 list plus the Graz exception; the KDV nowhere prints them as
+    a table. They are recorded here because a parse API needs them, and marked
+    as derived, not quoted. WD is overwhelmingly the populated one (the
+    diplomatic corps and the Vienna-based international organisations), and
+    several of the others may never have been issued — an unverified claim,
+    left unverified.

data/data/plates/_decode/ch-cantons.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+# plates/_decode/ch-cantons.yml — the Swiss canton letters. DRAFT for verification.
+#
+# THE SOURCE FINDING, and it is the good kind: this table is NOT a Wikipedia
+# scrape and not an enthusiast list. It is enacted law, printed as a two-column
+# table inside the ordinance itself — Verkehrszulassungsverordnung (VZV),
+# SR 741.51, Art. 84 Abs. 1: "Jeder Kanton wird mit zwei grossen Buchstaben wie
+# folgt bezeichnet:" followed by exactly the 26 rows below, in exactly this
+# order. Every row here is that table, verbatim, in the ordinance's own order
+# (the constitutional order of precedence, NOT alphabetical), with the French
+# and Italian canton names taken from the FR and IT language versions of the
+# same consolidated article.
+#
+# This is the German-Anlage-2 case and not the German-district case, and the
+# contrast is worth stating because it drives the schema choice: § 9 Abs. 3 FZV
+# delegates the ~400 German district codes to Bundesanzeiger publications, so
+# plates/de.yml can only cite the MECHANISM; VZV Art. 84 Abs. 1 enumerates all
+# 26 Swiss codes inside the regulation, so this table is closed, primary and
+# complete on its face. There is no delegation, no open tail and no "on
+# application by the canton" clause.
+#
+# Referenced by: plates/ch.yml (ch-standard, ch-standard-trailer, ch-motorcycle,
+# ch-lightmotor-yellow, ch-motorfahrrad, ch-workvehicle-blue,
+# ch-exceptional-brown, ch-agricultural-green, ch-diplomatic-cd,
+# ch-consular-cc, ch-diplomatic-at, ch-provisional, ch-provisional-z,
+# ch-dealer-u, ch-dealer-pre1977, ch-rental-1977) via region_encoding.
+# NOT referenced by ch-military-m: federal military plates carry the single
+# letter M and no canton code at all (VZV Art. 84 Abs. 3).
+jurisdiction: ch
+topic: cantons
+authority:
+  name: Verkehrszulassungsverordnung (VZV), SR 741.51, Art. 84 Abs. 1
+  url: "https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1976/2423_2423_2423/de"
+sources:
+  - "https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1976/2423_2423_2423/de  # VZV Art. 84 Abs. 1 — the 26-row table, German names and codes, in the ordinance's own order; and the Jura footnote 'Kanton eingefügt durch Ziff. I der V vom 15. Nov. 1978, in Kraft seit 1. Jan. 1979 (AS 1978 1805)'"
+  - "https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1976/2423_2423_2423/fr  # OAC art. 84 al. 1 — the same table with the FRENCH canton names"
+  - "https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1976/2423_2423_2423/it  # OAC art. 84 cpv. 1 — the same table with the ITALIAN canton names"
+accessed: "2026-08-02"
+period: { start: 1977 }
+period_evidence: instrument-in-force
+period_note: >-
+  1977 is the VZV's entry into force (1 January 1977), not the date the two-letter
+  canton abbreviations came into use — they are the ordinary Swiss cantonal
+  abbreviations and long predate the ordinance. No primary for their origin was
+  secured in this pass, so none is asserted. The ONE row with a real, dated,
+  primary start is JU: the ordinance's own footnote records the Jura row as
+  "Kanton eingefügt durch Ziff. I der V vom 15. Nov. 1978, in Kraft seit
+  1. Jan. 1979 (AS 1978 1805)" — the canton of Jura separated from Bern and the
+  code entered the table on 1 January 1979. A plate allocated before that date
+  cannot read JU, and the territory JU covers read BE.
+
+# Decode facts a parse API must carry.
+maximal_munch: false
+maximal_munch_note: >-
+  Not applicable, and that is a genuine simplification over Spain: every Swiss
+  code is EXACTLY two capital letters (VZV Art. 84 Abs. 1: "mit zwei grossen
+  Buchstaben"), so the letter/number boundary is fixed at position 2 and there is
+  no longest-match ambiguity of the C / CA / CC / CE kind that es-provinces.yml
+  has to warn about.
+decode_semantics: >-
+  The code identifies the canton of the KEEPER's Standort, not the vehicle's
+  location, origin or manufacture. VZV Art. 77 Abs. 1 defines Standort as "der
+  Ort, wo das Fahrzeug nach Gebrauch in der Regel für die Nacht abgestellt wird",
+  with the keeper's domicile deemed the Standort in the three cases of Abs. 2.
+  Because the plate binds to the keeper (VZV Art. 87 Abs. 1), the code moves when
+  the KEEPER moves: VZV Art. 120 returns the annulled certificate and plates to
+  the former canton when a vehicle is admitted in another, and VZV Art. 95 Abs. 2
+  makes the same rule explicit for mopeds. A decoded canton is therefore a claim
+  about a person, not about a vehicle — the sharpest practical consequence of
+  Switzerland's owner-binding, and one a vehicle-keyed consumer will get wrong by
+  default.
+collisions:
+  - "AG (Aargau), AI (Appenzell Innerrhoden), AR (Appenzell Ausserrhoden) — no collision with the diplomatic sign AT, which occupies its own field ahead of the canton letters (VZV Art. 85 Abs. 4), but a naive left-anchored parser reading 'AT BE 12-34' will try AT as a canton code and must not."
+  - "The letter M is NOT a canton code: it is the federal military marker of VZV Art. 84 Abs. 3, and it is a SINGLE letter, which is what distinguishes it structurally."
+  - "The letter U (dealer marking, VZV Art. 82 Abs. 2 lit. c) and the letter Z (uncleared provisional vehicle, VVV Anhang 2 A Ziff. 3) are markings, not canton codes; the ordinance does not fix their position, so a parser must not assume they trail the number even though that is the observed form."
+codes:
+  - { code: ZH, de: "Zürich",             fr: "Zurich",                      it: "Zurigo",            period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: BE, de: "Bern",               fr: "Berne",                       it: "Berna",             period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: LU, de: "Luzern",             fr: "Lucerne",                     it: "Lucerna",           period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: UR, de: "Uri",                fr: "Uri",                         it: "Uri",               period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: SZ, de: "Schwyz",             fr: "Schwyz",                      it: "Svitto",            period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: OW, de: "Obwalden",           fr: "Obwald",                      it: "Obvaldo",           period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: NW, de: "Nidwalden",          fr: "Nidwald",                     it: "Nidvaldo",          period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: GL, de: "Glarus",             fr: "Glaris",                      it: "Glarona",           period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: ZG, de: "Zug",                fr: "Zoug",                        it: "Zugo",              period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: FR, de: "Freiburg",           fr: "Fribourg",                    it: "Friburgo",          period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: SO, de: "Solothurn",          fr: "Soleure",                     it: "Soletta",           period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: BS, de: "Basel-Stadt",        fr: "Bâle-Ville",                  it: "Basilea Città",     period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: BL, de: "Basel-Landschaft",   fr: "Bâle-Campagne",               it: "Basilea Campagna",  period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: SH, de: "Schaffhausen",       fr: "Schaffhouse",                 it: "Sciaffusa",         period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: AR, de: "Appenzell A. Rh",    fr: "Appenzell, Rhodes extérieures", it: "Appenzello esterno", period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: AI, de: "Appenzell I. Rh.",   fr: "Appenzell, Rhodes intérieures", it: "Appenzello interno", period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: SG, de: "St. Gallen",         fr: "Saint-Gall",                  it: "San Gallo",         period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: GR, de: "Graubünden",         fr: "Grisons",                     it: "Grigioni",          period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: AG, de: "Aargau",             fr: "Argovie",                     it: "Argovia",           period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: TG, de: "Thurgau",            fr: "Thurgovie",                   it: "Turgovia",          period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: TI, de: "Tessin",             fr: "Tessin",                      it: "Ticino",            period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: VD, de: "Waadt",              fr: "Vaud",                        it: "Vaud",              period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: VS, de: "Wallis",             fr: "Valais",                      it: "Vallese",           period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: NE, de: "Neuenburg",          fr: "Neuchâtel",                   it: "Neuchâtel",         period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: GE, de: "Genf",               fr: "Genève",                      it: "Ginevra",           period: { start: 1977 } }
+  - { code: JU, de: "Jura",               fr: "Jura",                        it: "Giura",             period: { start: 1979 }, period_evidence: enabling-amendment, note: "row inserted by Ziff. I der V vom 15. Nov. 1978, in force 1 Jan. 1979 (AS 1978 1805); before that the territory registered as BE" }
+
+# Not a decode dimension, recorded so nobody looks for one: the Swiss plate
+# carries NO date, NO issuing-office code below canton level and NO vehicle-type
+# code inside the serial. Vehicle type is signalled by the plate's BACKGROUND
+# COLOUR and SIZE (VZV Art. 82 Abs. 1, Art. 83 Abs. 3), both of which are
+# properties of the physical object rather than of the string. Number ranges are
+# not published: VZV Art. 84 Abs. 2 says only that each per-canton, per-colour,
+# per-marking counter starts "in der Regel mit der Zahl 1".
+no_further_decode: true