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How can I change administrative division a name lies in?  XML
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Dan



Joined: 12/09/2006 17:57:37
Messages: 9
Location: Adelphi, Maryland
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Hi,

I realized that neither creating new names, nor editing the old ones allows me to change the encompassing administrative division and/or the country for a name.

Example: I realized that "Turnov" is put in "Czech Republic, (EZ61)". I don't know where the cryptic code EZ61 comes from, but I do know that Turnov lies in "Czech Republic, Liberecký kraj, Okres Semily". Some (or all?) manually created names don't list divisions of countries at all. Any way to change such things?

Sometimes this even affects countries. Not that countries are represented by cryptic codes but the border lines seem not to be always accurate. I remember to have created a name along the Czech-Polish border (but definitely in Czechia), and the system automatically assigned the "Poland" label to it. Can I influence that?
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bernard



Joined: 18/08/2006 11:54:14
Messages: 30
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Hi Dan

I suppose marc will answer, I have had the same question in mind but my best guess is that administrative divisions are computed from the coordinates, and hence non editable (as the subdivisions themselves are). And of course, since they are calculated, I also guess that the limits of subdivisions are defined as polylines at best, so a certain level of (in)accuracy on the boarders is unevitable.
So it would be good indeed, given this inaccuracy on the boarders, if it could be corrected through the user interface.
Dan



Joined: 12/09/2006 17:57:37
Messages: 9
Location: Adelphi, Maryland
Offline

Hi Bernard,

yes, my guess about how it's done was about the same, although it does not answer the question why sometimes only the country is computed. Maybe the subdivision info comes with batch imports from external sources.

Indeed, if I was able to make visible and edit the border polylines, I would occasionally correct them. But I understand this would require a considerable effort in changing the user interface: not only move points but also add them, and associate with the polyline...

This raises another interesting question (although not related to the original topic): There are many features of non-point nature. Many features are better described as lines or areas, and simply placing their names somewhere as a point may not be of much use. I noticed that most stream names are placed at the end of the streams, i.e. their mouth into a bigger stream. That results in a number of H flags along a river, which however bear names of inflows; finding the name of the river itself is very difficult. Would it be inappropriate to have more than one point with the same name for the same river?
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marc



Joined: 08/12/2005 07:39:47
Messages: 4412
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Hi Dan and Bernard

An option to edit the country and administrative divison of a toponym really is required and I put it now on top of the todo list.

As for rivers and other line/area features I would prefer to have only one entry of each toponym. Sometimes however it can make sense to have the same river more than once, if you want to refer to only part of the river. Lets say some part of the river has some special characteristics and you want to refer to only this particular part of it. The uniquenes of a feature is also important for the Semantic Web Bernard is working on : http://forum.geonames.org/gforum/posts/list/156.page

Marc

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bernard



Joined: 18/08/2006 11:54:14
Messages: 30
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Uniqueness of the feature id is indeed important, and to have a same feature displayed more than once on a map could be confusing. Of course, from a display viewpoint, having an extended feature displayed as a point is suboptimal, for streams as for countries or regions as well, but this is inherent to cartography. As for streams in particular, moving the pin a little (half a mile or so) upstream of its confluence rather than at the confluence itself makes certainly things less ambiguous.
marc



Joined: 08/12/2005 07:39:47
Messages: 4412
Offline

Changing of country and administrative division is now possible.

Click on the edit link of a toponym and then on the country or admin1 name. Select the correct country/admin1 and press the save button.


Marc

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