GeoNames Forum

Hi,

I'm using the table alternate_names, handy to have translations for a specific language.

Thanks to is_preferred_name, it's easy to know which one is the preferred

However, sometimes for specific geoname_id, iso_language, I can find several names, and for each is_preferred_name is set to 0...

For example, i've found this:
Code:

 +---------+------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------+
 | id      | geoname_id | iso_language | alternate_name  | is_preferred_name | is_short_name |
 +---------+------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------+
 | 1555696 |    2635167 | fr           | Royaume-Uni     |                 0 |             0 | 
 | 2296433 |    2635167 | fr           | Grande-Bretagne |                 0 |             0 | 
 +---------+------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------+

Definitely when there're several alternate names for one couple (geoname_id, iso_language), is_preferred_name should be set to 1 for one of them, no ?

And for the previous example, id=1555696 should have is_preferred_name to 1

Thanks for your help

Please feel free to contribute to this project and set the missing flag: http://www.geonames.org/manual.html

Marc

Ok, I'll do it.

However, on geotree, at this url:
http://geotree.geonames.org/?id=6255148&lang=fr

I can see all countries of Europe, listed in French, and United Kingdom appears as "Grande Bretagne GB".

=> How do the soft makes this choice to show Grande Bretagne for United Kingdom ? it takes randomly a choice in alternate_names and takes the first one for this geoname_id in iso_language = fr maybe ? What is the logic involved in the choice of the translation in fact ?

Thanks

There is no defined rule what to do in a case of ambiguity when the isPreferred flag is not set. It just takes one of the possible names.

There is a daily check that lists ambiguities for English:
http://qa.geonames.org/qa/chkMostRelevantBestNotAmbiguous.html

I can expand it to cover French as well, if you want to go through the list.

The changes will not be visible on geotree immediately, it will need a rebuild of the cache which may take some days.

Best

Marc

Hi

Yes I would like you to cover French.
This way, I could contribute to the project

Thanks

And in fact, maybe you should cover all languages, and let a link somewhere in manual.html to let users contribute to their language !

Hi

Here the daily check for French country names:
http://qa.geonames.org/qa/chkCountryNameBestNotAmbiguous_fr.html

and here for other place names of high relevancy:
http://qa.geonames.org/qa/chkMostRelevantBestNotAmbiguous_fr.html

Thanks for your help.

You are right I will see where and how to include the daily checks in the FAQ/'How can I help' and the manual.

Best

Marc

I've had forgotten to make those fix for french...

as indicated in the manual, i've done the modification for:

* United Kingdom (2635167), according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royaume-Uni

* geonameId=3474415, according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9orgie_du_Sud-et-les_%C3%8Eles_Sandwich_du_Sud

* geonameId=3575174, according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Christophe-et-Ni%C3%A9v%C3%A8s

* geonameId=2080185, according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Eles_Marshall

* geonameId=2328926, according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria

* geonameId=3703430, according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama

* geonameId=3585968, according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador

* geonameId=1218197, according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkm%C3%A9nistan

Hope this helps

Last thing, I can see on http://qa.geonames.org/qa/chkCountryNameBestNotAmbiguous_fr.html

that for some geonameId, there's no name1 nore name2, I guess they're zombie records with no alternate names in the alternate names table, but I can't delete them through the interface, like for example: http://www.geonames.org/7626844/bonaire-saint-eustatius-and-saba.html

Any idea how to clean those records ? to kill all ambiguous for french...

Thanks for your contributions.

The test for name duplicates cannot find a name at all, because those countries are new and they don't yet have many language specific entries. Adding entries to the alternatename table in the respective language will make the error disapear.

Best

Marc

Also Macédoine geonameId=718075 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac%C3%A9doine_%28pays%29

However I cannot put p = true for Macédoine in French, I get an error message: "you are not allowed to update this alt name"

any idea to put Macédoine as preferred name in french?

Ok for the empty records,

So I've added the missing translations, here are the complete modifications (now french should be perfect, well nearly...)

* AQ 6697173 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctique
* BQ 7626844 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mod%C3%A8le:Bonaire,_Saint-Eustache_et_Saba
* CW 7626836 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura%C3%A7ao
* SX 7609695 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Martin_%28Royaume_des_Pays-Bas%29

And also for http://qa.geonames.org/qa/chkMostRelevantBestNotAmbiguous_fr.html, here are my modifications:

* NP 1283240 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katmandou
* PK 1172451 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore
* LV 456172 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riga
* SV 3583361 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Salvador_%28Salvador%29
* XK 786714 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pristina
* TZ 160263 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar_es_Salam
* AM 616635 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyumri
* LT 598098 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaip%C4%97da (strange I didn't know the ė in french... should make more investigation, maybe inform wikipedia, because quite strange... todo...)
* GL 3421319 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuuk
* LT 594739 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0iauliai (same remark as above, Š doesn't exist in french, maybe inform wikipedia...todo...)

Thanks.

Marc

And last...

* NL 2758401 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%A9da
* RU 515003 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orenbourg
* RU 578072 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgorod
* IN 1259425 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pondich%C3%A9ry
* MX 3998655 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3n_%28Mexique%29
* DE 2934691 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duisbourg
* TF 1024028 according to http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_Juan_de_Nova