GeoNames Forum

Sorry if I'm being dim but I've searched around this fascinating website for an answer to the following question without success.

How do I add data to this database ? I'm interested in genealogy and local history in the West of Ireland. When I find an old cemetery in the middle of rural nowhere I note its position with my GPS. Because the cemetery could be of interest to other genealogists I'd like to post the position in a generally accessible database. The same applies to an old church of historical or architectural interest or a small named settlement which doesn't appear on any map.

Can someone tell me in simple terms whether I can add such data to the Geonames database and, if so, how ?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Paddy

If you have the gps coordinates you can enter them on the search form in the format 'latitude,longitude' and press the 'show on map' button : http://www.geonames.org/

Example : http://www.geonames.org/maps/showOnMap?q=53,-8

Then you zoom in and press the 'insert' button on the left hand side below the overview map. There is a short manual to help with inserting :
http://www.geonames.org/manual.html

Hope this makes it clearer.

Cheers

Marc

Thanks for the prompt reply, Marc.

I'm still getting something wrong despite having read the manual. I type in 'Latitude 52.97631 Longitude -008.91227' into the Search field and add Ireland as the country to the right and then hit "Show on map" and it takes me to somewhere in the middle of Europe.

I'd appreciate another hint.

Thanks.

It is without the words latitude and longitude and a comma between the two. Like this : '52.97631,-008.91227'

Marc,

I had already tried that but nevertheless I copied and pasted the coordinates exactly as you wrote them and still got the satellite image of the middle of Switzerland instead of the West of Ireland. I tried it repeatedly with no success. Then I changed from my Firefox 2.0.0.1 browser to IE and it worked, i.e. the correct satellite image came up.

So there is something about my Firefox which is preventing it from functioning correctly with the Geonames search facility. I'll try fiddling with the Options but if you happen to know the exact cause (i.e. because it has been reported to you before) I'd be grateful for a pointer.

Thanks

Paddy

this is weird. I am using Firefox 2.0.0.1 myself without any problems.

Marc

The problem seems to have solved itself, Marc but I'm not sure why. For some reason Geonames stopped accepting my login and wouldn't even recognise my email address when I tried "forgot my password". So I started a new account with exactly the same user name and password and got an email back telling me to activate my account, activated the account, and then everything started working in Firefox. The only other thing that had changed was that I had activated Java in Firefox (which I normally keep deactivated).

Now another question: when I try to create a new placename, the only method I am offered is to move the marker to a place on the map and then start filling out the form. However the map of that part of Ireland is so lacking in detail , and the satellite image is of such low resolution, that I can't see where to move the marker to. What I want to do is input the GPS or lat/long coordinates so that the placename is defined with precision. How do I do this ?

Paddy

Hi Paddy

You are right this was missing. There is now a link 'gps' in parenthesis below the overview map. Click on it and a new form will open that lets you enter latitude and longitude. Then you click on the link 'next' below the form and enter the name and featureclass/featurecode of the place.

Cheers

Marc

I managed to add a locality, Marc (Templenadeirca cemetery in Ireland) but could not define the country. When I picked Ireland from the dropdown list and hit Save nothing happened for 5 minutes. I got out of the situation by using Cancel.

Something seems not to work there yet-

Paddy

You don't have to define a country during the insert. This is automatically derived from the gps coordinates.

Aaah, OK, thanks Marc.

Paddy