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Proposal: Change lat/lon for Republic of the Philippines  XML
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julian_mapzen



Joined: 18/11/2016 17:56:36
Messages: 1
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Hi all,
The country record for the Philippines ( 1694008 ) has a very approximate latitude/longitude (13.00N, 122.00E). While the general location is correct in that it's near the center of the country, its is problematic for a couple reasons.

1.) It's in the middle of the sea. It probably makes sense for the lat/lon to fall on land. This makes it easier for anyone using Geonames data and doing analysis with polygon data for landmasses. Additionally, any time the current point is displayed on a map at a zoom level that does not show a large area will simply see water. The geonames.org website in fact has this behavior, so when people search for the Philippines they see something like this:


2.) The chosen point has no relevance to any major natural or human feature. No one, when they think of the Philippines, considers a random point within a sea between the islands. They might think of Manila, the capital and most heavily populated area, or Luzon, the largest island, so perhaps the point should correspond to the approximate center of one of those places.

I'd suggest something like 16.55N,121.22E, which is roughly the center of Luzon, to avoid an already cluttered area around Manila, but there are many great options.

I don't have the privileges required to update this record, so hopefully someone who does will read this and make a change. Thanks!
 
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