GeoNames Forum

First, I have to clarify that I'm not using regions from Geonames because of this
http://forum.geonames.org/gforum/posts/list/59.page#149

Unfortunately, in the database of regions that I'm using, the names for some regions like Catalunya are not in the language of that region. Probably I should have changed this immediately (I'm from this region!), but I didn't do it, and now that I've already spreaded the URL address with the other name, if I change the address, then I have to provide a way to handle the requests for the old name in a graceful way, and I haven't done that yet (up to now I've given more priority to other things). But I plan to change it, I'll let you know when it's done.

On the other hand, although I don't have any problem in discussing these vivirama issues here, I guess that it's not very appropriate (because this is to discuss about Geonames), so if you want to add anything, maybe you should send me a private message.

Thanks!

marc wrote:

Hallo frx

Für die Umkreissuche haben wir zwei Webservices :

* Find nearby postal codes / reverse geocoding : gibt Orte und Postleitzahlen in einem Umkreis zurück.

* Find nearby place name / reverse geocoding : gibt Orte in einem Umkreis zurück.

http://www.geonames.org/export/

Marc

Gibt es da irgendwelche Beispiele, wie man so etwas in eine PHP-Seite einbauen kann? Ich möchte nähmlich das Tool dazu benutzen, auf meiner Seite eine Umkreissuche zu integrieren....

Gruss Michael

If anyone knows how to get a database of postal codes for Turkey, I'd appreciate it.

I'm working on an opensource application for networking and want to support as many countries as possible. (Currently someone in Turkey is interested.)

I'm very excited to find this website - it's an excellent resource!

xavi wrote:

... See for example
http://www.vivirama.com/spain/cataluna/barcelona

xavi

hi Xavi,

that at sight damage! , would be possible to offer the own and natural name of Catalunya instead of Cataluna? is some problem not to use it?
Surely that this error can be repaired!

Thank Xavi

abat sise

marc wrote:

Would you like to have more privileges?

Yes, please (I hope not to break anything with the new privileges!)

xavi

It is the same bug already mentioned here :

http://forum.geonames.org/gforum/posts/list/110.page

In the fix above I forgot to restore Canada (7 entries) and New Zealand (2 entries). Hope everything is fixed now.

Marc

AFAIK all codes in wikipedia are ISO 639-3, apart from ALS, that really is a mistake. A much wider list can be built at wiktionaryZ.org where a much bigger number of them is used. you can also check Ethnologue

Mi Marc, an issue has resulted in me moving databased to Microsoft SQL server express editon. can the same be done for that i.e in your last post?

somehow, Mount Lorne (in Yukon, Canada), lost its admin1_code in the latest dump. It should be 12 (the FIPS code for Yukon).

http://www.geonames.org/maps/geonameId=6081616

in the most recent database dump (2006-07-13), there are 5254 places with country_code 'null'.

The first result for http://www.geonames.org/search.html?q=Hawaii&country= is:

Republic of Hawaii
Hawai,Kingdom of Hawaii,Republic of Hawaii United States, Hawaii first-order administrative division
population 1.284.220 N 20° 45' 1'' W 156° 30' 1''

However "Republic of Hawaii" is just the last alternate name. When clicking on it, its name is still Hawaii.

The search page is returning alternate names as primary.

--
Jobrafo

A curious case is Hawaii

There was an ADM1 for the American state fo Hawaii and and ADM for "Republic of Hawaii (historical)".

The Hawaii state is the successor of the Republic and besides the Republic was an independent entity, so it should not be merely ADM.

I have added the "Kingdom" and "Republic" names as alternates of the state, but I have hesitated to delete the Republic spot.

--
Jobrafo

There are categories for places like:
[list]BTL battlefield a site of a land battle of historical importance
HSTS historical site a place of historical importance
RUIN ruin(s) a destroyed or decayed structure which is no longer functional
PPLQ abandoned populated place
[/list]

Some of these could classed as those or put as alternate names of their successor places. (Personally, I like to add the old historic names of places)

I prefer solutions that do not destroy information.

--
Jobrafo

I've tried to delete one entry of Sant Just Desvern (it's duplicated), but with no luck. It all proceeds normally (I think, I can add a comment for the deletion, and I enter "duplicated", and the dialog is closed without error), but the entry doesn't disappear.

http://www.geonames.org/search.html?q=sant+just+desvern&country=

What I could be doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.

xavi

hello again,

there are 8600 cities containing the substring "(historical)" in their names. Nearly all of them are in the US.

What are these "historical" cities? They seem like old towns that don't exist anymore. Is this correct? If it is, shouldn't they be deleted from Geonames?

xavi

Is there a daily limit on the number of reverse geocodes one IP address (ie: server) can perform in a day with the web services?

We currently use another service to geocode UK postcodes and I'm thinking of using a similar system whereby we find all the unique postal codes for the hotels listed on our site, use the WS to geocode them then cache the results in our database (assuming that's allowed under the licence).

The problem being, we'd need to geocode on average maybe 2 - 3000 entries per site initially into the cache and I don't want to get the server IPs banned for abusing the system. With the UK system it does one lookup every couple of seconds, then sleeps for 20 seconds every 200 and I was wondering if something like that would be acceptable for using the Geonames system?

Trev

Hi,

I've noticed that in the latest database dumps (or at least, in the dump of July 9) the cities of Shrewsbury and Oxford (in the UK) have lost their admin1 code (I think it was there in previous dumps).
Is this possible? What happened?
Thanks in advance.
xavi

Marc, thankyou very much for your help!

Marc:

In the database they have valenciana instead País Valencià:
(http://www.geonames.org/search.html?q=Benicarl%C3%B3&country=)
and Islas Baleares instead of Illes Balears:
(http://www.geonames.org/search.html?q=Mallorca&country=)
You can fix this error?

Thank you

Vicent

It is not working as it should.

http://www.geonames.org/search.html?q=Catalunya&country=FR does not give the Catalunya region.

http://www.geonames.org/search.html?q=Catalunya&country=ES does, though.

--
Jobrafo