Addon:GeoName

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This gramplet has been deprecated/replaced by Addon:PlaceCleanupGramplet

The GeoName gramplet is designed to download place information from the GeoNames gazetteer. It is installed as a gramplet on the Places view. This information can include

  • Geographical location (lat-lon coordinates)
  • postal codes
  • alternate names in some pre-defined languages (if available)
  • administrative hierarchy

Instead of the default ID numbering (Pxxxx) for the imported places, the GeoName-id will be used as the ID. If additional imports are performed, duplicate places (even part of the Enclosed By) will be automatically merged.

Usage

The language is set in the Edit -> Preferences.. tabs Display and is described in the Place Format Editor. This is used as the preferred language for place names and types which are imported. The default language is English.


Example of use

This example shows how the gramplet would be used. The user can either enter the GeoName-ID (number) or enter the city and US State / country code. For instance, the user can enter "Cleveland, OH" to find the city Cleveland in Ohio. Or they can enter "Reading, GB" or "Moshi, tz" to find Reading in Great Britain or Moshi in Tanzania. The search engine returns only Populates Places. If you want to find a location which is not a populated place, use the GeoNames search to find the exact GeoName-ID and enter the resultant GeoName-ID in the gramplet.

All alternate names in the default language plus "en","fr","de","pl","ru","da","es","fi","sw","no" will be returned.

GeoName-InitialView.png

Enter the GeoName-id into the gramplet on the Places view.

GeoName-AddingUScity.png

The resulting places with Lat and Lon are loaded. Note that the ID is "GEO" prepending the GeoName-id and not the default Pxxxx numbering. If you use the Reorder Gramps IDs tool, it will change the ID to the default Pxxxx numbering. Later use of this gramplet may import duplicate items (with different ID) since the Gramps ID is no longer the GeoName-id and duplicates will not be identified.

The place Type is set based on the data in the GeoNames gazetteer. In many cases, it is not specified, so the value is imputed. The gazetteer uses Administrative Divisions which are not tied to a specific type.

  • The top level of the hierarchy is set to Country
  • Any place which is a direct child of US is set to State
  • Any place which is a direct child of CA is set to Province
  • Any Populated Place is set to City
  • The description is parsed for known types (County, District, Region, ..) and used if available
  • Otherwise the type is set to Unknown


GeoName-DetailedCleveland.png

The resulting places with a detailed view of the attributes includes postal codes and alternate names.

GeoName-AddingIntlcity.png

This illustrates adding a non-US city. Enter the city and 2-letter country code as comma-separated items.

GeoName-GeoNameID.png

This illustrates entering an explicit GeoName-ID. You can use this if you are entering a non-populated place or if the city search does not match the location you desire.

Issues

  • If you use the Reorder Gramps IDs tool, it will change the ID to the default Pxxx numbering. Later use of this gramplet will import duplicate items (with different ID) since the Gramps ID is no longer the GeoName-id and duplicates will not be identified.
  • Detached gramplet has issue with resizing

See also