GeoPlanet

GeoPlanet is a computer platform for coordinating world-wide geographic information, and providing both text and cartographic output, such as digital maps for any location in the world.[1][2] It provides a location infrastructure for search engines, portals and both Web and WAP sites. It was developed by GDC, a London-based geographic information company,[3] which was acquired by Whereonearth in 1998.[4] When Whereonearth spun off GDC in 2002, it kept GeoPlanet. When Yahoo! purchased Whereonearth in 2005, it acquired GeoPlanet.[5][6]

An integral part of GeoPlanet is the WOEID (Where On Earth IDentifier), a unique 32-bit reference identifier, now assigned by Yahoo!, that identifies any feature on Earth.[7] WOEID is used by a number of web applications, such as zWeather.[8] GeoPlanet has a java library that provides access to the GeoPlanet API, including WOEIDs.[9]

In addition to the strict numerical WOEID, GeoPlanet also has a hierarchical structure that allows accessing surrounding locations, and zooming up and down administrative divisions.[2]

In 2009, Yahoo! released GeoPlanet's WOEID data to the public,[2] but the last release was on 1 June 2012 after which Yahoo! decided to cease making the data downloadable until they "determine a better way to surface the data as a part of the service".[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Tech Update: GeoPlanet". Internet Magazine 2002 (March): 21. 2002.
  2. 1 2 3 "Free geo data solutions compared: GeoNames.org vs. Yahoo! GeoPlanet". Cosmo Code. 24 January 2010.
  3. ↑ "Open for business". GEO Europe 2001 (September): 46. 2001.
  4. ↑ "Whereonearth has completed the spin-off of GDC through a successful management buyout". GEO: connexion 2 (1): 62. 2002.
  5. ↑ "Yahoo Buys Whereonearth To Bolster Local Search". TechDirt. 18 October 2005. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014.
  6. ↑ "Directory of Companies, Applications, and Organizations". Release 2.0 0 (10): 43. 2008.
  7. ↑ "Yahoo! WOEID Lookup". http://Zourbuth Project.
  8. ↑ "zWeatherFeed - Weather Feed Using WOEID Locations". Zazar.
  9. ↑ "jGeoPlanet - the Java library for the Yahoo! GeoPlanet API". winterwell Associates.
  10. ↑ "Yahoo! GeoPlanet™ Data". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014.

External links


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