GeoPlanet

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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] 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". [8]

In June 2015, Yahoo announced that the GeoPlanet APIs would be dropped as the functionality is now available through their Yahoo Query Language and BOSS APIs. [9] The GeoPlanet APIs stopped responding to requests in late August 2016. [10]

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A WOEID is a unique 32-bit reference identifier, originally defined by GeoPlanet and now assigned by Yahoo!, that identifies any feature on Earth. In 2009, Yahoo! released GeoPlanet's WOEID data to the public, with the last release 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".

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. Archived from the original on 14 October 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  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 28 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Directory of Companies, Applications, and Organizations". Release 2.0 (10): 43. 2008.
  7. ↑ "Yahoo! WOEID Lookup". zourbuth.com. Archived from the original on 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  8. ↑ "Yahoo! GeoPlanet™ Data". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 2014-08-22. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  9. ↑ "Q2 2015 Progress Report On Our Product Prioritization". Yahoo. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  10. ↑ "Yahoo!". Archived from the original on 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2018-11-21.


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