Reference · built on requestCommons signalPlaces & geographic reference

GeoNames

Global place names, postal codes, administrative hierarchies, and nearby lookups via the GeoNames geographical database web services.

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About

GeoNames is a worldwide geographical database that indexes over twenty-five million geographical names and features across all countries. Its web services API provides programmatic place name search, reverse geocoding to nearest populated places, postal code lookups, administrative boundary hierarchies, timezone determinations, and weather station lookups, complemented by downloadable daily database export dumps.

Through Fibric, an operator resolves international place names and postal codes, proposing normalized city names, timezone assignments, or administrative division tags for customer accounts and facilities.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from GeoNames and what it could propose, based on the publisher's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • Place name search and geographic coordinates via GET /searchJSON
  • Reverse geocoding resolving coordinates to nearest populated place through GET /findNearbyPlaceNameJSON
  • International postal code lookup and bounding box queries via GET /postalCodeSearchJSON
  • Administrative division hierarchies and parent administrative units from GET /hierarchyJSON
  • Timezone identification and daylight saving offsets by coordinates via GET /timezoneJSON

Proposed actions

Read-only. This feed informs operators; it changes nothing.

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Resolve international postal codes and regions

    When cross-border customer orders supply ambiguous city or state names, query GeoNames postal code services to propose standard administrative region names.

    With Address Repair, Customs Declaration

  • Assign facility timezones from coordinates

    Given latitude and longitude coordinates for new warehouse or vendor locations, query GeoNames to propose exact IANA timezone strings for scheduling.

    With Site Benchmark, Shift Coverage

  • Reverse geocode field service technician check-ins

    Convert mobile GPS coordinates from field workers into nearest municipality names, proposing readable arrival milestone logs for dispatch monitors.

    With Field Dispatch

Requirements

  • A free registered username on geonames.org with web services enabled in user account preferences
  • Correct country code filters (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) to scope regional search queries
  • Attribution to GeoNames under the Creative Commons Attribution license
Authentication
Free registered GeoNames account username passed as the username parameter in web service request query strings.

Limits

  • Free user accounts are subject to hourly and daily credit limits (typically 20,000 credits per day)
  • High-throughput commercial queries should download and host the daily GeoNames text database dumps
  • Postal code boundaries represent centroid lookups rather than polygon delivery delivery zones

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Public feed access is separate from Fibric integration. If you request this feed, your quote covers the build, usage, and support.

Request GeoNames ↗

Questions and answers

What authentication is required for GeoNames web services?
Users must register for a free account at geonames.org and enable web services in their account profile. The username is then included as a parameter in API requests.
What data formats are supported by GeoNames?
GeoNames endpoints return responses in JSON or XML format depending on the endpoint name (e.g., searchJSON vs search). Free downloadable daily tab-delimited text dumps are also provided.
Can GeoNames data be downloaded and hosted locally?
Yes. GeoNames publishes all-countries database dumps and postal code files daily under a Creative Commons license, enabling organizations to build local gazetteer databases.
Ask about GeoNames

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This Commons signal listing is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. It reads public data published by GeoNames (api.geonames.org). Upstream agencies and projects are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy