This image was generated using the handy wof-graph-placetypes script in the py-mapzen-whosonfirst-placetypes library
This image was generated using the handy wof-graph-placetypes script in the py-mapzen-whosonfirst-placetypes library
Placetypes
All place types have a unique 64-bit numeric ID. It should always be possible to query or filter for places by that numeric ID so that the burden of remembering whether it is neighbourhood or neighborhood or quartier or whatever is reserved for friendly banter over drinks.
In alphabetical order the current list of placetypes in Who's On First is:
address
102312329
This is an open question. The question being: How/what do we do with OpenAddresses? We aren't sure of anything, yet, except maybe to put this here as a placeholder for probably between buildings and venues
Addresses are considered common optional.
building
102312327
See also: Imagining the Built Works Registry
Buildings are considered common optional.
campus
102312331
Things like universities or office complexes and airports. Something something something, Burning Man and other annual events.
Campuses are considered common optional.
continent
102312309
I think we're all in pretty broad agreement about continents, yeah?
Continents are considered common.
country
102312307
Basically places that issue passports, notwithstanding the details (like empires which actually issue the passports...)
Continents are considered common.
county
This needs a better - that is more abstract - name. Like "region" instead of state, province, whatever... but for counties.
Counties are considered common optional.
dependency
102312313
It's not a sub-region of a country but rather dependent on a parent country for defence, passport control, subsidies, etc.
Dependencies are considered common optional.
disputed
102322043
Places that one or more parties claim as their own. As of this writing all disputed places are parented only by the country (and higher) IDs of the claimants. This isn't to say there aren't more granular hierarchies to be applied to these place only that we are starting with the simple stuff first.
Disputed areas are considered common optional.
empire
102312335
Or "sovereignty" but really... empire. For example the Meta United States that contains both the US and Puerto Rico.
Empires are considered common optional.
localadmin
404221409
In many countries, the lowest level of government. They contain one or more localities (or "populated places") which themselves have no authority. Often but not exclusively found in Europe.
Localadmins are considered common optional
locality
102312317
Towns and cities, independent of size or population. Things with neighbourhoods, basically.
Localities are considered common.
macrocounty
404221413
Bundles of counties!
Macrocounties are considered optional. These exists mostly in Europe.
macrohood
102312323
Like "BoCoCa" which in WOE is a neighbourhood that parents another... neighbourhood.
Macrohoods are considered optional.
macroregion
404221411
Bundles of regions! These exists mostly in Europe.
Macroregions are considered optional.
marinearea
404528655
Places with fish and boats.
Marine areas are considered common_optional.
metroarea
102371933
Things like "The Bay Area" – this one is hard so we shouldn't spend too much time worrying about the details yet but instead treat as something we want to do eventually.
Metropolitain areas are considered common optional.
microhood
102312321
Because all place is disputed. And everyone has a name for a place that will offend someone else.
Microhoods are considered optional.
neighbourhood
102312319
Things no one will agree on. Ever.
Neighbourhoods are considered common.
ocean
404528653
The really big marine areas. The ones that you sometimes feel cast adrift on...
Oceans are considered common_optional.
planet
102312341
The big round thing you're standing on.
region
102312311
States, provinces, regions. We call them regions. These are places that would have a bone in a "states rights" argument.
Regions are considered common.
venue
102312325
Things with walls, often but mostly things that people stand around together. Things with walls might be public (a bar) or private (your apartment) by default.
Venues are considered common optional.
ISO Country codes
Per the ISO 3166 spec which states:
User-assigned code elements are codes at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries, territories, or other geographical entities to their in-house application of ISO 3166-1, and the ISO 3166/MA will never use these codes in the updating process of the standard. The following codes can be user-assigned:[19] Alpha-2: AA, QM to QZ, XA to XZ, and ZZ Alpha-3: AAA to AAZ, QMA to QZZ, XAA to XZZ, and ZZA to ZZZ Numeric: 900 to 999 We use the following ISO country codes:
XK
We just followed Geonames' lead and have assigned XK to be the ISO country code for Kosovo.
XN
For Null Island.
XX
XX denotes a place disputed by two or more (ISO) countries.
XY
XY denotes an ISO country that has yet to be determined (by us). You might typically see this is a record for a freshly created place that hasn't been fully vetted or editorialized yet.
XZ
XZ is the ISO country code equivalent of wof:parent_id=-2 or :shrug: the world is a complicated place.
Hierarchies
A Who's On First (wof:) hierarchy is a list of dictionaries, which each item is a dictionary containing a full hierarchy. Like this:
"wof:hierarchy": [ { "neighbourhood_id": 9997, "locality_id": 9997, "metro_id": 9998, "county_id": 9998, "region_id": 9998, "country_id": 9998, "continent_id": 9998 }, { "neighbourhood_id": 9997, "locality_id: 9997, "metro_id": 9999, "county_id": 9999, "region_id": 9999, "country_id": 9999, "continent_id": 9999 } ] See below for details and rationale.
How did we get here?
The following is a verbatim written exercise to work through the issue of how a hierarchy should be represented or, more specifically, how the potentially multiple hierarchies that a given place might encompass should be represented.
Something something something as elements on the root properties dictionary. Like this:
{ "wof:neighbourhood_id": 9999, "wof:locality_id": 9999, "wof:county_id": 9999, "wof:region_id": 9999, "wof:country_id": 9999, "wof:continent_id": 9999 } Something something something as a dictionary on the root properties dictionary. Like this:
"wof:hierarchy": { "neighbourhood_id": 9999, "locality_id": 9999, "county_id": 9999, "region_id": 9999, "country_id": 9999, "continent_id": 9999 } This has the advantage of keeping all the hierarchy information in one place however it is left as an exercise to the user to enforce the actual order of the hierarchy since there is no way to be certain that programming langage X will ensure the ordering of the dictionary keys. We could define the hierarchy as a list of dictionaries which would allow to explicitly encode the parent for that node but those extra bytes in each record will add up fast when dealing with a global hierarchy. Like this:
"wof:hierarchy": [ { "neighbourhood_id": 9999, "parent": "locality_id" }, { "locality_id": 9999, "parent: "county_id" }, { "county_id": 9999, "parent": "region_id" }, { "region_id": 9999, "parent": "country_id" }, { "country_id": 9999, "parent": "continent_id" }, { "continent_id": 9999, "parent": "" } } Meanwhile we also know that we want to support certain place types that will have multiple parents (because geography) like metropolitain areas or, if we choose to include them in the gazetteer proper, road networks.
At a minimum this means that some of the values for placetypes have to be lists which probably means all of the values should be lists so that people don't have to think about context or test data types. For example:
"wof:hierarchy": { "neighbourhood_id": [ 9999 ], "locality_id": [ 9999 ], "metropolitain_area": [ 9999 ], "county_id": [ 9999, 9999 ], "region_id": [ 9999 ], "country_id": [ 9999 ], "continent_id": [ 9999 ], } However, it is possible to imagine a place type with not only multiple parents but multiple ancestors. A timezone or, again, a road network. In which case you find yourself with a dictionary whose values are lists of dictionaries. At which point you risk spiralling off in to Semantic Web graph theory quicksand.
So maybe the thing to do is suffer mixed content (unique IDs and lists) where the rule is the immediate (outer) hierarchy stops the moment there are multiple parents. Like this:
"wof:hierarchy": { "neighbourhood_id": 9999, "locality_id": 9999, "metro_id": [ { "metro_id": 9998, "county_id": 9998, "region_id": 9998, "country_id": 9998, "continent_id": 9998 }, { "metro_id": 9999, "county_id": 9999, "region_id": 9999, "country_id": 9999, "continent_id": 9999 } ] } Or maybe the hierarchy is always just a list of dictionaries, each containing a full hierarchy. Like this:
"wof:hierarchy": [ { "neighbourhood_id": 9997, "locality_id": 9997, "metro_id": 9998, "county_id": 9998, "region_id": 9998, "country_id": 9998, "continent_id": 9998 }, { "neighbourhood_id": 9997, "locality_id: 9997, "metro_id": 9999, "county_id": 9999, "region_id": 9999, "country_id": 9999, "continent_id": 9999 } ] Reasons why this last suggestion is good:
- It is explicit
- It is easy to compare multiple hierarchies
- It doesn't require the user do a lot of mental arithmetic to construct the complete hierarchy or to support whatever "efficiencies" we dream up in the moment
- It is easier to change going forward (say before an "official" launch) than the alternatives
Reasons why this last suggestion is, or might be, bad:
- If we support metropolitain areas then many places (localities, neighbourhood, venues) may have multiple hierarchies where the only difference will (likely) be the county, leaving all the remaining ancestors in common
- File size, disk space and bandwidth - this is the corollary of the first point and akin to whitespace or coordinates with > 6 decimal points in GeoJSON files
In the end the "good" reasons outweighed the "bad" reasons.