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] 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]

References
  1. "Tech Update: GeoPlanet". Internet Magazine. 2002 (March): 21. 2002.
  2. "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". http://Zourbuth Project. 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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