PeriodO placename gazetteers

This repository contains custom placename gazetteers used for indicating the spatial coverage of PeriodO periods. Gazetteers in bold have geometry (boundary polygon) information. To keep these gazetteers as small as possible, and to communicate the sense in which we use them, the published geometries are convex hulls of the more detailed boundary polygons.

Continents gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking continent geometries from the Natural Earth 1:10m physical vectors for label areas, merging the geometries for Asia and the Malay Archipelago to get a broader geometry for Asia, and merging the geometries for the scale rank 0 areas in the Oceania region to get a geometry for Oceania,

2. querying Wikidata for instances of Q5107 continent, excluding Q3960 Australia in favor of Q538 Oceania. This gazetteer is also where we put Q2 Earth, for lack of a better place. (Earth does not have a geometry.)

Subcontinental regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. merging the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for countries and map units (prioritizing map units over sovereign entities),

2. merging geometries of the units found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for subcontinental regions (see place-ids/subregions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q82794 geographic region to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Geographic regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. finding PeriodO periods with geographic regions in their spatial coverage descriptions, and then looking for close equivalents in Wikidata that are instances of Q82794 geographic region, and then

2. taking region geometries from the Natural Earth 1:10m physical vectors for label areas.

Other regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by finding PeriodO periods with miscellaneous regions in their spatial coverage descriptions, and then looking for close equivalents in Wikidata that are instances of Q82794 geographic region. It currently does not have any geometries.

Countries gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. merging the Natural Earth 1:110m, 1:50m, and 1:10m cultural vectors for countries and map units, such that we use the lowest-resolution, and most geographically specific, country geometries available (i.e. prioritizing map units over sovereign entities).

2. removing Natural Earth "countries" that lack ISO country codes (see jq/countries.jq for the complete list). Natural Earth is missing ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes for Norway, Papua New Guinea, and Serbia, so these have been added.

3. using the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes from the Natural Earth data to query Wikidata for the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

The reason for the merging of countries and map units in step one is that in some cases (e.g. France) we want to separate the contiguous primary country geometry from the geometries of former colonial or territorial holdings around the world, and the procedure above achieves this. As a result the list also includes countries like Scotland and Wales, even though these are technically parts of the sovereign country of the United Kingdom.

Afghan provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/afghan-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q158683 province of Afghanistan to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Algerian provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/algerian-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q240601 province of Algeria to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Azerbaijani districts and cities gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/azerbaijani-districts.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q13417250 district of Azerbaijan or Q56557664 şəhər to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Beninese departments gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/beninese-departments.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q792929 department of Benin to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Bolivian departments gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/bolivian-departments.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q250050 department of Bolivia to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Burkinabé regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the administrative units (provinces) found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for regions (see place-ids/burkinabe-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q867094 region of Burkina Faso to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Djiboutian regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/djiboutian-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q1202812 region of Djibouti to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Egyptian governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/egyptian-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q204910 governorate of Egypt to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

English counties gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the administrative units found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for (non-administrative) ceremonial counties (see place-ids/english-counties.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q180673 ceremonial country of England to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Ethiopian regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/ethiopian-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q1057504 region of Ethiopia to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that the region of Sidama, separated from the region of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples in 2020, is not included, as the geometry for this administrative unit is not yet included in the Natural Earth data.

French regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the administrative units (departments) found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for (pre-2016) regions (see place-ids/french-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q36784 region of France, Q22670030 former French region, or Q202216 overseas department and region of France to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that these are the pre-2016 (22 metropolitan, 5 overseas) regions, not the current (13 metropolitan, 5 overseas) regions.

Gambian regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/gambian-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q15646510 region of the Gambia to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Georgian regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/georgian-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q1210300 mkhare (or Q244339 administrative territorial entity of Georgia in the case of Adjara) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that Abkhazia is included in the countries gazetteer.

Greek administrative regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/greek-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q207299 administrative region of Greece (or Q788176 autonomous administrative territorial entity in the case of the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Guinean regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the administrative units (prefectures) found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for regions (see place-ids/guinean-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q1067116 region of Guinea to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Indian states and union territories gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/indian-states.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q131541 states and union territories of India to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that the state of Telangana (recently separated from Andhra Pradesh) and the union territory of Ladakh (recently separated from Jammu and Kashmir) are not included, as the geometries for these administrative units are not yet included in the Natural Earth data.

Indonesian provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/indonesian-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q5098 province of Indonesia to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that the province of North Kalimantan (separated from East Kalimantan in 2012) is not included, as the geometry for this administrative unit is not yet included in the Natural Earth data.

Iranian provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the provinces found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for regions (see place-ids/iranian-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q1344695 province of Iran to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Iraqi and Kurdish governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the provinces found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for regions (see place-ids/iraqi-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q841753 governorate of Iraq to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that the governorate of Halabja, separated from the governorate of Sulaymaniyah in 2014, is not included, as the geometry for this administrative unit is not yet included in the Natural Earth data.

Israeli districts gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/israeli-districts.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q193560 district of Israel to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Italian regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the provinces found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for regions (see place-ids/italian-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q16110 region of Italy to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Jordanian governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/jordanian-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q867567 governorate of Kuwait to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Kuwaiti governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/kuwaiti-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q842876 governorate of Kuwait to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Kyrgyz regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/kyrgyz-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q693039 region of Kyrgyzstan (or Q15623974 administrative territorial entity of Kyrgyzstan in the case of Bishkek) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Laotian provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/laotian-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q15673297 province of Laos to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that the province of Xaisomboun (recently established as a province, having been a special administrative zone) is not included, as the geometry for this administrative unit is not yet included in the Natural Earth data.

Lebanese governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/lebanese-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q844713 governorate of Lebanon to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that the post-2014 provinces of Akkar, Baalbek-Hermel, and Keserwan-Jbeil are not included, as the geometries for these administrative units are not yet included in the Natural Earth data.

Libyan districts gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/libyan-districts.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q48242 district of Libya to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Malaysian states and regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/malaysian-states.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q50464 state or federal territory of Malaysia to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Myanma states and regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/myanma-states.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q17315624 state of Myanmar or Q15072454 region of Myanmar to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Nigerian states gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/nigerian-states.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q465842 state of Nigeria (or Q3330995 administrative territorial entity of Nigeria in the case of the Federal Capital Territory) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Nigerien regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/nigerien-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q859869 region of Niger (or Q5119 capital in the case of Niamey) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Omani governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/omani-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q641078 governorate of Oman to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Pakistani provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/pakistani-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q270496 administrative territorial entity of Pakistan that are also instances of Q10864048 first-level administrative country subdivision to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas are included as a separate territory, as they were prior to their 2018 merger with the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Philippine regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the administrative units (provinces) found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for regions (see place-ids/philippine-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q24698 region of the Philippines to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Romanian counties gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by querying Wikidata for instances of Q1776764 județ (or Q640364 municipality of Romania in the case of Bucharest), both to get geometries and to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Russian federal subjects gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/russian-federal-subjects.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q43263 federal subject of Russia to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Saudi Arabian provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/saudi-arabian-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q15623255 administrative territorial entity of Saudi Arabia to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Spanish autonomous communities gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. merging geometries of the units found in the Natural Earth data into geometries for autonomous communities (see place-ids/spanish-communities.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q10742 autonomous community of Spain to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Sudanese states gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/sudanese-states.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q746290 state of Sudan to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that this gazetteer does not include the state of West Kordofan, which was abolished in 2005 and reestablished in 2013, nor does it include the disputed Abyei Area.

Syrian governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/syrian-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q517351 governorate of Syria to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Tajikistani regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/tajikistani-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q867545 region of Tajikistan to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Thai provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/thai-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q50198 province of Thailand (or Q15634695 special administrative area of Thailand in the case of Bangkok) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Turkish provinces gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/turkish-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q48336 province of Turkey to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Turkmen regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/turkmen-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q12014176 region of Turkmenistan to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Ukrainian oblasts gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/ukrainian-oblasts.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q3348196 oblast of Ukraine (or Q5124045 city with special status in the case of Kyiv) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that Crimea and Sevastopol are included in the Russian federal subjects gazetteer as this is how they are labeled in the Natural Earth data.

U.S. states gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for U.S. states and

2. the geometries for U.S. unincorporated territories extracted from the merged Natural Earth cultural vectors for countries and map units (see above), and then

3. using the ISO 3166-2 (or, in the case of unincorporated territories, ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) codes from the Natural Earth data to query Wikidata for the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Uzbek regions gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/uzbek-regions.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q842420 region of Uzbekistan (or Q7631083 administrative territorial entity of Uzbekistan in the case of Tashkent and Karakalpakstan) to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Vietnamese provinces and municipalities gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/vietnamese-provinces.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q2824648 province of Vietnam or Q1381899 municipality of Vietnam to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Yemeni governorates gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. taking the Natural Earth 1:10m cultural vectors for states and provinces,

2. extracting geometries of the administrative regions from the Natural Earth data (see place-ids/yemeni-governorates.json for details), and

3. querying Wikidata for instances of Q331130 governorate of Yemen to add the additional metadata required by the Linked Places gazetteer format.

Note that this gazetteer includes the Socotra Archipelago as part of the Hadhramaut Governorate, as it was prior to 2014.

World cities gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by:

1. finding PeriodO periods with cities in their spatial coverage descriptions, and then looking for close equivalents in Wikidata that are instances of Q486972 human settlement, and then

2. using the Natural Earth 1:10m landscan urban areas to derive geometries for these cities (see place-ids/cities.json for the mapping from Wikidata names to NE names).

Historical places gazetteer

This gazetteer was created by finding PeriodO periods with named historical places in their spatial coverage descriptions, and then looking for close equivalents in Wikidata that are instances of Q3024240 historical country, Q28171280 ancient civilization, or Q839954 archaeological site. It currently does not have any geometries.