Geolocation API technical documentation
The API is implemented as a simple HttpGet web state-less web service that permits searching for place names in the context of a geographic super-region such as a country.
Invoking the API
The base URI where the Geocoding API can be accessed is:
Base URL for web service
http://locloudgeo.eculturelab.eu/LoGeo_1_2/loGeo.aspx
The web service accepts five different parameters
Parameter name | Description | Legal values |
---|---|---|
InputText | The term to search for | e.g. "Etterbeek" |
ContextPlace | The context to search within | e.g. "Brussels" |
Country | The country where the name belongs | e.g. "Belgium" |
MaxOutput | The maximum number of results to return | A numeric value, e.g. 10 |
PreferableSource | The data source to search, | One of: "Geonames", "Google" or "National" |
Key | An API key required to use the service | Contact Franc to get a key if you are interested |
The example below shows how a typical valid HttpGet request to the Web Service API may look.
HttpGet request to search for "Brussels"
http://locloudgeo.eculturelab.eu/LoGeo_1_2/loGeo.aspx?InputText=Etterbeek&ContextPlace=Brussels&Country=Belgium&MaxOutput=10&PreferableSource=Geonames&Key=xxxxxxxx
Interpreting the results
The web service returns response data as JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). An example showing how the response looks is shown below.
JSON Web Service response
{ "LoGeo version 1.2 15.11.2014": [ { "InputText": "Etterbeek", "PlaceName": "Etterbeek", "AlternativeNames": "", "ContextOut": "Etterbeek,Belgium", "ContextTime": "", "CoordinateSystem": "EPSG:4326", "PlaceX": 4.3889939, "PlaceY": 50.832578, "PlaceZ": 0.0, "AccuracySpatial": "", "Confidelity": "", "Rights": "Powered by Google", "Source": "Google", "Date": "", "Remarks": "" } ] }