Open511 API

Area

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Overview

purposeA geographical area: a city, district, neighbourhood, etc.
methodGET

Parameters and filters

The area resource does not support any URL parameter or filter besides format selection and language negotiation.

Example

Example of the XML and JSON representations of the area resource in the context of a list.

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<open511
    xml:lang="en"
    xml:base="http://my.city.gov/open511/"
    version="v1"
>
  <areas>  
    <area> 
      <name>Anaheim</name>
      <id>geonames.org/5323810</id>
      <link rel="self" href="http://geonames.org/5323810/" />  
    </area>
    <area> 
      <name>Orange County</name>
      <id>geonames.org/5379524</id>
      <link rel="self" href="http://geonames.org/5379524/" />  
    </area>
  </areas>
  <pagination>
    <offset>0</offset>
  </pagination> 
</open511>

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{
    "areas": [
        {
            "url": "http://geonames.org/5323810/", 
            "name": "Anaheim", 
            "id": "geonames.org/5323810"
        }, 
        {
            "url": "http://geonames.org/5379524/", 
            "name": "Orange County", 
            "id": "geonames.org/5379524"
        }
    ],
    "pagination": {
        "offset": 0
    }, 
    "meta": {
        "version": "v1"
    }
}

Area item data structure

The areas resource is a list of items. (A single area is not assigned its own resource URL in Open511, though it has a URL at GeoNames.) So the overall data structure follows the list structure as defined in the formatting guidelines. What follows defines a single area item.

FieldTypeDescription
nameFree text

Mandatory

The name of the area
idOpen511 ID

Mandatory

Unique identifier for the area. If the area is a standard political division (city, state, province, county, etc.) you must use the ID from the GeoNames database, in the form of e.g. geonames.org/5323810. (GeoNames already lists millions of places, and so it's extremely likely that any area you're interested in is there already, but it’s also possible to add to GeoNames areas not already in their database.)

If (and only if) the area is defined internally by your jurisdiction, and is neither a standard political division nor already in GeoNames, assign a unique ID within your own jurisdiction: my.city.gov/management-district-3.
selfLink

Optional

URL to a human-readable Web page with information about the area. For GeoNames areas, use http://geonames.org/{id}/