Places have relationships with other places; Yahoo! GeoPlanet allows users to identify places that have specific relationships to others, such as the parent, children, and neighbors. For example, a list of states (or first-level administrative areas) in a particular country can be obtained by requesting the children of that country; in a similar manner, the surrounding postal codes of a particular postal code can be obtained via a call for its neighbors. The following relationships are provided by GeoPlanet:
A direct superior to a given place. For example, California (WOEID 2347563) is a child of the United States (WOEID 23424977), and conversely the United States is the parent of California. In this version of GeoPlanet, places have only one parent.
The direct inferiors to a given place. Children can be of different place types, so the children of California (WOEID 2347563) include its 58 counties, as well as its colloquial entities (High Sierra, Wine Country, Central Valley, etc.), and Zones (MSA Redding, MSA Salinas, etc.).
Places adjacent to a given place. For example, California (WOEID 2347563) is adjacent to Nevada (WOEID 2347587), Oregon (WOEID 2347596), Arizona (WOEID 2347561), and Baja California in Mexico (WOEID 2346265); these are all neighbors of California.
![[Note]](images/docbook/note.png) |
Note |
|---|---|
Neighboring places are adjacent, but not necessarily contiguous. |
Places that share the same parent and have the same place type. For example, California has 50 siblings: the other 49 states, plus the District of Columbia.
Places that include a given place as one of their children, or their children's children, etc. The given place "belongs to" these places. For example, California (WOEID 2347563) is a child of the place named "Pacific States" (WOEID 23689940); Pacific States therefore is therefore a 'belongto' of California (we realize that we are taking some liberties with the English language here).
Places in the chain of parents for a given place. For example, San Jose (WOEID 2488042) is a child of Santa Clara County (WOEID 12587712), which in turn is a child of California (WOEID 2347563), which is in turn a child of the United States (WOEID 23424977). Santa Clara County, California, and the United States are all ancestors of San Jose.