README

A Laravel (php) package to interface with the geo-location services at geonames.org.

Major Version Jump

I jumped several major versions to catch up with Larvel's major version number. Makes things a little clearer.

Notes

There is still a lot that needs to be done to make this package "complete". I've gotten it to a point where I can use it for my next project. As time allows, I will improve the documentation and testing that comes with this package. Thanks for understanding.

Installation

composer require michaeldrennen/geonames

Since Laravel 5.5, the package will automatically register itself via package discovery.

If you're using an older version or have discovery disabled, add the geonames provider to the providers array in your config/app.php config file:

MichaelDrennen\Geonames\GeonamesServiceProvider::class,

After that, Run migrate command:

php artisan migrate

To publish package files, run:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="MichaelDrennen\Geonames\GeonamesServiceProvider"

Want to install all of the geonames records for the US, Canada, and Mexico as well as pull in the feature codes definitions file in English?

php artisan geonames:install --country=US --country=CA --country=MX --language=en

Want to just install everything in the geonames database?

php artisan geonames:install

To download cities1000.zip along with all country data:

php artisan geonames:install --country="*" --country="cities1000.zip"

To download only cities1000.zip:

php artisan geonames:install --country="cities1000.zip"

Adding Countries Incrementally

If you have already installed a set of countries (e.g., US and CA) and wish to add more countries (e.g., BR) without reinstalling the entire dataset, you can use the geonames:add command:

php artisan geonames:add --country=BR

This command will:

• Download only the necessary data files for the specified new countries.
• Append new geonames records and alternate names to your existing tables.
• Update your GeoSetting to reflect the newly added countries.
• Reload smaller, non-country-specific tables like admin-1-code, admin-2-code, feature-code, and feature-class to ensure consistency.

You can specify multiple countries:

php artisan geonames:add --country=BR --country=AR

Maintenance

Now that you have the geonames database up and running on your system, you need to keep it up-to-date.

I have an update script that you need to schedule in Laravel to run every day.

Some info on how to schedule Laravel artisan commands:

https://laravel.com/docs/5.6/scheduling#scheduling-artisan-commands

You can read this notice at: http://download.geonames.org/export/dump/

The "last modified" timestamp is in Central European Time.

It looks like geonames updates their data around 3AM CET.

So if you schedule your system to run the geonames:update artisan command after 4AM CET, you should be good to go.

I like to keep my servers running on GMT. Keeps things consistent.

(Central European Time is 1 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time)

Assuming your servers are running on GMT, your update command would look like:

$schedule->command('geonames:update')->dailyAt('3:00');

The update artisan command will handle the updates and deletes to the geonames table.

By default, GeonamesServiceProvider will run it for you daily at config('geonames.update_daily_at'). You can change it in your .env file using GEONAMES_UPDATE_DAILY_AT key or in config/geonames.php file (if you have published it).

Country Info Table

This package now includes functionality to download and import detailed country information from geonames.org's countryInfo.txt file. This data is stored in the countryinfo table.

To install this data, you can either:

1. Run it as part of the main installation: The geonames:install command now automatically includes the country info data.

   php artisan geonames:install

   or with specific options:

   php artisan geonames:install --country=US --language=en

2. Run the command directly: If you need to install only the country information or re-import it, you can use the dedicated command:

   php artisan geonames:countryinfo

   If you need to overwrite existing country info data, use the --force option:

   php artisan geonames:countryinfo --force

Gotchas

Are you getting something like: 1071 Specified key was too long

@see https://laravel-news.com/laravel-5-4-key-too-long-error

Add this to your AppServiceProvider.php file:

Schema::defaultStringLength(191);

A quick word on indexes

This library contains a bunch of migrations that contain a bunch of indexes. Now not everyone will need all of the indexes.

So when you install this library, run the migrations and delete the indexes that you don't need.

Also, Laravel doesn't let you specify a key length for indexes on varchar columns. There are two indexes suffering from this limit. Instead of creating indexes on those columns the "Laravel way", I send a raw/manual query to create the indexes with the proper lengths.