Placeslocation

Placeslocation is a term used in geography and information systems to describe the linkage between a named place and its geographic position. It can refer to a data construct, dataset, or software component that stores a place identifier together with its coordinates, thereby combining semantic information with spatial geometry.

A typical placeslocation record includes fields such as place_id, name, latitude, longitude, elevation, type (city, landmark, business, street), and locality or address, along with country, region, postal_code, source, accuracy, and last_updated.

Data sources for placeslocation include official gazetteers, government registries, mapping datasets, and user-contributed platforms. Records are enriched with metadata to support interoperability, and licensing varies by source.

Applications include geocoding and reverse geocoding, place search, routing, location-based services, and spatial analytics in urban planning or logistics. In software, placeslocation data is stored in spatial databases or formats such as GeoJSON and accessed via spatial indexes or APIs. Coordinates are commonly in decimal degrees using the WGS 84 standard, though other coordinate systems may be used for local analyses.

Standards considerations include consistent schemas, explicit coordinate reference systems, and compatibility with geospatial formats. See also geocoding, gazetteer, and geospatial data.