Wikipedia tags

From SnapMap

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Wikipedia tags for approximate location 3 Wikipedia tags for specific vehicles, animals and other mobile items 3.1 Ships 3.2 Aircraft 3.3 Cars 3.4 Animals 4 Wikipedia tags for non-specific items 5 Non-English versions of Wikipedia

Introduction

Wikipedia tags in SnapMap use a null key and the full Wikipedia URL as the value, thus:

key="", value=<wikipedia_url>

Wikipedia tags for approximate location

You can use Wikipedia URLs as tags to tell images roughly where they are. Not only does this make a handy approximation for later, more accurate positioning, but it also helps to unify photos semantically better than free-form text tags. SnapMap loads the current version of the Wikipedia page, then parses it looking for coordinate data.

For example, add "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euston_railway_station" as a tag (with an empty key) if the photo is taken in or around that station. Note the pale red dot that appears on the map.

Of course, this kind of location tagging only works if the Wikipedia page has coordinate data. If the Wikipedia page has no coordinate data, do consider performing the public service of adding it just before you add the Wikipedia tag to SnapMap. Alternatively, add the Wikipedia tag anyway and hope that someone else adds the coordinate data. SnapMap maintains a cache of Wikipedia pages that is periodically refreshed, allowing coordinate data added later to Wikipedia to migrate to SnapMap.

Adding Wikipedia URLs to SnapMap as tags also performs the very useful functions of semantic unification and search index population. Semantic unification means that two photos that depict the same thing can be related, quite apart from any similarity in their location data. The search index makes use of Wikipedia URLs, so a photo of Westminster Abbey that did not mention that edifice’s name in its title or description tags would still be found in a search thanks to its Wikipedia URL. In future, the content of the Wikipedia page might also be added to the search index.

Wikipedia tags for specific vehicles, animals and other mobile items

If a specific vehicle or animal has a page on Wikipedia, it’s a great idea to tag it. Then its location can be tracked through time.

Ships

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Elizabeth_2
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_France_(1961)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_aircraft_carrier_Clemenceau_(R98)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Britain
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff

Aircraft

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules

Cars

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Flame_(car)

Animals

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_(polar_bear)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bowes-Lyon

Wikipedia tags for non-specific items

Also consider adding Wikipedia URLs for non-specific items, for such things as:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football_pitch
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F40
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde

These may turn out to be very useful – more so than the simple but non-standardized text strings “bus” and “football pitch” that you might find in Flickr tags. For example, one could plot distribution of all Concorde photos over time.

Non-English versions of Wikipedia

Feel free to use URLs from non-English versions of Wikipedia. It’s not a bad idea to use the local language Wikipedia for whatever place you’re tagging, as that version of the page may well be the most accurate and up-to-date. Thanks to Wikipedia’s languages sidebar, we can even let users searching for “Moscow” find photos tagged with "http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Москва".