Wikimapia Api is a system that allows you to receive data from our maps.
You can easily integrate Wikimapia Geo Data into your external application or web site. And it's all free.
We provide you with free access to Wikimapia DB, collected by our contributors,
with the aim to help the geographic community to use this data not only on Wikimapia site,
but through any other website or application, including mobile and GIS apps.
So everyone can use them everywhere.
We open Wikimapia data free for non-commercial use (as you mention the original data source, according to Wikimapia TOS).
We will be in close contact with developers via our discussion forum in API section,
supporting them with all the required documentation and updates. Soon we hope to publish a best-practices guide for our API.
Our API is still at developing stage (beta), more features will be added soon such as roads, graphic tiles use,
then adding information from mobile devices to Wikimapia DB.
Wikimapia Blog
Place functions
Place.Getbyid
Returns information about place. Place information is organized in data-blocks:
- main - main information about place: url, title, description, categories, if place is a building, if it's a region. Also if it is deleted.
- geometry - place geometry on map: polygon or rectangle
- edit - user_id and name of last editor and timestamp. If the place is in deletion state this info will be in the edit block also
- location - place location: lat/lon coordinates, north/south/east/west coordinates, zoom level, country, state, city id and name, Wikimapia Cityguide domain name, street id and name
- attached - places attached to selected one or parent place of selected one, only basic info: url, title, categories. Also if child place is deleted.
- photos - photos of current place: urls to thumb, big and fullsize photo, id, size, author id and name, date of photo uploading, last editor of this photo, photo status (deleted/active)
- comments - place comments: number, language of comment, author id, his ip and name, comment text, positive and negative votes, moderator id, name, and date of deletion if the comment was removed
- translate - languages available for selected place
- similar_places, nearest_places, nearest_comments, nearest_streets, nearest_hotels - extra information about objects around seleted one
Required parameters
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=place.getbyid- The base URL, which allows you to get information about object.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&id=‹id›- The identifier of the object you want to get information about.
Additional parameters
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp. Please note, some additional parameters doesn't work with kml output format.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The packing option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&data_blocks=‹data blocks›- The comma-separated blocks of data you want to return: main, geometry, edit, location, attached, photos, comments, translate, similar_places, nearest_places, nearest_comments, nearest_streets, nearest_hotels
&options=‹options›- The array of options, representing comma-separated values.
mercator - all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=place.getbyid&id=55- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Place.Getbyarea
Returns all places in the given boundary box optionally filtered by category parameter. Only basic information is available: id, title, url, location and polygon of each place. Location and polygon fields can be turned off with
data-block parameter.
Required parameters
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=place.getbyarea- The base URL, which allows you to get information about objects in a given area.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&bbox=‹bbox›- The coordinates of the selected box, writen in format: lon_min,lat_min,lon_max,lat_max. You can use this parameter, or
specify each coordinate separately (listed below).
&lon_min, &lat_min, &lon_max, &lat_max- Box coordinates. lon means longitude (λ), lat means latitude (φ).
&x, &y, &z- Tile coordinates.
Additional parameters
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp. Please note, some additional parameters doesn't work with kml output format.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&data_blocks=‹data blocks›- The comma-separated blocks of data you want to return: main, geometry, edit, location, photos, comments, translate. By default only minimal set is shown: id, language, title, url, categories and polygon.
&options=‹options›- The request options, representing comma-separated values.
mercator - all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format. Doesn't work in binary output format.
&page=‹page›- The page number. 1 is default.
&count=‹count›- This is a variable that determines the number of results per page. 50 is default (5 min, 100 max).
&category=‹category›- The wikimapia category code: category=17, category=203 etc.
or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
Several comma-separated categories may be stated with "AND" logic. It means that only objects which have all listed categories together would be returned. If you need OR logic use categories_or parameter.
This is a synonym of categories_and parameter and would be merged with it:
...&category=203,17&categories_and=787... is the same as ...&category=203,17,787...
The list of Wikimapia categories is available via Categories.Getall API function.
&categories_or=‹categories_or›- The wikimapia category code: category=17, category=203 etc.
or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
Several comma-separated categories may be stated with "OR" logic. All objects which have any category from this list would be returned.
At first all places with any of categories_or categories are selected and then only those which have all categories_and and category categories are left.
The list of Wikimapia categories is available via Categories.Getall API function.
&categories_and=‹categories_and›- The wikimapia category code: category=17, category=203 etc.
or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
Several comma-separated categories may be stated with "AND" logic. It means that only objects which have all listed categories together would be returned.
This is a synonym of category parameter and would be merged with it:
...&category=203,17&categories_and=787... is the same as ...&categories_and=203,17,787...
The list of Wikimapia categories is available via Categories.Getall API function.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=place.getbyarea&coordsby=bbox&bbox=2.292493%2C48.8590143%2C2.293493%2C48.8599143- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Place.Getnearest
Returns search results of objects, closest to the selected point. Optionally filtered by category parameter. Only basic information is available: id, title, url, location and polygon of each place and distance from selected coordinates to it. Location and polygon fields can be turned off with
data-block parameter.
Required parameters:
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=place.getnearest- The base URL, which allows you to get information about objects, closest to the selected point.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&lat=‹lat›- Coordinates of the "search point" lat means latitude (φ).
&lon=‹lon›- Coordinates of the "search point" lon means longitude (λ).
Additional parameters:
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp. Please note, some additional parameters doesn't work with kml output format.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&data_blocks=‹data blocks›- The comma-separated blocks of data you want to return: location, geometry
&options=‹options›- The request options, representing comma-separated values.
mercator - all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format. Doesn't work in binary output format.
&page=‹page›- The page number. 1 is default.
&count=‹count›- This is a variable that determines the number of results per page. 50 is default (5 min, 100 max).
&category=‹category›- The wikimapia category code: category=17, category=203 etc.
or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
The list of Wikimapia categories is available via Categories.Getall API function.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=place.getnearest&lat=48.858252&lon=2.29451- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Place.Search
Returns search results of a given query, optionally filtered by category. Only basic information is available: id, title, url, location and polygon of each place and distance from selected coordinates to it. The function is very close to Place.Getnearest.
Required parameters
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=place.search- The base URL, which allows you to search information about objects.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&q=‹query›- The query to search in wikimapia (UTF-8).
Additional parameters
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp. Please note, some additional parameters doesn't work with kml output format.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&data_blocks=‹data blocks›- The comma-separated blocks of data you want to return: main, geometry, edit, location, photos, comments, translate. By default only minimal set is shown: id, language, title, url, categories and polygon.
&options=‹options›- The request options, representing comma-separated values.
mercator - all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format. Doesn't work in binary output format.
&page=‹page›- The page number. 1 is default.
&count=‹count›- This is a variable that determines the number of results per page. 50 is default (5 min, 100 max).
&category=‹category›- The wikimapia category code: category=17, category=203 etc.
or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
Several comma-separated categories may be stated with "AND" logic. It means that only objects which have all listed categories together would be returned. If you need OR logic use categories_or parameter.
This is a synonym of categories_and parameter and would be merged with it:
...&category=203,17&categories_and=787... is the same as ...&category=203,17,787...
The list of Wikimapia categories is available via Categories.Getall API function.
&categories_or=‹categories_or›- The wikimapia category code: category=17, category=203 etc.
or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
Several comma-separated categories may be stated with "OR" logic. All objects which have any category from this list would be returned.
At first all places with any of categories_or categories are selected and then only those which have all categories_and and category categories are left.
The list of Wikimapia categories is available via Categories.Getall API function.
&categories_and=‹categories_and›- The wikimapia category code: category=17, category=203 etc.
or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
Several comma-separated categories may be stated with "AND" logic. It means that only objects which have all listed categories together would be returned.
This is a synonym of category parameter and would be merged with it:
...&category=203,17&categories_and=787... is the same as ...&categories_and=203,17,787...
The list of Wikimapia categories is available via Categories.Getall API function.
&lat=‹lat›- Coordinates of the "search point" lat means latitude (φ).
&lon=‹lon›- Coordinates of the "search point" lon means longitude (λ).
&distance=‹distance›- Search only places which are not farther from the requested point than distance. Float value in meters.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=place.search&q=eiffel- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Place.Update (beta)
Creates a new place or updates an existing one.
This function is still in a stage of development now. The function works with Wikimapia Guest's privileges only: it is possible to create new but not to edit existing places.
Required parameters to create a new place
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=place.update- The base URL, which allows you to create the place.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&place_id=‹0›- Set the place ID param to 0 to create a new one.
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&title=‹title›- The place title.
&polygon=‹polygon›- Comma-separated geo-points: lon1,lat1,lon2,lat2 etc
Required parameters to update an existing place
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=place.update- The base URL, which allows you to create the place.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&place_id=‹id›- The ID of the place you want to update.
Additional parameters
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp. Please note, some additional parameters doesn't work with kml output format.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The packing option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&parent_id=‹parent_id›- The ID of parent place, set it if you are creating an attached place
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&polygon=‹polygon›- Comma-separated geo-points: lon1,lat1,lon2,lat2 etc
&title=‹title›- The place title.
&description=‹description›- Place description.
&wikipedia=‹wikipedia›- A link to wikipedia article about the place.
&is_building=‹is_building›- Set the param to 1 if the place is a building (allow to attach places to this one).
&tags_ids=‹tags_ids›- Comma-separated list of categories to set. Check available categories using API Categories functions.
&street_id=‹street_id›- Street ID to set into place address field. Use street_id=0 to remove the place address or to create a new street (with street_name param).
&street_name=‹street_name›- Create a new street with this name and set it as place address. Works if street_id=0.
&building_number=‹building_number›- Building number, the part of place address
&revision_comment=‹revision_comment›- A brief description of the commited changes.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=place.update- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Street functions
Street.Getbyid
Returns information about street. Street information is organized in data-blocks:
- main - main information about street: url, title, description. Also if it is deleted.
- edit - user_id and name of last editor and timestamp. If the street is in deletion state this info will be in the edit block also
- location - place location: lat/lon coordinates, north/south/east/west coordinates, zoom level, country, state, city id and name, Wikimapia Cityguide domain name
- related - places related to the selected street, only basic info: url, title, categories.
- photos - photos of current street: urls to thumb, big and fullsize photo, id, size, author id and name, date of photo uploading, last editor of this photo, photo status (deleted/active)
- comments - street comments: number, language of comment, author id, his ip and name, comment text, positive and negative votes, moderator id, name, and date of deletion if the comment was removed
- translate - languages available for selected street
- similar_places, nearest_places, nearest_comments, nearest_streets, nearest_hotels - extra information about objects around seleted street
Required parameters:
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=street.getbyid- The base URL, which allows you to get information about object.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&id=‹id›- This identifier of the street you want to get information about.
Additional parameters:
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), json, jsonp.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The packing option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&data_blocks=‹data blocks›- The comma-separated blocks of data you want to return: main, edit, location, related, photos, comments, translate, similar_places, nearest_places, nearest_comments, nearest_streets, nearest_hotels
&options=‹options›- The array of options, representing comma-separated values.
mercator - all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=street.getbyid&id=10- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Category functions
Category.Getbyid
Returns all information about selected category.
Required parameters:
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=category.getbyid- The base URL, which allows you to get information about selected category.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
&id=‹id›- The identifier of the category you want to get information about.
Additional parameters:
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), json, jsonp.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&language=‹language›- This is specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=category.getbyid&id=203- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Category.Getall
Returns Wikimapia approved categories list. Optionally searches categories by name or a part of name.
Required parameters:
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=category.getall- The base URL, which allows you to get information about categories.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
Additional parameters:
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), json, jsonp.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
&language=‹language›- The specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&name=‹name›- Wikimapia category name (or a part of it) in UTF-8: name=School, name=Church etc. or a part of it for searching
&page=‹page›- The page number. 1 is default.
&count=‹count›- The variable that determines the number of results per page. 50 is default.
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=category.getall- new Generate more example queries using our new API Examples interface.
Api capabilities
Api.Getlanguages
Returns all available languages on Wikimapia with shortcuts
Required parameters:
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=api.getlanguages- The base URL, which allows you to get information about languages.
&key=‹key›- Your API key, which you can create here
Additional parameters:
&format=‹format›- The output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), json, jsonp.
&jsoncallback=‹jsoncallback›- The additional jsonp output format parameter.
&pack=‹pack›- The pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
Examples
http://api.wikimapia.org/?key=example&function=api.getlanguages- new Try our new API Examples interface with this function.
Deprecated functions
These API functions will continue to work, but we encourage you to migrate your code to new Place functions.
Object
Description: returns information about object.
Required parameters
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=object- This is the base URL, which allows you to get information about object.
&key=‹key›- This is your API key, which you can create here
&id=‹id›- This is identifier of the object you want to get information about.
Additional parameters
&options=‹options›- This is request options, representing comma-separated values. mercator -
all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format
&disable=‹disable›- This is an option to disable the output of various parameters.
You can disable fields for xml, json(p) formats. Allowed fields to disable: location, polygon.
&language=‹language›- This is specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&category=‹category›- This is wikimapia category code: category=17 - Shop, category=203 - School etc.
(a detailed list will be published later) or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
&format=‹format›- This is output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp, binary.
&pack=‹pack›- This is pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
Box
Description: returns object in the given boundary box.
Required parameters
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=box- This is the base URL, which allows you to get information about objects in a given box.
&key=‹key›- This is your API key, which you can create here
&bbox=‹bbox›- This is coordinates of the selected box, writen in format: lon_min,lat_min,lon_max,lat_max. You can use this parameter, or
specify each coordinate separately (listed below).
&lon_min, &lat_min, &lon_max, &lat_max- This is box coordinates. lon means longitude (λ), lat means latitude (φ).
&x, &y, &z- This is tile coordinates.
Additional parameters
&options=‹options›- This is request options, representing comma-separated values. mercator -
all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format
&disable=‹disable›- This is an option to disable the output of various parameters.
You can disable fields for xml, json(p) formats. Allowed fields to disable: location, polygon.
&page=‹page›- This is page number. 1 is default.
&count=‹count›- This is a variable that determines the number of results per page. 50 is default (5 min, 100 max).
&language=‹language›- This is specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&category=‹category›- This is wikimapia category code: category=17 - Shop, category=203 - School etc.
(a detailed list will be published later) or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
&format=‹format›- This is output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp, binary.
&pack=‹pack›- This is pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip
Search
Description: returns search results of a given query.
Required parameters:
http://api.wikimapia.org/?function=search- This is the base URL, which allows you to search information about object.
&key=‹key›- This is your API key, which you can create here
&q=‹query›- This is the query to search in wikimapia (UTF-8).
&lat=‹lat›- Coordinates of the "search point" lat means latitude (φ).
&lon=‹lon›- Coordinates of the "search point" lon means longitude (λ).
Additional parameters
&options=‹options›- This is request options, representing comma-separated values. mercator -
all coordinates will be in the Mercator format instead of the default format
&disable=‹disable›- This is an option to disable the output of various parameters.
You can disable fields for xml, json(p) formats. Allowed fields to disable: location, polygon.
&page=‹page›- This is page number. 1 is default.
&count=‹count›- This is a variable that determines the number of results per page. 50 is default (5 min, 100 max).
&language=‹language›- This is specified language in ISO 639-1 format.
&category=‹category›- This is wikimapia category code: category=17 - Shop, category=203 - School etc.
(a detailed list will be published later) or category text query in UTF-8: category=School, category=Church etc.
&format=‹format›- This is output format. You can choose one of these: xml (default), kml, json, jsonp, binary.
&pack=‹pack›- This is pack option. We can pack output data in zipped format. Available values: none (default), gzip