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.


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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