views:

199

answers:

5

In dopplr [http://www.dopplr.com] there is an option to fill the city of travel and the site will automatically find the city around the world. Is there any web service or database for such a city lookup?

+2  A: 

Google maps API includes a geocoding service and there are plenty of other options

Ken
+2  A: 

You could download and process this list on wikipedia. If you trust it.

OIS
+5  A: 

http://www.geonames.org/ is useful - HTML query, download and web service.

Also http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/ - you'll need a Yahoo developer ID.

Robert Brook
A: 

The best free database of world cities I have found is from MaxMind. See http://www.maxmind.com/app/geolitecity It also includes geocoding information and population. Uses ISO standard for country and regions.

Espen
A: 

There's the OpenStreetMap Name Finder.

I don't know if it's necessarily the most complete resource, but AFAIK OSM is free for any use, which may/may not be the case with other options.

Peter