Geography reference lists

Reference lists are provided to help you better understand the geography region information.

Geography information provided in the Rapid Geography APIs is often represented as predefined lists or IDs. Use these reference lists to understand the meaning of the region information.

Identifying Region Entities

The process of identifying geographic region entities within Rapid hinges on three foundational concepts: region types, categories, and tags. These elements are designed to refine the user experience by enhancing search capabilities, highlighting local attractions, and facilitating itinerary planning. Their roles are as follows:

• Region types clarify the nature of a location through simple, string-based identifiers that are intuitive to interpret. For instance, 178921 Tsing Yi is a city region type in Rapid.

• Categories offer a balance between detailed specificity and broad applicability, providing a stable yet versatile framework that captures the diverse aspects of a region. For example, 178921 Tsing Yi is categorized as a city, a tourism region, and also as a point of interest for nature enthusiasts.
• Tags serve as structured metadata to pinpoint the defining characteristics of a region. 178921 Tsing Yi, for example, is tagged as both a city and an island.

Each of these components plays a pivotal role in streamlining the discovery and exploration of regions within Rapid, ensuring partner systems can find and engage with geographic regions in a meaningful and efficient manner.

Region types

Geography is categorized by region types.

Regions are categorized by the geographic entity represented. In the Rapid Geography APIs this representation is provided in the type field.

Reference list

Region categories

Categories offer a reliable and adaptable approach for comprehending the various facets of a region, whereas Region type provides only a high-level overview. A region can be associated with multiple top-level categories when relevant. These categories are intentionally self-explanatory, ensuring clear understanding without requiring additional context.

Reference list

Region tags

Tags are structured metadata. They are utilized to identify a region's defining characteristics, creating a searchable index that enhances the discoverability and retrieval of information.

Reference list

Top level regions

Regions at the top of the hierarchy are typically used in the Regions API.

In the Rapid Regions API, you can request all regions in a specific continent, country, or other level by providing the corresponding Region ID of that region.

The Region IDs for continents and countries are provided below.

Continents

Countries

Countries are defined in the geographical sense, not necessarily in the political sense. For example, Guadeloupe is a French department in the Caribbean. This region is politically French but its own geographical entity.