A database is an organized collection of data or information that is set up and stored for easy access electronically in a computer system.
GeoDataSource World Cities Database is a database that contains the list of all cities, including counties, boroughs, towns and so on, in a text format that can be easily loaded in a database to be used by any application which requires a comprehensive list of country code, state/province, city name, latitude, longitude, population and time zone.
Database Editions
The edition of GeoDataSource World Cities Database comprises various editions which contain different granularity of information. Below are the details of the World Cities Database edition.
| Edition | Price |
| World Cities Database Free Edition | FREE |
| World Cities Database Basic Edition | $149.95 USD/month or $449.95 USD/year |
| World Cities Database Premium Edition | $249.95 USD/month or $749.95 USD/year |
| World Cities Database Gold Edition | $349.95 USD/month or $1049.95 USD/year |
| World Cities Database Platinum Edition | $449.95 USD/month or $1349.95 USD/year |
| World Cities Database Titanium Edition | $549.95 USD/month or $1649.95 USD/year |
Database Fields
The benefit of using the World Cities Database is that the data is updated monthly, ensuring most accurate and up-to-date source of data. It also provides instant download upon subscription. Below are the database fields for World Cities Database Titanium Edition.
| Field name | Description |
| continent_id | Continent ID. An id that determines the character mapping used in the full name field. |
| sub_continent_id | Sub-Continent ID. A subdivision of continent id. |
| ufi | Unique Feature Identifier. A number that uniquely identifies the feature. A feature with multiple names shares the same feature identifier. |
| uni | Unique Name Identifier. A number that uniquely identifies a name. |
| dsg | Feature Designation Code. A two to five-character code used to identify the type of feature a name is applied to. |
| cc_fips | FIPS 10-4 Primary Country Code. A two alphabetic character FIPS 10-4 Primary Country Code uniquely identifying a geopolitical entity (countries, dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty). |
| cc_iso | ISO 3166 Primary Country Code. A two alphabetic character ISO 3166 Primary Country Code uniquely identifying a geopolitical entity (countries, dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty). |
| full_name | Feature’s Full Name. The full name is a complete city name that identifies the named feature. It is comprised of the specific name, generic name, and any articles or prepositions. |
| full_name_nd | Feature’s No Diacritics Full Name. Same as the full name but the diacritics and special characters are substituted with Roman characters. |
| sort_name | Feature’s Sort Name. A form of the full name which allows for easy sorting of the name into alpha-numeric sequence. It is comprised of the specific name, generic name, and any articles or prepositions. This field is all upper case with spaces, diacritics, and hyphens removed and numbers are substituted with lower case alphabetic characters. |
| adm1_code | First-Order Administrative Division Code. A two to three alphanumeric character code uniquely identifying a primary administrative division of a country, such as a state in the United States. |
| adm1_full_name | First-Order Administrative Division’s Full Name. The full name is a complete region name which identifies the first-order administrative division. It is comprised of the specific name, generic name, and any articles or prepositions. |
| adm2_code | Second-Order Administrative Division Code. The name of a subdivision of a second-order administrative division, or known as a county in the United States. (US only). |
| adm2_full_name | Second-Order Administrative Division’s Full Name. The full name is a complete name which identifies the second-order administrative division. It is comprised of the specific name, generic name, and any articles or prepositions. (US only) |
| latitude | Latitude in Decimal Degree. Latitude of the feature in ± decimal degrees (WGS84). |
| longitude | Longitude in Decimal Degree. Longitude of the feature in ± decimal degrees (WGS84). |
| population | City Population. Total number of human populations by estimation in the top 12,000 cities in the world. |
| time_zone | UTC Time Zone. The city’s UTC Time Zone |
Database table
In order to get the world cities information, the World Cities Database Titanium Edition table can be created and loaded by the following code.
-- Create table "world_cities_titanium"
CREATE TABLE `world_cities_titanium`(
`continent_id` INT,
`sub_continent_id` VARCHAR(2),
`ufi` INT,
`uni` INT,
`dsg` CHAR(5),
`cc_fips` VARCHAR(2),
`cc_iso` VARCHAR(2),
`full_name` VARCHAR(200),
`full_name_nd` VARCHAR(200),
`sort_name` VARCHAR(200),
`adm1_code` VARCHAR(3),
`adm1_full_name` VARCHAR(200),
`adm2_code` VARCHAR(3),
`adm2_full_name` VARCHAR(200),
`latitude` FLOAT,
`longitude` FLOAT,
`population` INT,
`time_zone` VARCHAR(8),
INDEX `idx_continent_id` (`continent_id`),
INDEX `idx_sub_continent_id` (`sub_continent_id`),
INDEX `idx_continent` (`continent_id`,`sub_continent_id`),
INDEX `idx_cc_iso` (`cc_iso`),
INDEX `idx_dsg` (`dsg`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_bin;
-- Load data into table
LOAD DATA LOCAL
INFILE 'GEODATASOURCE-CITIES-TITANIUM.TXT'
INTO TABLE `world_cities_titanium`
FIELDS TERMINATED BY '\t'
LINES TERMINATED BY '\r\n'
IGNORE 1 LINES;
For more details about the World Cities Database, you can visit https://www.geodatasource.com/world-cities-database to learn more about the information provided by each edition.