Template talk:Infobox settlement

Need Template:CountryAbbrFast

24-March-10: I have been trying to simplify {{CountryAbbr2}}, for the gargantuan mass of wikilinked nation-flag templates (with their 560 subtemplates & sub-subtemplates). That whole CountryAbbr contraption has become an everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink template, and consequently, there really are somewhere between 40-73 million wikilinks being generated from Template:CountryAbbr2 into {CountryAbbr} and {Infobox_Settlement}. I think we should just create a variation named {CountryAbbrFast}, which, as the name implies, is fast and would hence remain fast in future updates. No more worrying about flag-image matching, or flag-image-data matching, or who knows, perhaps some day, Olympic-host-language names to match for country/region abbreviations. By declaring {CountryAbbrFast} to be fast, we can avoid the runaway "creeping featurism" which has resulted in the "featured creepyism" of {CountryAbbr}, which has, in fact, now spawned at least 50 million wikilinks (to flag-templates) and cluttered the edit-preview of over 75,000 article pages. -Wikid77 (talk) 22:40, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

• See below: #Use subdivision_name = nation to cut 500 links. -Wikid77 20:18, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Link to german template

Hi,

I've found a simmiliar template in the german wiki project, but I can't link to it. Could anyone else please do it? http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorlage:Infobox_OrtFlag of the United Arab Emirates.svg

--MartinThoma (talk) 05:50, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

Many templates have the interwikis on a document subpage [1]. –xeno^talk 13:42, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

If you create a template without a doc page, creating it will kinda tell you to put the interwiki links in the doc subpage. I admit when I first started doing Interwikis, for translation, this did somewhat confuse me why, so I say why here:

• The template includes the doc page inside a <noinclude> tag. This means that the documentation is not transcluded on any page that transcludes the template. In particular, it means you don't get your documentation spewing on to any page that uses the template.

• The documentation includes the Interwiki links and categories inside a <includeonly> tag. This means that it does not appear on the documentation page, but only on pages that include it. In particular, this means the documentation page itself is not interwiki'd to its companion template on another wiki.

• Because the template includes the documentation in its <noinclude> tag, it gets those categories and interwikis, but other articles transcluding it do not get categorised and interwiki'd as such.

All makes sense, but it is nonobvious when you first do it. I have deliberately interwiki'd templates and categories, when they do link to other Wikipedias' templates or wikipedias, and a similar care must then be taken not to propagate it, i.e. put it in <includeonly> tag in the template or category.

There is, probably, an WP: namespace article that puts this more succinctly, but as usual, some things are hard to find and one struggles to find it oneself. One feels sometimes that Wikipedia takes Fowler's attitude of putting important information under bizarre headings, or as we software engineers say, make it write-only. Si Trew (talk) 01:25, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

hCard microformat "category" attribute

{{editprotected}}

Please change:

<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#cddeff">—  '''{{{settlement_type|{{{type}}}}}}'''  —</td> </tr>

to

<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#cddeff">—  '''<span class="category">{{{settlement_type|{{{type}}}}}}</span>'''  —</td> </tr>

To add a "category" attribute (nothing to do with Wikipedia's categories) to the hCard microformat emitted by this template. Thank you. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 23:45, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Done! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 00:34, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 02:00, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Use subdivision_name = nation to cut 500 links

25-March-10: Until {CountryAbbr2} gets simplified, just use each nation's official country name, as subdivision_name = nation, in the infobox, instead of any flag or {XXX} type template-links:

• Use: Mexico      not {{MEX}}       not {{flag|Mexico}}

By using the simple nation name (subdivision_name = Italy), then any article can be streamlined to avoid {CountryAbbr2} and those 300-560 flag templates being linked. As long as the subdivision is a simple nation's name, then {CountryAbbr} can find the 2-letter code, lightning fast, and avoid invoking {CountyAbbr2} to lookup the complex flag-image templates. -Wikid77 20:18, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

I already commented to you there is a bot request in place that will help simplify all of this -- User:Xenobot/6.2. You don't need to be doing all this work because a bot will do it once approved. –xeno^talk 20:21, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

On the other hand, why not let the template use the proposed coordinates_region= parameter to generate the subdivision name? --Stepheng3 (talk) 20:25, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Yea - working backwards. That was something I figured would come after Xenobot's work is finished. –xeno^talk 20:26, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

• I'm focusing, now, on the cities that are edited everyday, then if needed, later we can put the flags back into the subdivision_name (unless the bot-edit will cause that to occur). Think of the top 300 cities that are edited all the time, and then later check those for proper flag placement, when checking that those major city infoboxes are also well-formatted. This isn't really extra work: major city articles need to be monitored, periodically, to ensure the infobox format hasn't been hacked. I have confirmed that some flag-templates are still linked to over 16,000 article pages, so long term, most of those links will go away. -Wikid77 (talk) 21:04, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

  No, the bot won't re-add the flags, so you'll need to go back over them afterwards. Your call. –xeno^talk 21:07, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

  Another good place to check would be in templates which call this template, although those may have already been fixed. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 21:16, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

commas in population_total=

When population_total is displayed, it is formatted using formatnum:, which supplies any necessary commas (to separate the thousands, for example). However, if the population_total= parameter itself contains commas, {{#expr:{{{population_total}}}+1}} gives an error, so the population is not passed to {{Coord}}. Before Xenobot goes through and adds coordinates_type= to each transclusion, would it be okay to have a bot remove all commas from population_total= parameters? --Stepheng3 (talk) 23:22, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

You'll note the bot has been modified to instead supply a coordinates_region parameter, and at the same time, will remove commas from the population total. Having a bot go through these twice would be a waste of resources. –xeno^talk 23:25, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for that information. Is the bot going to do any other cleanup I should know about? --Stepheng3 (talk)

You can always, use {{formatnum:12,000|R}} to unformat a number. Although, it would be nice if they were unformatted to start. For fields with decimal values, this can be problematic if someone is using a different comma/period convention for decimal points. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 00:28, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

So, the bot will remove commas as a "best-practice"; but also wouldn't it make sense to strip the commas using the magicword in the coord statement? –xeno^talk 17:22, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

That sounds like a good idea. I suppose this reverse-formating could be added to the unit conversions as well (see above). Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 19:11, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

That would be a very good general rule, I think. The problem tends to lie that upstream and downstream templates might, or might not, format things or conversely expect them formatted. I think the rule of "be exacting in your output, generous with your input" would be good for this template. Si Trew (talk) 19:31, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I've started work on this in the sandbox. Unfortunately, I still haven't got the density calculation to accept the commas. But I think I'm close.--Stepheng3 (talk) 20:10, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

I think I've got it working. Spork, please take a look at the sandbox code and promote if you deem it worthy. --Stepheng3 (talk) 07:55, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Looks good. How about using {{formatnum:{{{population_total|}}}|R}} rather than {{#if:{{{population_total|}}}|{{formatnum:{{{population_total}}}|R}}}}? I'll update the sandbox. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 16:45, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Also, would it be better if I put most of this logic in the subtemplates? There are multiple calls to checkauto and densdisp, and presumably, all could use this same logic. Also, I think the logic in the coord call can be simplified, but I will have to work on that a bit. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 16:55, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Your changes look fine to me. I'll leave this issue in your hands. --Stepheng3 (talk) 17:20, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Phase 1 is complete, adding the {{formatnum:|R}} to {{Infobox settlement/densdisp}}. I'm going to check on the area and length conversions next. By the way, one interesting check would be if the population contains a decimal point, which would result in an incorrect density. I have seen this quite a bit. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 19:26, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I fixed most of the non-integer populations back in March, so hopefully there aren't too many right now. But if you want to create a maintenance category, go ahead.--Stepheng3 (talk) 21:40, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Okay, something to keep in mind. The second phase is now complete, with {{formatnum:|R}} added to all the various subtemplates and to the auto coordinate type generator. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 15:01, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. --Stepheng3 (talk) 15:50, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Obsolete category?

Is there any continuing need for Category:Geolinks maintenance? It is empty, and from looking at the category page, it appears that it was intended to be populated by two deleted templates, {{Geolinks-US-cityscale}} and {{Mapit-US-cityscale}}. Since the templates no longer exist, perhaps the category can be deleted? --R'n'B (call me Russ) 14:00, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

I would say go ahead and delete it. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 16:55, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Agree if for no other reason than being given the opportunity for a fresh start, take it. If it is needed, it can be created, perhaps under another name – or another category is already serving the purpose. Si Trew (talk) 23:29, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

I've gone under CSD G8: Categories populated by a template that no longer exists. Si Trew (talk) 23:31, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

native_name_lang

Resolved

The |native_name_lang= logic sees to be broken; see Bishkek. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 22:33, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Can you be more specific about what it did or didn't do that made you think it was broken? --Stepheng3 (talk) 05:40, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Bug found. With the additional white space the output is now <span class="nickname" lang="cn" xml:lang="cn">子科滩镇</span> compared to the former <span>子科滩镇</span>. jonkerz♠ 16:36, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

The template source is locked, so here comes a clarification: the vCard info is not displaying correctly; Search for "子科" in the xhtml source of Template:Infobox_settlement/testcases and compare the template and sandbox template to see the bug in action. Here [2] is the fix (a white space after the first class="nickname"). jonkerz♠ 18:22, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

 Done Hopefully that fixed it. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 19:28, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, both. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 23:21, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

coordinate error case

I notice that {{Infobox settlement}} can generate bizarre coordinates when longd= is blank and latd= is not blank. For an example, see [3]. I have three ideas for dealing with this situation:

1. Display an error message in the infobox
2. Don't display any coordinates -- don't transclude {{Geobox coor}} at all
3. Add the article to a maintenance category

We could also do any combination of the above. We might also try to address the issue at the {{Geobox coor}} level or the {{Coord}} level. Opinions, preferences? --Stepheng3 (talk) 19:34, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

I've put some code in the sandbox to add pages with this error to a temporary maintenance category. This should allow me to see how common or uncommon the error is. I'd be grateful if someone with admin powers would copy/paste the sandbox (Template:Infobox settlement/sandbox) to the live template (Template:Infobox settlement). --Stepheng3 (talk) 15:45, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Done. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 19:42, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. So far I see only three instances of the error, so it may not be worth adding an error message. I'm thinking we should just omit coordinates if longd is blank or missing. I'll follow up further in a day or two.--Stepheng3 (talk) 04:42, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Sure, we could switch to a {{both|{{{latd|}}}|{{{longd|}}}}} to the various {{{latd|}}} in the if statements. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 13:04, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Much what I was thinking. I've prototyped the switch in the sandbox and tested it on the testcases. Please copy/paste to the live version if you're satisfied with the change. --Stepheng3 (talk) 20:54, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Please copy/paste Template:Infobox settlement/sandbox to Template:Infobox settlement. Thanks, --Stepheng3 (talk) 19:47, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Done, although I used the {{both}} template instead. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 19:49, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. --Stepheng3 (talk) 20:10, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

dependencies between parameters

In my efforts to transition Wikipedia:WikiProject Japan over to using {{Infobox settlement}}, I've run into some unexpected behavior on the part of this template. Many of the blank fields seem to depend on the presence of the one before, so that blank1_name_sec1 is hidden if blank_name_sec1 is blank (or omitted) and so forth. This is demonstrated in the latest version of Template:Infobox_settlement/testcases#Test_case_4. This unexpected behavior is an impediment to my work, and I don't see it documented anywhere. I glanced at the source code, but didn't see anything obviously wrong. Does anyone know what's going on here? --Stepheng3 (talk) 22:21, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I have run into this problem before as well, and I don't see any strong reason for having it work this way. I would be in favor of removing this dependency. There are hacks to get around it, but they end up looking very messy. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 17:28, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the support. But how would one change {{Infobox settlement}} to remove the dependency? I'm still struggling to decipher the code. --Stepheng3 (talk) 18:28, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Never mind -- I figured out how it works. I've coded a fix in the sandbox, ready to go live if there are no objections. --Stepheng3 (talk) 18:39, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Done, as it appears to be uncontroversial. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 18:47, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

adding blank7

To complete the conversion of Template:Infobox City Japan to use {{Infobox settlement}} as a base, I'd like to add an extra blank field (blank7_*_sec1) to {{Infobox settlement}}. For symmetry, I propose to also add blank7_*_sec2. I've coded the change in the sandbox and tested it. I'm prepared to update the documentation. Please let me know ASAP if there are any concerns with taking this change live. --Stepheng3 (talk) 16:04, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Done. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 22:50, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I've updated the docs. --Stepheng3 (talk) 22:56, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

coordinates_display=

I notice a lot of settlement articles that lack title coordinates, even though they have coordinates in the infobox. I think it might be worth running a bot over the articles which transclude {{Infobox settlement}} without setting coordinates_display=. Many of these articles need title coordinates. In particular, if the article transcludes neither {{Coord/display/inline,title}} nor {{Coord/display/title}}, then I think "|coordinates_display=inline,title" ought to be inserted into the infobox. Any opinions on this? --Stepheng3 (talk) 05:37, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

This seems a reasonable idea. I only see two potential difficulties: (1) catching other infoboxes which generate title coordinates, which can cause clashes, and (2) if someone doesn't want them there for some reason. I recall an editor objecting to having the coordinates in both places, but I believe that editor only wanted them in the title, and not in the infobox. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 13:17, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Such esoteric variances are a plague on Wikipedia. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:35, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

That might be a job for The Anome's bot, which already does a lot of work applying coordinates. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:35, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

As far as I know, every infobox that generates title coordinates transcludes either {{Coord/display/inline,title}} or {{Coord/display/title}} at some point -- though possibly indirectly. --Stepheng3 (talk) 20:32, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Is it possible to check to see if there are duplicate transclusions of {{Coord/display/inline,title}} and/or {{Coord/display/title}} on a single page? That has been a major problem. It's often hard to tell if there are duplicates, and it creates a mess in the title line. If we could check for that, that would be something. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:27, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

I haven't found an easy way to determine the exact number of transclusions of a template, but I know it's possible to determine whether the number is zero or not. I requested and got a database report that lists articles transcluding both {{Coord/display/inline,title}} and {{Coord/display/title}}: Wikipedia:Database reports/Articles containing overlapping coordinates. I'm assuming such data are also available to bots.

Many tools ignore inline coordinates. For this reason, I think it would be good for every article about a settlement to have title coordinates.

What often happens is that someone (or somebot) notices the lack of title coordinates and adds them (typically at the bottom of the article) without noticing (or caring) that there are already coordinates in the infobox. This creates maintenance issues, because now the coordinates are encoded twice, and fixes to one do not get reflected in the other. The coordinantes_display= parameter provides a much better way to add title coordinates to an article about a settlement.

If there's no objection, I'd like to take this to Wikipedia:Bot requests. --Stepheng3 (talk) 02:09, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Okay, so it should be doable if you just check to make sure that there aren't coordinates in the title line, before adding the coordinates_display option. One could probably check this by just checking to see if it already transcludes one of the those two templates. If it does, then there must be something else on the page putting coordinates in the title line. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 14:56, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

My thoughts exactly. --Stepheng3 (talk) 13:03, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

I've taken this to Wikipedia:Bot_requests.--Stepheng3 (talk) 03:36, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

• I wonder: wouldn't it make more sense to display in title by default and simply remove the redundant individually-called coord statements ? –xeno^talk 14:07, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

• I tend to do this when I see an opportunity, merging the coord to the infobox. Tricky for a bot to do, but I suppose it could be programmed. Simply making "inline,title" the default is not such a great idea, however, because then you'd superpose over any existing title coordinates. --Stepheng3 (talk) 16:08, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Governing body

Can someone add the field 'Governing body' to the infobox? Ideally it should be just underneath Government type. Az88 (talk) 13:39, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Fine with me, but I will wait a bit to see if there are any objections. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 23:42, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Support. Please wrap with class="agent", as part of the emitted hCard microformat. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 10:29, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

I think sufficient time has elapsed. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 10:09, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Done. Hopefully I did it correctly. Could someone update the documentation? Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 20:25, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

You can collapse:

<td><span class="agent">{{{governing_body}}}</span></td>

to:

<td class="agent">{{{governing_body}}}</td>

if you wish. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 20:41, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I was thinking the same thing, but instead just pasted one of the earlier examples where this wasn't possible. I will change it to make it a bit more concise. Thanks for the suggestion. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 20:57, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Can you change this field simply to "Body" - "Governing body" is too wide for the infobox? 79.69.82.90 (talk) 12:27, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Sure, I can do that. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 15:04, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

"population" parameter

Foo
Population	10

Foo
Population
• Total	10

Foo
Population	10

The code seems to include a {{{population}}} parameter, but it isn't documented - what's it supposed to do?--Kotniski (talk) 09:33, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Good question. It looks like it is an alternative to {{{population_total}}} which could be used when there is only one population figure (e.g., no urban, metro, ...). Is this what you were trying to achieve with the   in the total_type? See the examples to the right. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 20:34, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

By the way, it looks like it was added here, but not documented. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 20:38, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Code update

{{editprotected}} Please can an admin replace the code of the template with that in the sandbox? This will provide the intended behaviour with the area total when {{{total_type}}} is set to  , as illustrated by Test Case 2. (I.e. the area will go on the same line as the word "Area", as already happens with "Population".)--Kotniski (talk) 09:36, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

 Done, although might it be better to get a bot to go round and remove these &nbsp? I don't see any purpose for it, and it would be better for the template to handle the formatting. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

It serves to provide an option (you can either have "Area: x" and "Population: y"; or you can have "Area Total: x; Urban: x1; etc." ... ) Though it would certainly be better to do it in a less hackish way.--Kotniski (talk) 11:32, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, can we come up with a different way and not use   here? Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 21:32, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, looking at this thread and that one, I think you're right - the "population" parameter was added precisely for this purpose. There ought to be an "area" parameter similarly. That would be a much better solution than the total_type hack. (But it would be necessary to make changes in the code for unit conversions and density calculation, to take account of the possible alternative parameters.)--Kotniski (talk) 09:50, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Marker proposal

User:Dr. Blofeld/Settlement Recently came across a black marker svg which I tested on a different infobox and I thought it looked excellent, much more precise. Have a look at the infobox on the right. Would anybody support a slight tweak to a black pin? Partly the reason is that red pin often clashes on a green map and people with color blindness can't see it. Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 19:50, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Looks good here, and the color blindness argument is compelling. I wonder if there are other maps on which the red pin would be more visible. Also, I wonder if a large pin would be better. --Stepheng3 (talk) 01:07, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

The pin here could be made a little larger but it is smaller because on such a large scale map if the pin is too big it covers many miles in radius flooding the surrounding area. It needs to be as precise as you can make in on such a map. Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 09:51, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps a solution would be to make it bigger when the label_position is set to "none"? Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 19:06, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Demonym

Can someone move the demonym field into the Population section of the infobox? I see no reason why it should be in it's own section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.41.5.13 (talk) 09:15, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: no consensus to move page, per discussion below. GTBacchus^(talk) 20:37, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

---

Template:Infobox settlement → Template:Infobox populated place — To match the category names, per Wikipedia talk:Categorization/Categorising human settlements and Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2010 April 17#Category:Settlements. I think that the current name should remain as a redirect, in order to prevent the need to fix all the current uses of the template. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 06:28, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

• Comment will you be leaving the existing uses in place, or will you get a bot to change the transclusion links? 76.66.193.224 (talk) 03:11, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
  • I had actually written that "I think that the current name should remain as a redirect, in order to prevent the need to fix all the current uses of the template". עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 08:14, 3 June 2010 (UTC)
• Oppose. Used in many thousands of articles, see no need to change a shorter template name for a longer one just for some minor consistency. Si Trew (talk) 08:29, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
• Oppose - {{Infobox settlement}} is easier, entrenched, and also at times used on non-populated places. –xeno^talk 15:58, 3 June 2010 (UTC)
• Oppose - agree with above, keep the name the same, there's too much confusion as it is, and it matches {{Geobox/type/settlement}}. BTW, is there any way to combine these 2 templates? :-} --Funandtrvl (talk) 18:07, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
• Oppose - no benefit in moving. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 20:43, 8 June 2010 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Unnecessary links

Is there any benefit to the template making wikilinks to sub-headings like Population, Elevation, Area? They're just ordinary dictionary words. Can the automatic linking be removed from the code? Colonies Chris (talk) 12:47, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

It can, if there's consensus to do so. I'm indifferent, myself. --Stepheng3 (talk) 23:49, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Since there has been no opposition to this, could someone remove the wikilinks to Population, Population density, Area, Elevation, Square kilometre, Square mile, Rural area, Urban area? Colonies Chris (talk) 11:09, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

No opposition to those above, but please leave demonym and time zone wikilinked so those who are unfamiliar can learn more. - Ruodyssey (talk) 07:10, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Requested parameters

population_rural

Can you add a |population_rural = underneath |population_urban = in infobox settlement? Especially for municipalities often both figures are available. Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 15:42, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

This seems uncontroversial, so I have added population_rural, area_rural_km2, area_rural_sq_mi, population_density_rural_km2, and population_density_rural_sq_mi. All of these are the exact analogues of the urban parameters. Let me know if there is a problem. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 20:07, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

French

I've also proposed to merge Template:Infobox department of France. I reqeust the following parameters are added to facilitate a direct merge. Not that by having parameters such as prefecture, arrondissements and communes this can also be used for many of the African regnioal articles and you enter in number of communes etc.

• Department number:
• Region:
• Prefecture:
• Subprefectures:
• Arrondissements:
• Cantons:
• Communes:

Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 16:04, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

It might be better to make the French template call this one. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 16:10, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

It's not just France though. Such parameters are needed for many of African countries like Guinea, Niger, Mali and Senegal etc. Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 16:15, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

I would think that Region and Prefecture could be handled by the standard subdivision fields. Subprefectures, Arrondissements, Cantons, and Communes could be handled by "parts_type", "p1", "p2", ... Department number could be handled by a blank field. This is how it is done in other localities (e.g., South Africa for the Municipality number). Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 20:10, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

bug in area_total_dunams

Due to a bug in the {{Infobox settlement}}, the area_total_dunams= option is broken -- see the new testcase. I've coded a simple fix in the sandbox. If there are no objections, this fix should go live in a few days. --Stepheng3 (talk) 22:15, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Done. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 00:04, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, Spork. --Stepheng3 (talk) 03:03, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Dutch town locator maps

Apologies if this is the wrong venue to raise this. I stumbled across Template:Dutch town locator maps which seems to be used in Dutch town articles for locator maps which seems redundant to infobox settlement. I've left a message on the template talk page and left a message on the templates primary editor but I thought I'd raise this here as editors here may have some interest. For the sake of keeping discussions in one place, can any discussion be placed at Template talk:Dutch town locator maps. Thanks. -- Whpq (talk) 20:05, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

I agree. For example, like this. I will follow up on the other talk page. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 21:17, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

transliteration versus transcription

Does anyone know why the translit_lang* parameters produce labels that refer to "transcription(s)" (converting sounds to text) rather than transliterations (converting a text to a different writing system)? Surely these fields were intended for transliterations, not transcriptions. --Stepheng3 (talk) 18:27, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

skyline image caption not appearing

Hi, Can anyone tell me why the image caption ("Leeds Town Hall") isn't appearing in the infobox in Leeds? I may be overlooking something obvious, but ... PamD (talk) 19:17, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

The parameter name was garbled. I've fixed it for you. --Stepheng3 (talk) 19:25, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for that! PamD (talk) 21:47, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

linking bug

there seems to be some sort of linking bug in the template, where the data field for city area is linked to Km m². (see here Ohconfucius ^¡digame! 13:40, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, the area_magnitude field causes the linking. I fixed it here, by blanking the field. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 18:58, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Disestablishment

I think it would be good to add disestablished_title and disestablished_date (not necessarily named thus) to the template. This would allow us to use the infobox for abandoned settlements, former research stations in the Arctic, etc, as the termination data cannot be input into the infobox at the moment, and that data is important for articles covering such sites. — Algkalv (talk) 18:13, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

• Support. It would be much better than creating a new seperate infobox. Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 18:22, 14 July 2010 (UTC)
• Comment. There is already an extinct_title and extinct_date parameter. You can also do this using one of the established_title and established_date parameters already in the infobox. See Omemee, North Dakota. I agree that having a more descriptive parameter would be helpful, but the code currently does provide a work around.DCmacnut<> 19:09, 14 July 2010 (UTC)
• Support -- sounds like a good idea to me. There are several abandoned settlements to which I'd like to add an infobox. Omnedon (talk) 00:02, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Fork

I'm unsure why we need Template:Infobox settlement/ukr. If we do have such a thing, it would make sense to have it call the parent template, rather than duplicating code. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 14:20, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Some code in Template:Infobox settlement very hard. I do not understand using Template:Geobox coor. For example, parameter coordinates_format = dms do not work in article Old revision of Khoruzhivka (Khoruzhivka) one time.

You want, that all articles about Ukrainian settlements contains the same code?

| native_name_lang        = uk
| pushpin_map             = Ukraine
| latNS  = N
| longEW = E
| coordinates_display     = inline,title
| subdivision_type        = Country
| subdivision_name        = Ukraine
| subdivision_type1       = Oblast (province)
| subdivision_type2       = Raion (district)
| established_title       = Established
| population_density_km2  = auto
| timezone                = EET
| utc_offset              = +2
| timezone_DST            = EEST
| utc_offset_DST          = +3
| postal_code_type        = Postal code
| area_code_type          = Area code(s)

--Амба (talk) 01:15, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

My primary objection was the way in which it was being done, not necessarily in the concept itself. The creation of a logical set of subtemplates which contain the essential details for each country could be useful. However, it's much better if those regionalized templates call the parent template to make sure that the formatting stays in sync. For example see links to {{Uses Infobox settlement}}. The idea is to make such templates a frontend to the main template, so the formatting and parameter names stay as uniform as possible. Also, I don't think there is a need for two pushpin maps. One locator map for the province or district, and one pushpin map for the location within the province or district is enough. With that said, I am only asking for some level of discussion before this is deployed widely. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 18:02, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

For example, this seems much less complicated, and reduces duplication of code. Not that I necessarily think either version is necessary, but using the parent template as a backend seems much cleaner. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 18:44, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

• Thank for work and help.--Амба (talk) 23:35, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Parameters related to names

After "other name" we could do with "former name" and "named for" (the latter so that, for instance, Telford can link to Thomas Telford and Battle, East Sussex to Battle of Hastings). Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 10:37, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

We already have named_for=. For an example of how former names might be handled, take a look at {{Infobox Russian inhabited locality}}. --Stepheng3 (talk) 15:18, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't know how I missed named_for=; but thank you. The Russian box has a plethora of alternative name fields, but I don't see how that's better than a simple former_name. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 18:35, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

bug?

Resolved

 – Redrose64 (talk) 22:07, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

The article Gorgan is producing errors from its call on this template. I don't understand it, but I think that it must be as a result of a bug or incompatible change here. SamuelTheGhost (talk) 20:45, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Not a bug; vandalism. Have reverted to previous version. --Redrose64 (talk) 22:07, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. SamuelTheGhost (talk) 23:00, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Big coordinates

I'm sure the coordinates used to be displayed in smaller type (like the map captions and so on) - they seem to have grown. Was this a deliberate change, or did it happen by accident at some point?--Kotniski (talk) 14:01, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't think so. What has changed is that the blue globe, which used to be absent, is now present, which has pushed the coordinates over a little. The blue globe change did not happen here, but at one of the subtemplates buried deep inside {{coord}}. --Redrose64 (talk) 19:24, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

I believe that the blue globe icon () is ordinarily displayed by JavaScript running as part of the user interface. If the size of the displayed icon has changed, or if it's being displayed now when it wasn't before, that suggests to me that your UI has changed. --Stepheng3 (talk) 22:52, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Excess caps

Seems like "Urban Density", "Metro Density", etc. should have a lower case 'd', i.e. "Urban density", since those aren't proper nouns. 76.121.3.85 (talk) 01:56, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

I agree. --Stepheng3 (talk) 05:20, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Done. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 20:58, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Image sizes and use of "px"

Is this any reason why using "px" on the pushpin_mapsize generates an expression error while not using a "px" on the shield, flag, and skyline seems to blow them up to huge proportions? - Ruodyssey (talk) 07:21, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

The value passed in |pushpin_mapsize= (and |pushpin_mapsize1=) is passed to {{location map}} via the latter's |width= parameter, which expects a bare integer: the documentation for that template states "Do not use px. Using width=200px will cause the map to stretch across page.".

However, |imagesize=, |flag_size=, |seal_size=, |shield_size=, |blank_emblem_size=, |mapsize= and |mapsize1= are all used to construct an image specifier directly (something like [[File:Example.jpg|{{{imagesize}}}|none|alt=|Skyline of someplace]]) where the presence of "px" is required (unless special values like "frameless" are used, see Wikipedia:Extended image syntax).

Curiously |dot_mapsize= may be specified either with or without the "px"; I think that the template code for the seven which require "px" may be similarly modified so that the "px" is optional, although that might break the interpretation of "frameless" etc. To allow "px" to be optional for |pushpin_mapsize= and |pushpin_mapsize1= doesn't just need a mod to {{location map}} - it also requires similar mods to some of its subtemplates - and it has simply hundreds of those. --Redrose64 (talk) 13:17, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Yikes. I guess the best thing to do might be to leave comments in the syntax so users know when to use it and when not to. - Ruodyssey (talk) 03:57, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Each of the ten fields mentioned above now has a note in the documentation as to whether "px" is required, optional or forbidden. --Redrose64 (talk) 15:10, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Help

I've had some trouble with maps not displaying a location marker from coordinate data. The latest case is San Felipe, Yaracuy. Am I doing something wrong? Rd232 ^talk 12:37, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

In the case of San Filipe, the longitude was specified as east when it should have been west. However, though the marker now appears, it is not in the right location, so the issue may be with the locator map template. I'll check it out. Omnedon (talk) 13:16, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Looks like the coordinates for San Filipe were incorrect; I've fixed that. Does it look right now? Omnedon (talk) 14:05, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Yes, thanks! I was taking data from eswiki and got confused between German Ost (east) and Spanish Oeste (west), and read the Spanish abbreviation O as meaning "east"... Rd232 ^talk 15:15, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Extend demographics?_title? to 6

Could someone please extend demographics?_title? up to 6. 5 is not enough.

thanks.Sumbuddi (talk) 17:23, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Can you explain where this is needed? My initial thought is that not everything needs to be in the infobox, but I could be wrong. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 07:38, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

I used it here: Sei_Bingai Sumbuddi (talk) 16:47, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

In that particular case, it would seem better to create a section in the article discussing the demographics. Right now the infobox is longer than the article. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 06:28, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Error in table rows?

Hi all. If you see MediaWiki:Common.css (specifically infobox.geography classes) you'll see that mergedrow, mergedbottomrow and mergedtoprow classes apply to td and th tags. This template use that class for tr tags. Is there any reason for that? or it it an error? --Bachinchi (talk) 23:36, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing out the issue. There is actually a larger problem, in that the entire mergedrow logic requires determining who is the last one in the section. Cleaning this up is one of the things on my list, but I just haven't had the time lately. If you want to take a stab at it, please feel free to go ahead, and put your proposed changed version in the sandbox. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:47, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Possible solutions:

adding tr to the classes.

Move every class="merged.." from tr tags to th tags (td too?)

--Bachinchi (talk) 07:41, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

So, how could we fix it? --Locos epraix ~ Beastepraix 15:23, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Extra incorporation date rows needed

Please see this edit to Quesnel, British Columbia. I've added the founding date, plus three successive incorporation dates (Village, 1928, Town, 1958, City, 1981) but the fourth name/date row won't display.....I can think of other places that will need multiple rows like this; can someone please tweak the code. I'll leave the info as-is on the Quesnel page, hoping that the "Incorporated (city)" field will display once those tweaks are made.Skookum1 (talk) 20:55, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Also, the field which is labelled "Metro" is unsuitable for hundreds of places like this....bit of an urban conceit, I'd say. Quesnel's own site uses the common BC term "service area", which includes outlying communities like Nazko, Hixon, Cottonwood, Wells, Alexandria, Red Bluff, Dragon Lake etc but "Metro" or "metropolitan region" is just not the term to use. Can the name of that field be made adjustable. It's just too WEIRD to refer to places like Quesnel as having a "Metro".....a trendy catch-phrase, yes, and common enough in reference ot urban agglomerations of major cities; but totally unsuitable, like I said, to hundreds (upon hundreds) of places where this infobox is used.Skookum1 (talk) 20:58, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

The template has quite a lot of fields already. I'll see about adding a fourth date. To specify the population of a "service area" I recommend using:

| population_blank1_title = Service area
| population_blank1       = 234,567

--Stepheng3 (talk) 22:47, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

As for the incorporation dates, it turns out there is already a fourth parameter for that purpose. The parameter numbering goes as follows:

1. | established_date =
2. | established_date1 =
3. | established_date2 =
4. | established_date3 =

--Stepheng3 (talk) 22:55, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Oddity

I had a dig into this template in search of a missing parameter check (it seems to be testing for the existence of "Flag of" in some cases - see what links here). However, something more devious is going on with the detection of empty official_name parameters. To whit:

<!-- This tests for [[Flag of]] ... -->
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)
| official_name           =
| image_flag              = Flag of Azad Kashmir.svg
}}

<!-- .. but this doesn't! -->
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)
| image_flag              = Flag of Azad Kashmir.svg
}}

To be honest I find poking myself in the eye with a pencil more fun than debugging template code. Do we have any experts on hand willing to investigate? - TB (talk) 13:37, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Okay, I will have a look. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 22:59, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

I believe this is now fixed, or least it is in a position where it could be fixed. I created a subtemplate Template:Infobox settlement/link, which handles the linking logic. Note that there were actually even more of these. Here is the (most likely) complete list: [4], [5], [6], and [7]. With this change, these counts should drop to zero as soon as the server caching catches up. As always, let me know and revert if I introduced a new bug. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 23:42, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Yikes, that truly was a hideous bug - I'm now doubly glad that I passed the buck. I shall go weld some bits of cutlery together in your honour right now, PlastikSpork. - TB (talk) 09:02, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Inset Maps

The request has been made at the FAC for Thistle, Utah to support inset maps (i.e. show a national map with the state/province/district/etc. highlighted in the corner of push pin map. The purpose would be to aid those who do not recognize the region being depicted. One suggestion was to follow template Template:Infobox Indian jurisdiction or similar. Thoughts? 16:59, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

My own opinion: I like the idea, however I don't think I would make it automatic, as in the Indian jurisdiction template, but rather an option. Dave (talk) 17:01, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

It might be a useful feature to add to {{Location map}} as well? Basically you could have some logic to make sure the inset doesn't overlap with the pin. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 19:30, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like nobody is opposed to this. I have some experience with template coding, but not enough to do this dry, I'd need to sandbox this. FYI to Plasticspork, how the Indian jurisdiction template does via a case statement that keys off the entry into the jurisdiction field. What I had in mind is to have the inset map default to off, default to upper left corner if turned on and the position is not defined for that jurisdiction in the code. Please advise if you see any concerns. Dave (talk) 19:15, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

OK Finally got around to looking at this. This template uses template:Location map to place the map. As such, it looks like the easiest way to implement inset maps is to modify the location map template first, then add the additional parameters to this on to be passed down. As such, I'll move this discussion to the talk page for template:Location map. Dave (talk) 16:33, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Great. I fear I will be the one who is asked to implement it :), but we shall see, perhaps I will get some help. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 02:02, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

both pushpins in one map?

I can't get the pushpins to work properly for Meyerton. What am I doing wrong? --Slashme (talk) 10:29, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Are you sure that place is within the limits of the map? It looks like it is considered to be outside of the "greater region". I will have a closer look. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 21:22, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

Official name

The "Official name" field is being discussed at WT:MOS#City names and WT:MOS#Geobox|Settlement, name field. Some believe that the "Official name" field should be removed, because "City of Xville" means the city government of Xville, not Xville itself. Art LaPella (talk) 21:10, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

OK, so I've read the archived pages on this topic and I'm still horribly confused, maybe this is an issue different in the USA and the UK and Canada? It seems to me that this "official name" lingo results in ALL cities listing their name as "City of Xville", that is ridiculous!! I'm siding with the Occam's razor side of this issue, "too many names is not appropriate". Cities generally have but one name, unless there is a nickname. It seems to be that all cities use "City of" on their letter head, but that's not implying that "City of" is part of the city's name!!!! Oh dear, this is really ridiculous. The only reason letterheads use "City of" is to create a literary context for the written form, in Canada anyway. Our cities nomenclatures DO NOT include "City of".

Also, regarding official languages of cities... Take an example of a city that is officially bilingual (French/English), then the English language article uses the English name and the French language article uses the French name... or so it used to be. Am I to understand that because of the language slots in the infobox we have to double up on languages within the infobox??? Since Canada is officially bilingual, that means all boxes need to have double terminology?????? It's all too much redundant information for my liking. The point is the matter is the same for a country or a province or a city. My country is Canada, the name of the government is "Government of Canada", my province is Ontario and the government's name is "Government of Ontario", the name of my city is Guelph it's government's name is "City of Guelph". Now unless we're going to follow this silly identifier rule for all levels of government, using the identifier only at the municipal level is completely nonsensical. There is a difference between the government's nomenclature, and the location name per se. If it applies to cities then it must apply to provinces/states and countries as well.--Tallard (talk) 11:12, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

I'd like to propose a change to the template that would satisfy linguists, proofreaders, grammar books, MoS and I think everyone. The line for "Official name" should be changed to "Name of Governing body". This should apply to infoboxes for ALL levels of government.--Tallard (talk) 04:14, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Another unnecessary link

Following on from the delinking changes made back in June, can the automatic wikilinking of sub-heading 'Area' also be removed please? Colonies Chris (talk) 14:11, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Done. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 05:03, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Colonies Chris (talk) 09:36, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

More tweaks of this template text are required

{{editprotect}}

• Could someone point me to why "Country" needs to be linked to "List of sovereign states"? I mean, who wants to go to such a list when reading an article about Little Rock?

subdivision_type = Country

• In the "Example", isn't it time we complied with what MOS and MOSNUM direct us to do: use a proper minus sign, not a typewriter-era hyphen? So, not "-4" and "-5", but "−4" and "−5". The mathematicians go crazy if it's not done, I believe. I'm sick of correcting this in articles. :-)

• Towards the top, could we be kinder to newbies WRT conversions? Not the cryptic

"Metric", but perhaps something like:

"Metric or "US customary" followed by "(metric conversion)"—See WP:MOSNUM#Which_units_to_use for which way to do it.-->

Tony (talk) 08:24, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

These all sound reasonable. But please leave the suggestion for a while before adding {{editprotected}} to allow time for others to comment. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:10, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, I forgot the order in which to do this. Sure, let's see what others think. Tony (talk) 12:15, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

So can we have minus signs in the example, please? The MoS guideline has insisted on this for years. On a low-res screen, a hyphen can look like a fly-spec. It's not professional typography. And a final call for anyone who objects to removing what looks to be an entirely unnecessary link to the list of sovereign states? Tony (talk) 06:05, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Template discussion for handling coordinates_region

There is a discussion at WP:Templates for discussion/Log/2011 February 6#Template:ISO 3166 name DE-HB that is relevant here. In a nutshell, the discussion is about a (mostly currently unused) template system that could replace some (not all) of the functionality of {{CountryAbbr}} as used in templates like this. On the other hand, we now have the coordinates_region parameter, which obviates the need for either of these methods. Additional feedback is welcome; the original TfD discussion attracted only three editors. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 18:25, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

We still need additional comments on this issue. The templates under discussion would potentially be used by this infobox, so the impact of their deletion or their retention and deployment is of importance here. Thanks — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 00:16, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Elevation: two values

Hi, I've replaced the information that the city Ljubljana is 298 m above the sea level with two values in the article: the elevation of its centroid (295 m) and the elevation of the city centre (298 m).[8][9] Can someone please assist me in the formatting of the infobox so that both values appear? Thanks. --Eleassar ^{my talk} 13:35, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

You have a few options here. (1) List the elevations in |elevation_m= and in |elevation_ft=, otherwise the box will try to autoconvert it (2) List one or the other and use |elevation_footnotes= to denote which measurement is being used, and indicate that the elevation may vary depending on the location, (3) Use |elevation_min_m= and |elevation_max_m= to provide the highest and lowest elevation. I prefer either the second or third option. There is no need to put every single piece of information in the infobox. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:32, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Unnecessary links - unfinished business

The removal of the automatic wikilinking of various subheadings was agreed with the delinking changes made back in June, but two of the subheadings listed there, 'Density' and 'Elevation', are still linked. Can they also be unlinked please?Colonies Chris (talk) 09:27, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Plus my requests two threads above? I don't mean to frighten the horses in the street, but surely these are no longer controversial ...? Tony (talk) 10:22, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

So what are the changes? Delink density and elevation and what else? Sorry if I seem a bit dense, but I work best with very specific instructions :) As far as I could tell, some of these changes were for the doc page, which is not protected. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 02:02, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

I've removed the 'country' links and changed the hyphens to minus signs in the doc. However there are two link removals still to do in the template: [[Population density|Density]] --> Density and [[Elevation]] --> Elevation. Colonies Chris (talk) 11:09, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Done. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 03:28, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Many thanks, Plastikspork. Tony (talk) 04:49, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Problems with Libya map

I don't know (or particularly care) who last edited this template or why, but it's currently broken. Take a look at Tripoli, Libya, for example. Could someone with admin tools, and hopefully a little knowledge of this template, please roll it back to an earlier version so that there are no "Expression error" issues and the like? Thank you.
— V = IR (Talk • Contribs) 23:53, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

 Done. Someone screwed up Template:Location map Libya. I restored it and it fixed the problem. —MJCdetroit ^(yak) 00:58, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

Cool, thanks. I hate those kinds of problems. Is it the infobox? Is it the image(s)? wtf? :) Anyway, I appreciate the assist.
— V = IR (Talk • Contribs) 01:52, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

Yet more unnecessary links

Sub-headings Nickname, Anthem, Motto are common, widely understood terms. Can the automatic linking be removed from the template code, per WP:OVERLINK? Colonies Chris (talk) 12:08, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

I thought we'd solved all of this overlinking, a relic from the early days of wikis. Could this be attended to? Generally, I have to say from quite some gnoming experience in settlement articles, that the overlinking of common terms is a significant problem. Tony (talk) 12:27, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Done. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 02:11, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

Infobox (template) size

Hi! Can anyone here tell me how to downsize the size of infobox? Infobox like the one in Shenyang is too big and nonuniform. I want to downsize that into the size of the one in Shanghai. Any suggestions? --LLTimes (talk) 00:59, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

I believe you are talking about the width? If so, I have made some minor format changes. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:07, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

OMG thank you so much and yes I was talking about the width :3, I'll try to replicate your edits on other big ass infobox (width wise). Thx! --LLTimes (talk) 01:12, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Yes, the two major things to look for are (1) the URL and (2) any {{nowrap}} or &nbsp; which may be keeping fields from wrapping. Basically look for the widest line, and see if it can be modified to wrap. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:47, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Thx :D but I got a bit problem fixing Guangzhou's width =.=~". Can you see what you can do? :P --LLTimes (talk) 04:32, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

I had a look and the area numbers were over-accurate resulting in wider infobox. Always look at the widest line and see if you can get it thinner. --Muhandes (talk) 15:50, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

You can get it to be even thinner if you specify the density values manually rather than "auto". As the population isn't accurate, I don't see a reason why the density should be. --Muhandes (talk) 18:04, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Dated maintenance category issue

There is a recurring issue with this infobox, wherein transcluding a dated maintenance template (e.g. {{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}) after certain parameters in the infobox causes the dated maintenance category to be generated with a malformed year (e.g. Category:Articles with unsourced statements from March 2,011). See the article Mombasa for an example.

The problem is not specific to just one maintenance template, and can be triggered by multiple parameters. I have not checked each one, but I have confirmed that the following parameters are affected by the problem: "area_total_km2", "area_land_km2", "area_water_km2", "population_urban", "population_total" and "population_density_km2".

Does anyone know what may be causing the issue? Thank you, -- Black Falcon ^(talk) 00:11, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

The problem is most likely that this template uses {{formatnum: }} to format population, area, density, and elevation numbers. I suppose one fix would be to use {{formatnum: |R}} within {{citation needed}}. The only problem would be if there are any instances when a comma should be in the date field. Would that work? Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:41, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Basically change the |date = {{{date|}}} to | date = {{formatnum:{{{date|}}}|R}} in {{citation needed}}, would probably fix it. Or more aggressive would be to put this in {{fix}}. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 01:46, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

So, then, would the issue be present in any infobox which uses {{formatnum: }} to format one or more numerical parameter values? If that is the case, and given that {{citation needed}} is not the only dated inline template which could appear in infoboxes, then probably a change to {{Fix}} would be best. -- Black Falcon ^(talk) 19:07, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Should work to add the reverse formating to {{fix}}. It shouldn't change dates without commas, and would remove commas from dates with them. Since we are just using Month Year, without the day, it should be fine. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 05:06, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

I added an editprotected request at Template talk:Fix#Dated categories and formatnum. Thank you for your help! -- Black Falcon ^(talk) 19:34, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

I've done some testing and I don't think Plastikspork's suggestion is going to work. The problem is that the formatnum in the infobox template is parsed later than anything in {{fix}}, so you will get the comma no matter what happens in {{fix}}. For example, subsituting the formatnum in the following

{{subst:formatnum:{{citation needed|date=August 2009}}}}

produces

{{citation needed|date=August 2,009}}

I can't actually think of any way around this, short of removing the formatnum from the infobox template. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:30, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

See Template:Bug. A workaround would be to add extra parameters "area_total_km2_ref", "area_land_km2_ref", and so on to the infobox to hold the ref tag or template. Anomie⚔ 15:33, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

There is already |area_footnotes=, where is where the references are supposed to go. I don't exactly get why {{formatnum:{{citation needed|date=August 2009}} }} adds a comma, but {{formatnum:{{citation needed|date=August 2,009}}|R}} doesn't remove it. I will have to read the bug report. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 05:11, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

The {{formatnum:{{citation needed|date=August 2,009}}|R}} does remove the comma but the formatnum in the infobox runs after that and puts the comma back in again! — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:24, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

It seems, then, that until the bug is fixed, the only solutions are fixing the issue highlighted by an inline template, thereby permitting removal of the template, or moving the inline template to a "note" or footnote" field (such as |population_footnotes) that does not use {{formatnum: }}. I have implemented the latter solution for all articles, except 1995 Rugby World Cup, which were in a malformed Articles containing unsourced statements from MONTH YEAR category, from January 2009 to the present. -- Black Falcon ^(talk) 19:39, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Exponent for square kilometers

The current code to show square kilometers is "km²". It should be "km²". Square mile is "sq mi", which is inconsistent, though it is a common form.  Randall Bart   Talk  21:06, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

The WP:MOS for numbers has a section on this. In particular, see the last part of the section Wikipedia:Units#Unit_symbols. So, in short, the preferred typography is to use sup. Thanks! Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 00:46, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Additional feature proposal

If the lat/lon coordinates are missing this template should add the article to a maintenance category. Something like Category:Settlements missing geocoding should work. Right now, the behavior is to fail rather ungracefully (red parse error message). I'll code up my exact proposed change below. -- Selket ^Talk 17:00, 24 June 2011 (UTC)