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OpenCage 👉🌍

@opencage@en.osm.town

mastodon 4.7.3

Worldwide, affordable geocoding and geosearch using open data. Since 2013.

We occasionally post threads about #geoweirdness and #geoeducation, and on the final Friday of the month we play #fridaygeotrivia.

We organize Geomob events/podcast: @geomob@mapstodon.space

Based in Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪 🇪🇺, serving customers worldwide.

3734 Followers

319 Following

50 Posts

Joined November 04, 2022

Homepage:

https://opencagedata.com

Geocoding API docs:

https://opencagedata.com/api

Geosearch:

https://opencagedata.com/geosearch

Our blog:

https://blog.opencagedata.com

OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 1w ago

🚨 It's time for #fridaygeotrivia 🚨 The Sept 2026 question: Name country pairs that share a maritime border but no land border, separated by less than 50 km of water at their closest point, ie countries that can see each other. For example Singapore 🇸🇬 and Indonesia 🇮🇩. As always: • Only one answer per toot • You must include the hashtag #fridaygeotrivia and the emoji flag of the countries Full details on the blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/geotrivia-september-2026 We will post answers in this thread as they arrive 1/

blog.opencagedata.com

Geotrivia - September 2026 - Visual neighbours

The September 2026 edition of #fridaygeotrivia - our monthly social media geography quiz. Join us on the final Friday of each month

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 2mo ago

Let's close out the week with a #geoweirdness thread. This time we head back to Europe to consider the geographic oddities of the Czech Republic 🇨🇿 1/

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 2mo ago

From parks and playgrounds to the world's quirkiest map features, @watmildon@en.osm.town proves that mapping is all about curiosity. Read our latest OSM blog interview to learn how creative projects help keep the OpenStreetMap community thriving: https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-interview-watmildon #openstreetmap #opendata #mapping Photo: cathedrals of Germany generated with Matthew's XofY OSM Geometry Viewer

blog.opencagedata.com

Interview: Matthew Whilden on Mapping the Unexpected

Interview with Matthew Whilden about Mapping the Unexpected.

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 2mo ago

Replying to

5/ Czechia 🇨🇿 is a landlocked country, so it may surprise you to know the country has an official port territory in Hamburg, Germany 🇩🇪 Following WWI Czechoslovakia got a 99-year lease on a lot called Moldauhafen giving it sea access via the Elbe rivers. The Czech Republic inherited the rights. The lease expires in 2028. There's currently a negotiation to swap the now-derelict, bridge-blocked plots for a more usable site near a real deepwater terminal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldauhafen #geoweirdness

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

We’ve just published a new OpenStreetMap interview in our series featuring @VolkerKrause@floss.social from @transitous@en.osm.town

In this conversation, Volker shares insights on the challenges of relying on proprietary transit APIs, why open mobility data matters, and how projects like Transitous are expanding what’s possible with OSM & community driven infrastructure.

A big thank you to Volker for taking the time to share his perspective and experience with us.

Read the full interview here:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/openstreetmap-interview-transitous

blog.opencagedata.com

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 2mo ago

Replying to

4/ Historically Czechia 🇨🇿 was sometimes referred to as Bohemia, but in fact Bohemia is just one of three regions of the country. The other large region is Moravia, and there is a smaller Czech Silesia region. Bohemia is the drainage basin of the Elbe river (flowing to the North Sea), Moravia the Danube (Black Sea), the Czech Silesia the Oder (Baltic). https://waterwaymap.org/#map=6.94/50.101/14.778 #geoweirdness

waterwaymap.org

WaterwayMap.org | OSM River Basins

A unique, topological, view on rivers & waterways in OpenStreetMap, showing how they are connected. Find mistakes and make better maps.

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

In today's episode of why geocoding is hard ...

English translation of the note "Kleine Weiherstraße no longer exists, but the address is still used. This is not Pestalozzistraße 11. Source: sign at the location and the city of Mainz"

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 2mo ago

Replying to

2/ if that is your thing you may enjoy our #geoweirdness threads about • 🇬🇧 British overseas territories https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110288036094504869 • 🇪🇸 Spain https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110564980461467818 both of which are of course linked from the full list over on the blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads

OpenCage 👉🌍: "The world's eyes will turn to London later this w…" - OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

4/ Another bit of cartographic fun is the long tradition of map makers hiding figures in their maps SwissTopo has a nice article with several examples from their maps: https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/hidden-images-20161221 #geoweirdness

swisstopo.admin.ch

Hidden images in national maps

A topographic map is by definition the graphic representation of a territory. Thanks to its high quality, the graphic design of our national maps comes close to reality. However, despite strict requirements concerning precision and rigorousness, they sometimes conceal treasures born of their creator’s imagination.

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 7mo ago

We return to the southern hemisphere this week in #geoweirdness

We head to a country of vast deserts and long coasts - join us as we consider the geographic oddities of Namibia 🇳🇦

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namibia

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OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

🚨Time for #fridaygeotrivia 🚨

This month's question: Name country pairs that share at least one significant land border segment deliberately drawn along a line of latitude or longitude - a “ruler border.”

An example is the 🇺🇸 US and 🇨🇦 Canada along the the 49th parallel.

As always:
• Only one answer per toot
• You must include the hashtag #fridaygeotrivia and the emoji flag of the countries

Full rules/details of prizes on the blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/geotrivia-april-2026

OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 2mo ago

Replying to

3/ Czechia 🇨🇿 re-emerged as an independent state along with Slovakia 🇸🇰 in 1992 when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was peacefully split in two following the collapse of the Iron Curtain, and was just one of many changes in Eastern Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_Czechoslovakia It is one of the few peaceful splits of a country in history and stands in stark contrast to the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. #geoweirdness

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

3/ No list of geographic jokes would be complete without a discussion of the "Bielefeld Conspiracy" which makes the claim that the German 🇩🇪 city of Bielefeld does not exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld_conspiracy #geoweirdness

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Many of you are working with AI tools like Claude Code to accelerate development.

We've published some Agent Skills files (SKILL.md) to get your agent up to speed more quickly on our geocoding API and working with our various language-specific SDKs and command line tools so you don't need to re-invent the wheel

https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/agent-skills-for-working-with-the-opencage-geocoding-api-and-geosearch

blog.opencagedata.com

Agent Skills for working with our geocoding API and geosearch

OpenCage now offers Agent Skills for Claude and other AI coding agents, making it easy to integrate our geocoding API and geosearch widget into any agentic w...

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

2/ of course if fictional countries are your thing you will be aware of "Null Island" which is conveniently located at the coordinates 0,0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Island We are pleased to say that our geocoding API supports searching for Null Island Here's a great article by @alan about Null Island https://stamen.com/the-many-lives-of-null-island/ #geoweirdness #nullisland

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

RE: @geomob@mapstodon.space

Was a very enjoyable evening

mapstodon.space

Geomob: "Many thanks to everyone who joined us last night …" - Mapstodon.Space

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

Why? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y,_Somme

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

The US 🇺🇸 / Israel 🇮🇱/ Iran 🇮🇷 war has put the world's focus on the Strait of Hormuz.

Hopefully the conflict ends soon 🙏

This week we reshare our #geoweirdness thread about the United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪 where we discuss the disputed islands near the Strait, amongst other bits of Emirati geographic oddness.

@opencage@en.osm.town

OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@DrHyde oh very cool, thanks for making us aware. Not sure it has international strategic significance, but very impressive engineering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinth_Canal

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

This week was Easter, so it's fitting we reshare our #geoweirdness thread about Chile 🇨🇱 , owners of Easter Island 🗿

Enjoy:

@opencage@en.osm.town

OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

6/ That concludes our look at geographic jokes. What did we miss? If you liked this #geoweirdness thread you may also enjoy our look at Geo games: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/113606413273241319 and of course "The Vaguely Rude Places Map" is always worth a chuckle https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110524917750377747 We have many more threads about specific countries and regions, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked over on our blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads

OpenCage 👉🌍: "The holidays 🎄🎁 are almost here, a time of gifts.…" - OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

2/ Not far from the Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea we find the Bab-el-Mandeb passage between Yemen 🇾🇪 on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti 🇩🇯and Eritrea 🇪🇷 in the Horn of Africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab-el-Mandeb Nearby is Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia 🇸🇴 in 1991 and operates as its own country, but is recognized by only one UN member: Israel 🇮🇱 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somaliland #geoweirdness

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

5/ At the other end of the Mediterranean is the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Med with the Atlantic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Gibraltar Since 1704 Britain 🇬🇧 has controlled Gibraltar 🇬🇮 though this is contested by Spain 🇪🇸. Meanwhile Spain has the "autonomous city" of Ceuta bordering Morocco 🇲🇦 on the southern side of the Strait. As we covered in our Morocco #geoweirdness thread, nearby Tangier was it's own "international zone" until 1956. https://en.osm.town/@opencage/112457113480438896

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

RE: @geomob@mapstodon.space

Our very own @freyfogle@mastodon.social will be speaking!

Hope to see you there!

mapstodon.space

Geomob: "Geomob Cologne is one of seven upcoming events in…" - Mapstodon.Space

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

5/ to close out our little thread of geographic jokes here's a fun one from our very own @mtmail and naturalist #OpenStreetMap mapping https://mastodon.social/@mtmail/116329520012697501 "Map Like You were Born To" #geoweirdness

mastodon.social

mtmail: "I got an email after signing up that the 2026 #op…" - Mastodon

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

RE: @opencage@en.osm.town

Don’t forget - #fridaygeotrivia tomorrow!

OpenCage 👉🌍: "🚨 #fridaygeotrivia is back! 🚨 As per tradition w…" - OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@zkarj you may enjoy our New Zealand 🇳🇿 #geoweirdness thread https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110009521563447805

OpenCage 👉🌍: "Last week in #geoweirdness we covered Canada 🇨🇦 i…" - OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@tml not sure we can yet consider that a choke point since it has so little traffic.

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

8/ Finally, looking to South East Asia, Singapore 🇸🇬 and Malaysia 🇲🇾 sit on the 900km long Strait of Malacca, the main shipping channel between the Indian and Pacific oceans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Malacca

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

In the Americas the most important maritime choke point is the Panama Canal, which passes through Panama 🇵🇦 and connects the Caribbean (Atlantic) with the Pacific. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal Until 1979 the Canal Zone was a territory of the United States 🇺🇸 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone #geoweirdness

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@KerryMitchell yes, we discussed it a bit in our Canada 🇨🇦 #geoweirdness thread https://en.osm.town/@opencage/109970277198086308 but not sure it is a choke point currently

OpenCage 👉🌍: "Last week's #geoweirdness thread about France 🇫🇷 …" - OSM Town | Mapstodon for OpenStreetMap

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

9/ That's it for our overview of ⛴️ maritime choke points. What did we overlook? We have more threads about the #geoweirdness of specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked on our blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads

blog.opencagedata.com

OpenCage Geothreads

On a regular basis we post threads on social media about geospatial topics - sometimes about aspects of our service, sometimes about geoweirdness.

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

4/ Heading north we find the 🇹🇷 Turkish straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles) linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_straits The strategic location of Istanbul (previously Constantinople) connecting Asia and Europe has been clear for millennia, but the on-going Russia 🇷🇺 / Ukraine 🇺🇦 war has brought renewed focus to this critical waterway. Our #geoweirdness thread about Turkey https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110326676703792569

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@sam 21/ Point! to @ryankas for the Gulf of Guinea 🇬🇳 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Guinea and another point for the Bight of Benin 🇧🇯 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bight_of_Benin #fridaygeotrivia

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

3/ At the northern end of the Red Sea we have the Suez Canal, passing through Egypt 🇪🇬. The Canal's critical importance to global logistics and the route from Europe to Asia came into focus a few years ago when it was blocked by a container ship that ran aground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Suez_Canal_obstruction Our #geoweirdness thread about Egypt: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/115729051480488048

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@marcas best proof of Bielefeld non-existence is that @jpmens claims to live there

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

As always the best way to practice for #fridaygeotrivia is to review past questions, which you can find over on the blog https://blog.opencagedata.com/post/geotrivia-april-2026

blog.opencagedata.com

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

6/ In northern Europe Sweden 🇸🇪, Denmark 🇩🇰, and Norway 🇳🇴 sit on one of the busiest shipping routes in the world - Skagerrak - where the Baltic meets the North Sea / Atlantic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skagerrak

en.wikipedia.org

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 6mo ago

Replying to

Want to sharpen your #fridaygeotrivia skills before this month's game? You can see all the past questions and answerers (going all the way back to 2021!) over on our blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/tagged/fridaygeotrivia

blog.opencagedata.com

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

10 min to go until the Geoawesome online event "The AI Transformation: From APIs to Conversations" featuring our very own @freyfogle@mastodon.social and others.

https://www.airmeet.com/e/8ce18370-ff88-11f0-ace7-c7ef52349391

mastodon.social

Ed Freyfogle (@freyfogle@mastodon.social) - Mastodon

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OpenCage 👉🌍 @opencage@en.osm.town

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@woutervanmaanen um, it is toot 6 in the thread 🤔

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