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README.md

factbook-readers - turn thee world factbook country profile pages into open structured data e.g JSON

What's the World Factbook?

See factbook/factbook.json »

Usage

Get country profile page as a hash (that is, structured data e.g. nested key/values)

page = Factbook::Page.new( 'br' )   # br is the country code for Brazil
pp page.to_h                        # pretty print data hash

resulting in:

{"Introduction"=>
  {"Background"=>
    {"text"=>
      "Following more than three centuries under Portuguese rule,
       Brazil gained its independence in 1822, ..."}},
 "Geography"=>
  {"Location"=>{"text"=>"Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean"},
   "Geographic coordinates"=>{"text"=>"10 00 S, 55 00 W"},
   "Map references"=>{"text"=>"South America"},
   "Area"=>
    {"total"=>{"text"=>"8,515,770 sq km"},
     "land"=>{"text"=>"8,358,140 sq km"},
     "water"=>{"text"=>"157,630 sq km"},
     "note"=> "includes Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas, ..."},
   "Area - comparative"=>
    {"text"=>"slightly smaller than the US"},
   "Land boundaries"=>
    {"total"=>{"text"=>"16,145 km"},
     "border countries"=>
      {"text"=>
        "Argentina 1,263 km, Bolivia 3,403 km, Colombia 1,790 km,
        French Guiana 649 km, Guyana 1,308 km, Paraguay 1,371 km, Peru 2,659 km,
        Suriname 515 km, Uruguay 1,050 km, Venezuela 2,137 km"}},
   "Climate"=>{"text"=>"mostly tropical, but temperate in south"},
   "Elevation"=>
    {"lowest point"=>{"text"=>"Atlantic Ocean 0 m"},
     "highest point"=>{"text"=>"Pico da Neblina 2,994 m"}},
   "Natural resources"=>
    {"text"=>
      "bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, ..."},
    ...

Use data attributes

pp page['Introduction']['Background']['text']
# => "Following more than three centuries..."
pp page['Geography']['Area']['total']['text']
# => "8,515,770 sq km"
pp page['Geography']['Area']['land']['text']
# => "8,358,140 sq km"
pp page['Geography']['Area']['water']['text']
# => "157,630 sq km"
pp page['Geography']['Area']['note']
# => "includes Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas, ..."
pp page['Geography']['Area - comparative']['text']
# => "slightly smaller than the US"
pp page['Geography']['Climate']['text']
# => "mostly tropical, but temperate in south"
pp page['Geography']['Terrain']['text']
# => "mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; ..."
pp page['Geography']['Elevation']['lowest point']['text']
# => "Atlantic Ocean 0 m"
pp page['Geography']['Elevation']['highest point']['text']
# => "Pico da Neblina 2,994 m"
pp page['Geography']['Natural resources']['text']
# => "bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, ..."
...

See Attributes for a quick reference listing.

Save to disk as JSON

page = Factbook::Page.new( 'br' )
File.open( 'br.json', 'w:utf-8') do |f|
  f.write page.to_json
end

Ready-To-Use Public Domain (Free) Factbook Datasets

factbook/factbook.json - open (public domain) factbook country profiles in JSON for all the world's countries (note: using the original / official two-letter GEC (formerly FIPS) codes and NOT the ISO codes - you might be used to for country codes e.g. Austria is au.json and NOT at.json, Germany is gm.json and NOT de.json so on)

Install

Use

gem install factbook-readers

or add to your Gemfile

gem 'factbook-readers'

License

The factbook scripts are dedicated to the public domain. Use it as you please with no restrictions whatsoever.

Questions? Comments?

Send them along to the Open Mundi (world.db) Database Forum/Mailing List. Thanks!