factbook - scripts for the world factbook (get open structured data e.g JSON etc.)

What's the World Factbook?

The World Factbook [1][2] published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offers free country profiles in the public domain (that is, no copyright(s), no rights reserved).

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.data                        # pretty print 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"=>
      {"text"=>
        "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 (10)"=>
      {"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 extremes"=>
    {"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 shortcut attribute accessors

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

See data/attributes.yml for the full listing of all built-in attribute shortcut accessors. See Attributes for a quick reference listing.

Save to disk as JSON

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

List all codes

Factbook.codes.each do |code|
  pp code
end

resulting in:

#<struct Factbook::Codes::Code
 code="af",
 name="Afghanistan",
 category="Countries",
 region="South Asia">
#<struct Factbook::Codes::Code
 code="al",
 name="Albania",
 category="Countries",
 region="Europe">
#<struct Factbook::Codes::Code
 code="ag",
 name="Algeria",
 category="Countries",
 region="Africa">
#<struct Factbook::Codes::Code
 code="an",
 name="Andorra",
 category="Countries",
 region="Europe">
...

Note: You can filter codes by category e.g. Countries, Dependencies, Miscellaneous, Oceans, etc. and/or by region e.g. Africa, Europe, South Asia, Central America and Caribbean, etc.


assert_equal 261, Factbook.codes.size 

## categories
assert_equal 195, Factbook.codes.countries.size
assert_equal  52, Factbook.codes.dependencies.size
assert_equal   5, Factbook.codes.oceans.size
assert_equal   1, Factbook.codes.world.size
assert_equal   2, Factbook.codes.others.size
assert_equal   6, Factbook.codes.misc.size

## regions
assert_equal  55, Factbook.codes.europe.size
assert_equal   9, Factbook.codes.south_asia.size
assert_equal   6, Factbook.codes.central_asia.size
assert_equal  22, Factbook.codes.east_n_souteast_asia.size
assert_equal  19, Factbook.codes.middle_east.size
assert_equal  56, Factbook.codes.africa.size
assert_equal   7, Factbook.codes.north_america.size
assert_equal  33, Factbook.codes.central_america_n_caribbean.size
assert_equal  14, Factbook.codes.south_america.size
assert_equal  30, Factbook.codes.australia_oceania.size
assert_equal   4, Factbook.codes.antartica.size
assert_equal   5, Factbook.codes.region('Oceans').size
assert_equal   1, Factbook.codes.region('World').size

## categories + regions
assert_equal  45, Factbook.codes.countries.europe.size
...

See data/codes.csv for the built-in listing of all codes with categories and regions.

The World Factbook Summary (267 Entries)

The World Factbook includes 267 entries - 195 sovereign countries / 2 others / 58 dependencies / 6 miscellaneous / 5 oceans / 1 world:

Sovereign Countries (195)

A af Afghanistan al Albania ag Algeria an Andorra ao Angola ac Antigua and Barbuda ar Argentina am Armenia as Australia au Austria aj Azerbaijan B bf The Bahamas ba Bahrain bg Bangladesh bb Barbados bo Belarus be Belgium bh Belize bn Benin bt Bhutan bl Bolivia bk Bosnia and Herzegovina bc Botswana br Brazil bx Brunei bu Bulgaria uv Burkina Faso bm Burma by Burundi C cb Cambodia cm Cameroon ca Canada cv Cape Verde ct Central African Republic cd Chad ci Chile ch China co Colombia cn Comoros cg Congo DR cf Congo cs Costa Rica iv Cote d'Ivoire hr Croatia cu Cuba cy Cyprus ez Czech Republic D da Denmark dj Djibouti do Dominica dr Dominican Republic E ec Ecuador eg Egypt es El Salvador ek Equatorial Guinea er Eritrea en Estonia et Ethiopia F fj Fiji fi Finland fr France G gb Gabon ga The Gambia gg Georgia gm Germany gh Ghana gr Greece gj Grenada gt Guatemala gv Guinea pu Guinea-Bissau gy Guyana H ha Haiti ho Honduras hu Hungary I ic Iceland in India id Indonesia ir Iran iz Iraq ei Ireland is Israel it Italy J jm Jamaica ja Japan jo Jordan K kz Kazakhstan ke Kenya kr Kiribati kn North Korea ks South Korea kv Kosovo ku Kuwait kg Kyrgyzstan L la Laos lg Latvia le Lebanon lt Lesotho li Liberia ly Libya ls Liechtenstein lh Lithuania lu Luxembourg M mk Macedonia ma Madagascar mi Malawi my Malaysia mv Maldives ml Mali mt Malta rm Marshall Islands mr Mauritania mp Mauritius mx Mexico fm Micronesia md Moldova mn Monaco mg Mongolia mj Montenegro mo Morocco mz Mozambique N wa Namibia nr Nauru np Nepal nl Netherlands nz New Zealand nu Nicaragua ng Niger ni Nigeria no Norway O mu Oman P pk Pakistan ps Palau pm Panama pp Papua New Guinea pa Paraguay pe Peru rp Philippines pl Poland po Portugal Q qa Qatar R ro Romania rs Russia rw Rwanda S sc Saint Kitts and Nevis st Saint Lucia vc Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ws Samoa sm San Marino tp Sao Tome and Principe sa Saudi Arabia sg Senegal ri Serbia se Seychelles sl Sierra Leone sn Singapore lo Slovakia si Slovenia bp Solomon Islands so Somalia sf South Africa od South Sudan sp Spain ce Sri Lanka su Sudan ns Suriname wz Swaziland sw Sweden sz Switzerland sy Syria T ti Tajikistan tz Tanzania th Thailand tt Timor-Leste to Togo tn Tonga td Trinidad and Tobago ts Tunisia tu Turkey tx Turkmenistan tv Tuvalu U ug Uganda up Ukraine ae United Arab Emirates uk United Kingdom us United States uy Uruguay uz Uzbekistan V nh Vanuatu vt Vatican City (Holy See) ve Venezuela vm Vietnam Y ym Yemen Z za Zambia zi Zimbabwe

Other (2)

tw Taiwan ee European Union

Dependencies (58)

Australia (6): at Ashmore and Cartier Islands kt Christmas Island ck Cocos (Keeling) Islands cr Coral Sea Islands hm Heard Island and McDonald Islands nf Norfolk Island

China (2): hk Hong Kong mc Macau

Denmark (2): fo Faroe Islands gl Greenland

France (8): ip Clipperton Island fp French Polynesia fs French Southern and Antarctic Lands nc New Caledonia tb Saint Barthelemy rn Saint Martin sb Saint Pierre and Miquelon wf Wallis and Futuna

Netherlands (3): aa Aruba uc Curacao nn Sint Maarten

New Zealand (3): cw Cook Islands ne Niue tl Tokelau

Norway (3): bv Bouvet Island jn Jan Mayen sv Svalbard

Great Britain (17): ax Akrotiri (Sovereign Base) av Anguilla bd Bermuda io British Indian Ocean Territory vi British Virgin Islands cj Cayman Islands dx Dhekelia (Sovereign Base) fk Falkland Islands gi Gibraltar gk Guernsey je Jersey im Isle of Man mh Montserrat pc Pitcairn Islands sh Saint Helena sx South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands tk Turks and Caicos Islands

United States (14): aq American Samoa gq Guam bq Navassa Island cq Northern Mariana Islands rq Puerto Rico vq US Virgin Islands wq Wake Island um US Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Palmyra Atoll)

Miscellaneous (6)

ay Antarctica gz Gaza Strip pf Paracel Islands pg Spratly Islands we West Bank wi Western Sahara

Oceans (5)

xq Arctic Ocean zh Atlantic Ocean xo Indian Ocean zn Pacific Ocean oo Southern Ocean

World (1)

xx World

Ready-To-Use Public Domain Factbook Datasets

factbook/factbook.json - open (public domain) factbook country profiles in JSON for all the world's countries (using internet domain names for country codes e.g. Austria is at.json not au.json, Germany is de.json not gm.json and so on)

Alternatives (Libraries and Gems)

Ruby

JavaScript

Python

Others

TBD

Install

Just install the gem:

$ gem install factbook

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!