@ferrybig/cgeodata-reader 0.0.0-stage → 0.1.1

package/LICENSE

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Fernando van Loenhout
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.

package/README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,314 @@
-# Temporary Holding Version
+# @ferrybig/cgeodata-reader
 
-This version is a temporary placeholder for this package. An operational version to replace this has been submitted for review and is awaiting a staged release.
+Turns a latitude/longitude into the country, region and city it lies in,
+using real administrative boundaries from OpenStreetMap rather than "the
+nearest labelled point", which goes wrong near borders. Lookups run
+in-process against a single CGEODATA file (a worldwide one is about
+45 MiB), reading and decoding only the small part of the file each lookup
+needs.
+
+- No runtime dependencies. Works in Node.js (24 or newer) and in browsers.
+  Also reads files of the format's previous version, 0, whose chunks
+  decode with WebAssembly SIMD where the platform allows it, and in
+  plain JavaScript (about twice as slow) where it doesn't, such as a
+  page whose Content Security Policy lacks `'wasm-unsafe-eval'`.
+- Async throughout: reads never block, and the event loop is never held
+  for more than one chunk's decode.
+- Includes place search (diacritic-insensitive, all alternative names)
+  and a representative coordinate for every place.
+
+The file format is specified in [binary-format.md](binary-format.md),
+which ships with this package.
+
+## Quick start (Node.js)
+
+```ts
+import { openFile } from "@ferrybig/cgeodata-reader/node";
+
+const reader = await openFile("world.bin");
+
+const result = await reader.query(35.6762, 139.6503);
+result.country?.internationalName; // "Japan"
+result.region?.localName;          // "東京都"
+result.region?.internationalName;  // "Tokyo"
+result.city?.localName;            // "杉並区"
+result.city?.internationalName;    // "Suginami"
+
+await reader.close();
+```
+
+`query()` returns `null` for a level that doesn't apply: `city` for a point
+that only resolves to a region, all three in the open ocean. Its
+`boundingBox` is the area the answer holds for. Any point inside it gives
+the same result.
+
+## In a browser
+
+```ts
+import { CGeoDataReader } from "@ferrybig/cgeodata-reader";
+
+// The whole file in memory...
+const bytes = await (await fetch("/data/world.bin")).arrayBuffer();
+const reader = await CGeoDataReader.open(bytes);
+
+// ...or a File the user picked, read range by range as lookups need it.
+const fromDisk = await CGeoDataReader.open(fileInput.files[0]);
+```
+
+`CGeoDataReader.open()` accepts an `ArrayBuffer`, a `Uint8Array`, a `Blob`
+or `File`, or any `ByteSource` (an object with a `size` and an async
+`read(offset, length)`). With a `ByteSource` you can serve ranges from
+anywhere, for example HTTP range requests. Compressed blocks are inflated
+with the platform's `DecompressionStream`.
+
+## Many lookups close together
+
+Each lookup decodes the chunk of the file its point lies in, then keeps
+it cached. Points close together mostly share a chunk, so most lookups
+can answer from memory. `lookupCached()` does exactly that, synchronously,
+and returns `undefined` when answering would need a read:
+
+```ts
+for (const [lat, lon] of points) {
+	const { placeId, boundingBox } =
+		reader.lookupCached(lat, lon) ?? (await reader.lookup(lat, lon));
+	if (placeId === null) continue; // nothing here
+	const { level, country, region, city } = reader.placeIds(placeId); // sync, no names
+	// ...
+}
+```
+
+`lookup()` is `query()` without the names. It returns the place's id,
+which `place(id)` resolves to names and `placeIds(id)` resolves
+synchronously to the ids of the place and its ancestors. Two results with
+the same `placeId` are the same place, so per-place work (a colour, a
+label) can be keyed on it. A map tile renderer combines all of this: it
+uses `boundingBox` to fill every pixel a result covers, and looks up names
+once per place rather than once per pixel.
+
+## Names: `localName` and `internationalName`
+
+Every place has a name in its own language and script, and usually an
+international (English) one:
+
+| | `localName` | `internationalName` | `names` |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Tokyo | 東京都 | Tokyo | `["東京都", "Tokyo"]` |
+| The Hague | Den Haag | The Hague | `["Den Haag", "The Hague"]` |
+| Amsterdam | Amsterdam | Amsterdam | `["Amsterdam"]` |
+
+`internationalName` falls back to `localName` when there's no separate
+international name. When a name is stored once and shown to everyone,
+whatever their language, use `internationalName`. **Don't** index into
+`names`: `names[0]` is the local name, so it gives non-Latin script for
+every place in Japan, Korea, China, Russia and many other countries.
+`names` lists every name, alternative spellings included. It's what
+`search()` matches against.
+
+## Search, and a coordinate per place
+
+```ts
+for await (const place of reader.search("munchen", { sort: true, limit: 20 })) {
+	place.internationalName;            // "Munich"
+	place.country.internationalName;    // "Germany"
+	const position = await reader.locate(place.id); // { lat, lon, boundingBox, area } or null
+}
+```
+
+Search is case- and diacritic-insensitive ("munchen" finds München). It
+matches any part of any name, alternative names included. With
+`sort: true`, an exact name beats a whole-word match, which beats a plain
+substring match, and among equal matches a country comes first. Filter
+with `level`, `country` or `region` (place ids).
+
+**Equal matches are ranked by area when a locate index is attached**
+(`areaTieBreak: "auto"`, the default): "berlin" puts Berlin, Germany
+ahead of the towns called Berlin in the United States, and a province
+still comes right after its own same-named city. Without a locate index
+they fall back to city before region, then id order, which is close to
+arbitrary. So attaching a locate index changes the *order* of sorted
+results, never which places match. Pass `areaTieBreak: true` to insist on
+area order (it rejects without a locate index) or `false` to opt out.
+Area is a size signal, not fame: a large rural Portland parish in Jamaica
+still outranks Portland, Oregon.
+
+A comma narrows by the places a match lies in: `"Paris, Texas"`,
+`"Springfield, Illinois, United States"`. Each part after a comma must
+match a different, further-up ancestor (region, then country). The whole
+text is still matched as a name too, for the places whose names contain
+a comma.
+
+`locate(id)` returns a point inside the place: `query()` at that point
+resolves to the place or something inside it. It **can return `null` for
+a real place that `search()` finds**: a place smaller than the file's
+finest cell (a tiny island, an enclave, a boundary sliver) has no cells
+of its own. That's about 0.15% of a worldwide file. Leave those out of
+results that need a position. Don't default them to a coordinate.
+
+`area` is the place's approximate size in square degrees (within about
+9%), everything under it included. To zoom a Web Mercator map to it,
+`Math.log2(360 / Math.sqrt(area))` is the zoom at which a square of that
+area spans one 256-pixel tile; subtract a little to leave a margin.
+
+`search()` and `places()` are async iterators. Collect them with
+`for await`, or with `Array.fromAsync()` where your runtime has it.
+
+## Ship the index files too
+
+Two sidecar files make search and locate fast. On a server they're
+effectively **required**:
+
+| File | Without it |
+|---|---|
+| `world.search-index.bin` | every `search()` scans every name: ~430 ms on a worldwide file |
+| `world.locate-index.bin` | every `locate()` decodes the whole file: ~1.2 s on a worldwide file |
+
+`openFile("world.bin")` picks up `world.search-index.bin` and
+`world.locate-index.bin` next to it, the first time a `search()` or
+`locate()` can use them. An index that doesn't belong to the file (built
+from an older build of it, say) makes those calls reject with a
+`CGeoDataIndexMismatchError` naming the index file. The reader never
+falls back to a slow scan silently, so rebuild the index or delete it.
+Elsewhere, pass the indexes yourself:
+
+```ts
+const reader = await CGeoDataReader.open(bytes, {
+	searchIndex: await (await fetch("/data/world.search-index.bin")).arrayBuffer(),
+	locateIndex: await (await fetch("/data/world.locate-index.bin")).arrayBuffer(),
+});
+```
+
+`cgeodata build-locate-index world.bin --output world.locate-index.bin`
+and `cgeodata build-search-index ...` build them (see [CLI](#cli)).
+**Build the locate index first.** The search index stores the top
+results of 1-2 character searches ranked the same way the reader will
+rank them. With a locate index next to the `.bin`, it ranks them by area,
+matching the reader's default. Built without one, sorted 1-2 character
+searches can't use it once a locate index is present. They still return
+the same results, just more slowly (~0.6 s on a worldwide file).
+
+Only the `.bin` needs distributing: both indexes are a pure function of
+it and can be built where it's used.
+
+## Memory and the event loop
+
+- **Cache**: decoded chunks and names are kept in a least-recently-used
+  cache, by default up to 64 MiB (`open(input, { cacheBytes })`). A
+  worldwide file decodes to about 690 MB in all and its largest chunk to
+  about 1.9 MB. Lookups in a few regions fit easily. Lookups scattered over
+  a whole continent re-decode chunks unless you give the cache more room.
+  `0` turns caching off.
+- **Event loop**: every read is asynchronous, and decodes take turns, one
+  per macrotask, even when many lookups run at once. The longest the
+  reader holds the event loop is one chunk's decode: under 1 ms for most
+  chunks, about 3 ms for the largest chunk of a worldwide file (8 ms
+  for a version 0 file without WebAssembly SIMD).
+- **Decoding**: the WebAssembly decoder (version 0 files only) keeps one
+  block of memory, as big as the largest chunk it has decoded (about
+  1.8 MB for a worldwide file), while decodes follow each other, and
+  frees it once none has run for a second. An idle reader holds only its cache.
+- **Synchronous methods** answer from memory only: `lookupCached()`,
+  `placeIds()`, `chunkIndexAt()`, `subtreeIdRanges()`, `placeCounts`,
+  `header`.
+- **Closing**: `await reader.close()` closes the file. A reader that's
+  garbage collected without being closed has its file closed then, rather
+  than leaking it.
+
+## Errors
+
+Problems with the data reject with one of these, all exported from the
+package root:
+
+| Class | Meaning |
+|---|---|
+| `CGeoDataFormatError` | the `.bin` or an index file is malformed or truncated. Download it again. |
+| `CGeoDataVersionError` | (a `CGeoDataFormatError`) the file uses a format version this reader doesn't know (`error.version`). Upgrade the reader. |
+| `CGeoDataUnsupportedError` | (a `CGeoDataFormatError`) a valid file this reader won't read: `max_depth` past 16. Rebuild it with a bigger chunk grid. |
+| `CGeoDataIndexMismatchError` | a valid index, but built from a different `.bin`. Rebuild or delete it. |
+| `CGeoDataError` | base class of all of the above; also a read that returned fewer bytes than the file's size promised. |
+
+Invalid arguments (a latitude outside [-90, 90), an id the file doesn't
+have) are plain `RangeError`s.
+
+## What the data does and doesn't contain
+
+Check these before migrating from another geocoder:
+
+- **Three tiers: country, region, city.** There is no second
+  administrative level (GeoNames' `admin2`). A schema with a field for it
+  needs changing, not filling.
+- **What "city" means varies by country.** The reader returns whichever
+  OpenStreetMap level covers that country best: municipalities in the
+  Netherlands, counties in most of the US, communes in France, localities
+  in Australia. See `countries.md` in the project root for each country.
+- **Country names come from Natural Earth, in English.** `localName` and
+  `internationalName` are the same for countries. Some spellings differ
+  from GeoNames: "United States of America" (GeoNames: "United States"),
+  "North Macedonia" ("Macedonia"), "Macao" ("Macau"). Data you stored
+  earlier under the GeoNames spelling won't match new lookups until it's
+  looked up again.
+- **Search ranks by size, not by importance.** With a locate index,
+  equally good matches are ordered by area ("berlin" puts the German
+  capital first); without one, the order among them is close to
+  arbitrary. Area isn't fame, though: "portland" still puts a Jamaican
+  parish before Portland, Oregon. Show enough results, and show each
+  one's region and country.
+- **Attribution**: the data is derived from OpenStreetMap (ODbL), GeoNames
+  and Natural Earth. `reader.header.attribution` holds the notice the file
+  was built with. Show it wherever you show the results.
+
+## Entry points
+
+| Import | Contents |
+|---|---|
+| `@ferrybig/cgeodata-reader` | `CGeoDataReader`, its result types, the error classes, `BytesSource` / `BlobSource` / `ByteSource`, `streamInflater`. Works everywhere. |
+| `@ferrybig/cgeodata-reader/node` | `openFile()`, `FileSource`, `nodeInflater` (zlib, faster than `DecompressionStream` on Node.js), `searchIndexPathFor()` / `locateIndexPathFor()`. |
+| `@ferrybig/cgeodata-reader/indexes` | `SearchIndex` / `LocateIndex`, to open an index once and share it between readers, and `buildSearchIndex()` / `buildLocateIndex()`. |
+| `@ferrybig/cgeodata-reader/format` | The format's low-level codecs and parsers, for tools that write or inspect files. These follow the spec, not a stable API. |
+
+The package is ESM, with `.d.ts` types included. `dist/` is prebuilt, so
+you don't compile this package's sources.
+
+## CLI
+
+The package installs `cgeodata` (also as `cgeodata-reader`), a command-line
+front end to the same API. It needs a data file; the demo serves the
+worldwide one, plus the two sidecar indexes that make `search` and
+`--locate` fast (they are picked up automatically when they sit next to the
+`.bin`):
+
+```sh
+wget https://geodata.ferrybig.nl/download/world.bin \
+     https://geodata.ferrybig.nl/download/world.search-index.bin \
+     https://geodata.ferrybig.nl/download/world.locate-index.bin
+```
+
+Then run it without installing anything:
+
+```sh
+npx @ferrybig/cgeodata-reader lookup world.bin 52.37,4.9
+```
+
+or, installed, as `cgeodata`:
+
+```sh
+cgeodata lookup world.bin 52.37,4.9            # or points on stdin, one per line
+cgeodata search world.bin amsterdam --sort --locate
+cgeodata show   world.bin 192858               # a place id from any other command
+cgeodata info   world.bin                      # header, counts, sizes
+cgeodata build-locate-index world.bin --output world.locate-index.bin
+cgeodata build-search-index world.bin --output world.search-index.bin  # after the locate index
+cgeodata help [<command>]
+```
+
+## API reference
+
+Every exported symbol has a doc comment, and your editor shows them.
+`npm run docs` in this package's source generates an HTML reference
+(TypeDoc) into `docs/`. The file format, including the exact lookup
+procedure, is in [binary-format.md](binary-format.md).
+
+## License
+
+MIT for the code. A data file carries the license and attribution of the
+data it was built from (see above).