# GeoNames publication terms — as retrieved

- Source: `https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/readme.txt`, with `https://www.geonames.org/about.html`
  retrieved on the same date
- Retrieved: 2026-09-21
- Publisher: GeoNames
- Version stated in the text: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, in the export readme

GeoNames folds into the `candidate` runtime bundle, whose record names its terms. Two of the
publisher's own pages state them and only one gives a version.

## What the export readme states, quoted in full

> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License,
> see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
> The Data is provided "as is" without warranty or any representation of accuracy, timeliness or
> completeness.

## What the about page states

> The GeoNames geographical database is available for download free of charge under a creative
> commons attribution license.

The about page names no version. The readme beside the files themselves names 4.0. That readme travels
with the data, so the bundle's record states 4.0 and names this file.

Both sources matter because the two pages give different information. The about page alone leaves the
version unknown. Creative Commons Attribution's conditions differ across versions.

## What this text does not settle

Which GeoNames records reached the `candidate` bundle, and therefore what has to be attributed for
which rows. GeoNames itself integrates data from other sources, which its about page states in those
words, and this text makes no statement about the terms of those. No election is made here.