Category:Geobox

This category contains infobox templates that are based on the css class "geography". They are used for various geography related pages and produce a uniform look. They use advanced syntax with a lot of automated formatting which use common framework enabling easy creation of new infoboxes.

Why were these boxes created?

 * To provide a means for a consistently-formatted table which is present in articles with a common subject to provide summary information consistently between articles or improve navigation to closely related articles in that subject (Help:Infobox).
 * To maximally ease the creation of new infoboxes in the same style.
 * To make the information in the infoboxes easy for transfer to other language Wikipedias and for future upgrades of the infobox layout by using strict database-like fields.

General instructions

 * The fields that link to existing articles don't need to be put between   and    markup, this is added automatically if the page exists. But they can, which is useful in a situation when you need the text to link to something else, e.g.  Solimões . Of course, just a part of the value can be a link (e.g.  before London ).


 * All figures can be in either metric or imperial (miles, feet etc., then there's always the same field name with _imperial suffix) units. Infobox displays both metric and imperial values; it automatically calculates imperial figures from metric or metric from imperial ones. If both metric and imperial figures are set, only metric values are used (even for calculating imperial values) and the imperial ones are ignored). When entering the numbers, don't format them (i.e. without commas), because raw numbers are needed for calculations; on the output, however, they are nicely formatted (i.e. with commas).


 * There can be many additional fields which aren't usually set in the blank templates which can change how some fields are displayed or add some additional information to them.
 * _type: for redefining default label. E.g. for Canada the default Region label for region field can be changed to Province by adding region_type=Province, it can even contain a link: ''region_type= Province
 * _note: any sort of note which is printed after the field value, it can be even a reference, though the author of Geoboxes discourages from doing so as the implementation of tags is very poor. The note is printed in a bit different font, currently implemented as 90% italics.
 * _label : puts the title property on the HTML item (the text displays on hover)
 * _unit : for changing the default unit. E.g. default area unit is square km or square mile, but for small areas these units are too large and they can be changed to hectares or acres by adding area_unit=ha or area_unit=acre (even sqm or sqft can be used if needed).
 * _round: for setting rounding precision for unit auto conversion, default is always 0


 * You can add additional countries, names etc. by using the same field name with a number attached. There's no automation so only a fixed number of items is defined in every infobox. It is, however, easy to add more to the template if needed. These fields are marked (1…) in the legend.


 * Coordinates can be entered in two ways:
 * using separate _d, _m, _s…fields, _s (or even _m) can be dropped out, the coordinate display template is adjusted accordingly
 * using just _d field and a decimal number, the hemisphere can be defined by either _NS, _EW fields or by using negative figures for western and southern hemisphere (these two systems shouldn't be combined however)


 * The map field should be used for a location map of the feature, i.e. where it is located typically within a country. The location map can be of three types:
 * Self-contained location map. As in e.g. Greater Fatra.
 * Semi-automated locator dot. The map field contains background map, whereas locator_x and locator_y contain relative coordinates of the locator dot (as a percent of the map width, inserted without the % symbol). As in e.g. Mendip Hills.
 * Fully automated locator dot. If coordinates of the location are defined within the template, and a calibrated map exists, the locator dot is placed automatically (map_locator field defines the appropriate map calibration). As in e.g. Ostrá. The same locator calibration can be used for all maps derived from one base map. E.g. Lysá hora and Plasy share the same calibration though the background map is different. If locator calibration for your map doesn't exist, either contact the author of Geoboxes (Caroig) or you can set it up on your own: see Geobox2 map.


 * Please do not erase empty fields from the blank template when you put it into a new page. It is then rather difficult for anyone to provide more fields for the Geobox. The empty fields are not displayed and don't hinder anything.


 * If anything doesn't work as it should, feel free to contact me, either on my userpage or here at the talkpage or at the appropriate Geobox talkpage. Caroig 22:40, 2 March 2007 (UTC)