README

Acme-Geo-Whitwell-Name

This module allows you to convert latitudes and longitudes to Steadman
Whitwell's "rational geographic nomeclature": unique place names that
are generated directly from the latitude and longitude.[1] Whitwell
despaired of the many duplicate Springfields and Washingtons in the
United States, and proposed this nomenclature to prevent duplicate
placenames.

The system is set up to use latitudes and longitudes precise to two
decimal places; using standard maximum measurements for latitude and
longitude[2], this allows a grid of approximately 800 feet by 1300 feet
to be overlaid on the globe. Most towns and villages are at least this big,
so 2-decimal precision is sufficient to give each one a unique name.

The latitude and longitude are converted (using a scheme devised by Whitwell)
into pronounceable words - more or less. The names have internal hints to
tell the reader (traveller?) in which hemisphere the places are located: if
the latitude word contains an "S", the latitude is a south latitude; if the
longitude word contains a "V", the longitude is a west longitude. Absence
of either implies the opposite: north latitude, or east longitude[3].

Allowing for the utter lunacy of the whole scheme, it has a certain
obsessive charm. (It is interesting to note that this actually is
addressed by postal codes nowadays; having people add an extra thing to a
name is easier to do than have them change every place name.)

This module is at its core a simple text transformation, so it requires very
little beyond core Perl functions. It does not at present do geocoding, so
you will have to determine the latitude and longitude yourself.

[1] New Harmony Gazette, Vol. I, pp. 226-227.
[2] http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/warmup/aquifer/html/distance.html
[3] The New Harmony Communities, George Browning Lockwood, The Chronicle Company, 1902.
    (Available at https://archive.org/details/newharmonycommu00inlock.)L
INSTALLATION

To install this module, run the following commands:

	perl Makefile.PL
	make
	make test
	make install

SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

After installing, you can find documentation for this module with the
perldoc command.

    perldoc Acme::Geo::Whitwell::Name

You can also look for information at:

    RT, CPAN's request tracker
        http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Acme-Geo-Whitwell-Name

    AnnoCPAN, Annotated CPAN documentation
        http://annocpan.org/dist/Acme-Geo-Whitwell-Name

    CPAN Ratings
        http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Acme-Geo-Whitwell-Name

    Search CPAN
        http://search.cpan.org/dist/Acme-Geo-Whitwell-Name


COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2008 Joe McMahon

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.