geonames.place.search
Search the GeoNames geographical database for places, populated areas, mountains, rivers, and 12M+ geographical features worldwide. Filter by country (ISO-3166 2-letter code), feature class (A=administrative, P=populated place, T=mountain, H=water body, S=building/spot), and feature code (e.g. PP...
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase/geonames.place.search.md
What geonames.place.search does on Apibase
AI agents call geonames.place.search to retrieve information from Apibase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
q | string | — | Full-text search query across place names, alternate names, and feature codes (e.g. "Paris", "Mont Blanc") |
name | string | — | Search by exact or partial official place name (more precise than q; e.g. "New York") |
country | string | — | Filter results to this ISO-3166 2-letter country code (e.g. "US", "FR", "DE") |
language | string | — | ISO 639-1 language code for localized names in the response (e.g. "en", "fr", "de") |
max_rows | integer | — | Maximum number of results to return (default 10, max 1000) |
order_by | string | — | Sort order: "relevance" (default, best name match), "population" (largest first), "elevation" (highest first), "wikipedia" (most linked) |
start_row | integer | — | Zero-based offset for pagination (default 0) |
feature_code | string | — | GeoNames feature code for fine-grained filtering (e.g. "PPLC"=capital, "MT"=mountain, "STM"=stream) |
feature_class | string | — | GeoNames feature class: A=administrative, H=hydrographic, L=parks/area, P=populated place, R=road, S=spot/building, T=mountain/hill, U=undersea, V=vegetation |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why geonames.place.search is rated Low
Tool queries a read-only geographical database and returns location information without side effects.
From the tool's definition Search geographical database for places, features; returns location data with no modification capability.
Risk signalsAdmin/system-level operation
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs geonames.place.search safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Apibase, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For geonames.place.search, this is the rule to start with:
geonames.place.search is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Apibase, apply this rule, and every geonames.place.search call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about geonames.place.search
Search the GeoNames geographical database for places, populated areas, mountains, rivers, and 12M+ geographical features worldwide. Filter by country (ISO-3166 2-letter code), feature class (A=administrative, P=populated place, T=mountain, H=water body, S=building/spot), and feature code (e.g. PPLC=capital, MT=mountain, STM=stream). Results include geoname_id, lat/lng, country, admin1/admin2, population, and Wikipedia link. Order by relevance (default), population, elevation, or Wikipedia linkage. Supports multilingual name lookup via lang parameter. CC BY 4.0 open data, no upstream cost. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Apibase MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
geonames.place.search accepts 9 parameters: q, name, country, language, max_rows, order_by, start_row, feature_code, feature_class. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Apibase MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for geonames.place.search: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Apibase. Nothing to install.
geonames.place.search is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the geonames.place.search rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for geonames.place.search. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
geonames.place.search is provided by the Apibase MCP server (apibase-mcp-client). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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