Package: iso3166-updates
iso3166-updates 🌎Software and API that checks for any updates/changes to the ISO 3166-1 and ISO 3166-2 country codes and subdivision naming conventions, as per the ISO 3166 newsletter (https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html) and Online Browsing Platform (OBP) (https://www.iso.org/obp/ui). Available via a lightweight Python software package as well as an API.The front-endAPIis availablehere.Ademoof the software and API is availablehere.Ademoof the script used to pull and export all the latest updates is availablehere.AMediumarticle that dives deeper intoiso3166-updatesis availablehere.Table of ContentsIntroductionAPIStaying up to dateRequirementsInstallationUsage (iso3166-updates-Python-package)Usage (get_all_iso3166_updates.py script)DirectoriesIssuesContactReferencesIntroductioniso3166-updatesis a repo that consists of a series of scripts that check for any updates/changes to the ISO 3166 country codes and subdivision naming conventions, as per the ISO 3166 newsletter (https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html) and Online Browsing Platform (OBP) (https://www.iso.org/obp/ui). The ISO 3166 standard by the ISO (International Organization for Standardisation) defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, consolidated into the ISO 3166-1 standard[1], and their principal subdivisions (e.g., provinces, states, departments, regions), which comprise the ISO 3166-2 standard[2].The ISO 3166-1 was first published in 1974 and currently comprises 249 countries, 193 of which are sovereign states that are members of the United Nations 🇺🇳[1]. The ISO 3166-2 was first published in 1998 and as of November 2023 there are 5,039 codes defined in it[2].Problem Statement:The ISO is a very dynamic organisation and regularly change/update/remove entries within its library of standards, including the ISO 3166. Additions/changes/deletions to country/territorial codes occur less often in the ISO 3166-1, but changes are more frequent for the ISO 3166-2 codes due to there being thousands more entries, thus it can be difficult to keep up with and track these changes. These changes can occur for a variety of geopolitical and administrative reasons. Previously these chantes were communicated via newsletters; but as of July 2013 these changes are now communicated via their online catalogue/Online Browsing Platform (OBP), or via a database, which usually costs money to subscribe to[3]. Usually these updates are conveyed at the end of the year, with amendments and updates occasionally published at various times throughout the year[4].This software and accompanying API make it extremely easy to check for any new or historic updates to a country or set of country's ISO 3166-2 codes for free; with an easy-to-use interface and Python package and API, ensuring that you get the most up-to-date and accurate ISO 3166-2 codes and naming conventions.The earliest date for any ISO 3166 updates is 2000-06-21, and the most recent is 2023-11-29.Intended Audience:This software and accompanying API is for anyone working with country data at the ISO 3166 level. It's of high importance that the data that you are working with is correct and up-to-date, especially with consistent changes being posted every year since 2000 (excluding 2001 and 2006). Also, it's aimed not just at developers of ISO 3166 applications but for anyone working in that space, hence the creation of an easy-to-use API (https://iso3166-updates.com).Last UpdatedThe list of ISO 3166 updates was last updated onNov 2023. A log of the latest ISO 3166 updates can be seen in theUPDATES.md.APIThe main API endpoint is:https://iso3166-updates.com/apiThe other endpoints available in the API are:https://iso3166-updates.com/api/allhttps://iso3166-updates.com/api/alpha2/<input_alpha2>https://iso3166-updates.com/api/name/<input_name>https://iso3166-updates.com/api/year/<input_year>https://iso3166-updates.com/api/alpha2/<input_alpha2>/year/<input_year>https://iso3166-updates.com/api/name/<input_name>/year/<input_year>https://iso3166-updates.com/api/months/<input_month>The paths/endpoints available in the API are -/api/all,/api/alpha2,/api/name,/api/yearand/api/months.The/api/allpath/endpoint returns all of the ISO 3166 updates/changes data for all countries.The 2 letter alpha-2 country code can be appended to thealpha2path/endpoint e.g./api/alpha2/JP. A single alpha-2 code or a list of them can be passed to the API e.g./api/alpha2/FR,DE,HU,ID,MA. For redundancy, the 3 letter alpha-3 counterpart for each country's alpha-2 code can also be appened to the path e.g./api/alpha2/FRA,DEU,HUN,IDN,MAR. Thealpha2endpoint can be used in conjunction with theyearendpoint to get the country updates for a specific country and year, in the formatapi/alpha2/<input_alpha2>/year/<input_year>orapi/year/<input_year>/alpha2/<input_alpha2>. If an invalid alpha-2 code is input then an error will be returned.Thenameparameter can be a country name as it is most commonly known in English, according to the ISO 3166-1. The name can similarly be appended to thenamepath/endpoint e.g./api/name/Denmark. A single country name or list of them can be passed into the API e.g./name/France,Moldova,Benin. A closeness function is used to get the most approximate available country from the one input, e.g. Sweden will be used if the input is/api/name/Swede. Thenameendpoint can be used in conjunction with theyearendpoint to get the country updates for a specific country name and year, in the formatapi/name/<input_name>/year/<input_year>. If no country is found from the closeness function or an invalid name is input then an error will be returned.Theyearparameter can be a specific year, year range, or a cut-off year to get updates less than/more than a year. The year value can be appended to theyearpath/endpoint e.g./api/year/2017, /api/year/2010-2015, /api/year/<2009, /api/year/>2002. Theyearendpoint can be used in conjunction with thealpha2andnameendpoints to get the country updates for a specific country and year, in the formatapi/alpha2/<input_alpha2>/year/<input_year>andapi/name/<input_name>/year/<input_year>, respectively. If an invalid year is input then an error will be returned.Themonthsparameter will gather all updates for 1 or more countries from an input number of months from the present day. The month value can be appended to themonthspath/endpoint e.g./api/months/12, /api/months/24. If an invalid month value is input then an error will be returned.The main API endpoint (/or/api) will return the homepage and API documentation.The API was hosted and built using GCP, with a Cloud Function being used in the backend which is fronted by an api gateway and load balancer. The function calls a GCP Storage bucket to access the back-end JSON where all ISO 3166 updates are stored.Although, due to the cost of infrastructure, the hosting was switched to Vercel (https://vercel.com/).The full list of attributes available for each country are:Edition/Newsletter: name and or edition of newsletter that the ISO 3166 change/update was communicated in.Date Issued: date that the change was communicated.Code/Subdivision change: overall summary of change/update made.Description of change in newsletter: more in-depth info about the change/update that was made, including any remarks listed on the official ISO page.The API documentation is available on the APIhomepage. A demo of the software and API are availablehere.Staying up to dateThe list of ISO 3166 updates was last updated onNov 2023.The object storing all updates, both locally (iso3166-updates.json) for the software pacakge and on the API in GCP Storage bucket, are consistenly checked for the latest updates using a Google Cloud Run microservice (iso3166-check-for-updates). The application is built using a custom Docker container that uses theiso3166-updatesPython software to pull all the latest updates/changes from the various data sources, to check for the latest updates within a certain period e.g. the past 6-12 months (this month range is used as the ISO usually publishes their updates at the end of the year with occasional mid-year updates). The app compares the generated output with that of the updates JSON currently in the Google Cloud Storage bucket and will replace this json to integrate the latest updates found, such that the API will have the most up-to-date data. A Cloud Scheduler is used to call the application.Additionally, a GitHub Issue in the custom-builtiso3166-updates,iso3166-2andiso3166-flag-iconsrepositories will be automatically created that formats and tabulates all updates/changes that need to be implemented into the JSONs on the aforementioned repos.Ultimately, this Cloud Run microservice ensures that the software and assoicated APIs are up-to-date with the latest and most accurate ISO 3166-2 information for all countries/territories/subdivisions etc.Requirementspython>= 3.8iso3166>= 2.1.1InstallationInstall the latest version ofiso3166-updatesviaPyPiusing pip:pip3installiso3166-updates--upgradeInstallation from source:gitclone-bmasterhttps://github.com/amckenna41/iso3166-updates.gitcdiso3166_updates
python3setup.pyinstallUsage (iso3166-updates Python package)Below are some examples of using the custom-builtiso3166-updatesPython package.Import package:importiso3166_updatesasisoGet all listed changes/updates for all countries and years:iso.updates.allGet all listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for Andorra (AD):iso.updates["AD"]Get all listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for BA, DE, FR, HU, PY:iso.updates["BA","DE","FR","HU","PY"]Get any listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for Ireland, between the years 2012 and 2021:iso.updates.year("2012-2021").IEGet any listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for Tanzania, with year >= 2015:iso.updates.year(">2015").TAGet any listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for Romania, with year < 2007:iso.updates.year("<2007").ROGet any listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for Yemen, with year < 2010:iso.updates.year("<2010")["YE"]Usage (get_all_iso3166_updates.py script)Below are some examples of using theget_all_iso3166_updates.pyscript which is used to pull all the ISO 3166 updates
from the various data sources.Requirements:python>= 3.8iso3166-updates>= 1.3.0pandas>= 1.4.4numpy>= 1.23.2requests>= 2.28.1beautifulsoup4>= 4.11.1iso3166>= 2.1.1selenium>= 4.10.0flask>= 2.3.2tqdm>= 4.64.0Input parameters to get_updates function:# -alpha2_codes ALPHA2_CODES, --alpha2_codes ALPHA2_CODES#                       Alpha-2 code/s of the ISO 3166 countries to get updates from (default=[]-meaning use all country codes).# -year YEAR, --year YEAR#                       Selected year/years, year ranges or year to check for updates greater#                       than or less than specified year (default=[]).# -export_filename EXPORT_FILENAME, --export_filename EXPORT_FILENAME#                       Filename for exported ISO 3166 updates for CSV and JSON files (default="iso3166-updates").# -export_folder EXPORT_FOLDER, --export_folder EXPORT_FOLDER#                       Folder where to store exported ISO 3166 files (default="iso3166-updates-output").# -concat_updates CONCAT_UPDATES, --concat_updates CONCAT_UPDATES#                       Whether to concatenate updates of individual countries into the same json file or seperate#                       into seperate files (default=True).# -export_json EXPORT_JSON, --export_json EXPORT_JSON#                       Whether to export all found updates to json in export folder (default=True).# -export_csv EXPORT_CSV, --export_csv EXPORT_CSV#                       Whether to export all found updates to csv files in export folder (default=True).# -verbose VERBOSE, --verbose VERBOSE#                       Set to 1 to print out progress of updates function, 0 will not print progress (default=True).# -use_selenium USE_SELENIUM, --use_selenium USE_SELENIUM#                       Gather all data for each country from its official page on the ISO website which#                       requires Python Selenium and Chromedriver. If False then just use country data#                       from its wiki page (default=True).Get all the latest updates for all ISO 3166 countries./get_all_updates.sh'''--export_filename     Filename for exported JSON/CSV files containing updates data (default="iso3166-updates.json").--export_folder       Folder name to store exported JSON/CSV files containing updates data (default="test-iso3166-updates).'''The output files from theget_all_iso3166_updates.pyscript for the updates/changes to an ISO 3166-2 country returns 4 columns:Edition/Newsletter, Date Issued, Code/Subdivision ChangeandDescription of Change in Newsletter.For the CSV export, if more than one country input, then an additional primary key columnCountry Codewill be prepended to the first column, which will be the 2 letter ISO 3166-1 country code.Edition/Newsletter: name and or edition of newsletter that the ISO 3166 change/update was communicated in.Date Issued: date that the change was communicated.Code/Subdivision Change: overall summary of change/update made.Description of change in newsletter: more in-depth info about the change/update that was made, including any remarks listed on the official ISO page.E.g. The output format of the exportedCSVfor AD (Andorra) is:Edition/NewsletterDate IssuedCode/Subdivision ChangeDescription of Change in NewsletterNewsletter I-8.2007-04-17Subdivisions added: 7 parishes.Addition of the administrative subdivisions and of their code elements.Online Browsing Platform (OBP).2014-11-03Update List SourceOnline Browsing Platform (OBP).2015-11-27Update List SourceE.g. The output format of the exportedJSONfor AD (Andorra) is:{"AD":[{"Date Issued":"2015-11-27","Edition/Newsletter":"Online Browsing Platform (OBP) (https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:AD).","Code/Subdivision Change":"","Description of Change in Newsletter":"Update List Source."},{"Date Issued":"2014-11-03","Edition/Newsletter":"Online Browsing Platform (OBP) (https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:code:3166:AD).","Code/Subdivision Change":"","Description of Change in Newsletter":"Update List Source."},{"Date Issued":"2007-04-17","Edition/Newsletter":"Newsletter I-8 (https://web.archive.org/web/20120330105926/http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_3166-2_newsletter_i-8_en.pdf).","Code/Subdivision Change":"Subdivisions added: 7 parishes.","Description of Change in Newsletter":"Addition of the administrative subdivisions and of their code elements."}]}Directories 📁/docs- documentation foriso3166-updatesPython package./iso3166_updates- source code foriso3166-updatesPython package./iso3166-updates-api- all code and files related to the serverless Google Cloud Function for theiso3166-updatesAPI, including the main.py, requirements.txt and API config file (Update: API moved to serverless app on Vercel platform to save on resources)./iso3166-check-for-updates- all code and files related to the serverless Google Cloud Run microservice for the check-for-updates function which is a periodically called Cloud Run app that uses the Python software to check for the latest updates for all ISO 3166 countries, ensuring the API and jsons are reliable, accurate and up-to-date./tests- unit and integration tests foriso3166-updatessoftware and API.get_all_iso3166_updates.py- python module that pulls and exports all the latest ISO 3166 data from the various data sources.get_all_iso3166-updates.sh- shell script created to call the get_all_iso3166_updates.py script to introduce some pseudo randomness required when using Python Selenium.UPDATES.md- log of all the latest updates from 2022 onwards.IssuesAny issues, errors/bugs or enhancements can be raised via theIssuestab in the repository.ContactIf you have any questions or comments, please contactamckenna41@qub.ac.ukor raise an issue on theIssuestab.References[1]: ISO 3166-1:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1[2]: ISO 3166-2:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2[3]: ISO Country Codes Collection:https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB500001[4]: ISO Country Codes:https://www.iso.org/iso-3166-country-codes.html[5]: ISO 3166-1 flag-icons repo:https://github.com/lipis/flag-icons[6]: ISO 3166-2 flag-icons repo:https://github.com/amckenna41/iso3166-flag-iconsSupportBack to top