Wikipedia:Geonotice

Script to geographically target top of page notices From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A geonotice is a notice on Special:Watchlist that is displayed only to users who are physically located in some subset of the Earth. The configuration page of geonotices is on Wikipedia:Geonotice/list.json. View the active geonotices and the regions they cover on Wikipedia:Geonotice/Map.

Shortcut

The purpose of geonotices is to announce events that would be of great interest to people in a specific region, but that would not be interesting to most of our readers. The use of targeted messages allows us to scale our communication better; rather than flooding people with multiple messages or avoiding messages entirely, we can display messages only to the people who are most likely to find them useful.

Example uses for targeted messages are: to announce upcoming Wikipedia meetups and local events, for local chapter activities and to advertise mailing lists focused on geographical areas.

Geonotices requested here are only displayed on the watchlist on the English Wikipedia. If you want to target users of all Wikimedia Foundation wikis in a particular geographical area, you can go to meta:CentralNotice to request a geotargeted banner.

No data or personal information is gathered from users to make this notice possible, nor does this notice share any user's personal information with outsiders.

Technical details

Geonotices are a type of watchlist notice, a type of top of page message similar to a MediaWiki:Sitenotice, MediaWiki:Anonnotice or MediaWiki:Watchlist-messages notice.

The current implementation works by loading the user's latitude and longitude from geoiplookup.wikimedia.org and using a small bit of JavaScript (Geonotice-core.js and Geonotice-list.js) to determine whether or not to display a notice to the user. The location detection is IP address-based, using a lookup system described at wikitech:Geolocation. Currently, MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition specifies the geonotices to be listed at MediaWiki:Gadget-geonotice-list.js (IAdmin-protected), which is turn is updated automatically by User:MusikBot II by synchronizing from Wikipedia:Geonotice/list.json (Sysop-protected).

The "hide" button that is displayed with each message will persistently dismiss that particular message. You can also disable all Geonotices by disabling the Geonotice gadget in your preferences. Geonotices will also be hidden if you have opted to hide all watchlist notices.

Geonotices are currently a candidate to be integrated into MediaWiki proper. One significant open question is how best to allow users to specify the locations of interest for a message. Right now, the location range must be hard-coded in JavaScript itself.

Guidelines

Create request

To propose a geonotice, simply create a new section under the § Requests section, using the boilerplate text below, and keep following the instructions in this section:

=== [[Related page name (e.g. meetup page)]] ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="json">
"begin" : "18 September 2019 00:00 UTC",
"end" : "25 September 2019 00:00 UTC",
"corners" : [[45, -90], [52, -100]], 
"text" : "Replace this with your message. You can add [[Wikipedia:Meetup|Wikilinks]] or [https://en.wikipedia.org external links]."
</syntaxhighlight>

'''Discussion'''
* ''User requesting:'' ~~~~

Locations

Try to be as specific as possible when specifying a location. For example, a Washington, D.C. meetup should not be advertised to all users in the United States. Please note that location detection is not flawless: boundaries vary, and IP-based geolocation is inherently imprecise.

Providing exact geographic coordinates makes things much easier. The required format is: [ [latitude, longitude], [latitude, longitude] ] This format defines a bounding box. To help identify bounding boxes, the Flickr API provides a useful reference database (for example: British Columbia). If unsure, select a central point and extend the box one or two degrees in all directions. You can also generate a bounding box using tools like norbertrenner.de/osm/bbox.html: simply navigate to the desired area, click "Draw" in the top left, outline your box, and copy the coordinates shown next to "overpass ql."

For country-wide geonotices, you can target an entire country directly using a country code, such as: "country": "US" instead of specifying "corners":. The geonotice tool follows ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes, which is usually more reliable.

Messages

Messages should be one or two sentences in length, and they should not contain any flashy text or images. It is a good idea to provide at least two options, in case one is deemed inappropriate.

Messages exceeding four sentences are deemed too large, except in cases where the sentences are short. Geonotices should always be used with the understanding that some of the intended audience will be excluded and that some unintended people will be included. As such, the message should be written in a way that would be suitable for display to all users. For example, write "The New York City Wikipedia Meetup will be on August 12" rather than "Hello resident of Long Island...".

Remember to link the event signup page (where appropriate) in the notice - and please use a wikilink (to Wikipedia, Meta, etc) rather than a URL. External URLs do not always work reliably.

Date range

Try to post your request at least five days (preferably seven to ten days) in advance. It may take a while for requests to be handled.

Notify Geonotice maintainers

In case there is no feedback in a few days after posting the request, ask User:Redrose64, User:L235, User:the wub, or an administrator to take a look.

Requests

Add new requests to the top of this list. Please include coordinates where possible, as this will speed up processing. Note that this page is quite low-traffic - if you've had no response after a day or two, or if it's urgent, please poke the administrators.

Wikipedia:Meetup/Riverside/September 2026

  "begin" : "29 August 07:00 UTC",
  "end" : "19 September 2026 22:45 UTC",
  "corners" : [[34.8, -118.7], [32.5, -114.5]],
  "text" : "Join other Wikimedians at a [[National Hispanic Heritage Month]] '''[[Wikipedia:Meetup/Riverside/September 2026|salon & edit-a-thon]]''' in Temecula."

Discussion

Event:Wikicurious: Country Music's Mythology

  "begin" : "7 March 2026 00:00 UTC",
  "end" : "25 March 2026 22:00 UTC",
  "corners" : [[33.7, -82], [37.7, -75.2]],
  "text" : "Wikicurious? Love music? Bring a laptop and '''[[:en:Event:Wikicurious: Country Music's Mythology|help deepen Wikipedia's coverage of country music]] — especially up-and-coming and underrepresented artists'''. We'll meet at the historic Love House in downtown Chapel Hill on '''March 25, 2026'''. No experience needed, food and editing assistance will be provided."
  • User requesting: Gaurav (talk) 09:50, 7 March 2026 (UTC)
  • This text should be rendered as: Wikicurious? Love music? Bring a laptop and help deepen Wikipedia's coverage of country music — especially up-and-coming and underrepresented artists. We'll meet at the historic Love House in downtown Chapel Hill on March 25, 2026. No experience needed, food and editing assistance will be provided.
 Done OhanaUnitedTalk page 16:01, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Event:Meetup/Chicago/Women's History Month Edit-a-thon 2026

  "begin" : "1 March 07:00 UTC",
  "end" : "31 March 22:00 UTC",
  "corners" : [[ 41.5006, -88.3981 ], [ 42.491, -87.2911 ]],
  "text" : "Wikimedians of Chicago will celebrate Women's History Month with an edit-a-thon supporting Chicago woman writers - sign up '''[[Event:Meetup/Chicago/Women's History Month Edit-a-thon 2026 |here]]'''!"
  • User requesting: Luiysia (talk) 05:30, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
 Done OhanaUnitedTalk page 16:00, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/May 2026

  "begin" : "12 April 07:00 UTC",
  "end" : "10 May 22:00 UTC",
  "corners" : [[34.0833, -118.1167], [32.53, -114.4333]],
  "text" : "Join other Wikimedians at a '''[[Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/May 2026|salon & edit-a-thon]]''' in San Marcos."

Discussion

I am attempting to create a box encompassing Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties.--RightCowLeftCoast (Moo) 18:03, 16 February 2026 (UTC)
 Done the wub "?!" 22:59, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/August 2026 Wiknic

  "begin" : "15 May 07:00 UTC",
  "end" : "2 August 05:10 UTC",
  "corners" : [[42, -124.4333], [31.333333, -109.05]],
  "text" : "Join other Wikimedians at a '''[[Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/August 2026 Wiknic|Wiknic in Mission Bay, San Diego]]. Potluck, beach campfire, and fireworks!"

Discussion

  • User requesting:--RightCowLeftCoast (Moo) 19:26, 30 January 2026 (UTC)
  • I am hoping to encompass the United States states of California, Nevada, and Arizona. I am hoping with sufficient notice people will be able to make travel plans to attend the meetup from other states.--RightCowLeftCoast (Moo) 19:26, 30 January 2026 (UTC)
    • Code for this looks good to me, but I'll add it a bit closer to the start date. the wub "?!" 15:39, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/April 2026

  "begin" : "15 March 09:00 UTC",
  "end" : "11 April 22:30 UTC",
  "corners" : [[33.429, -116.082], [32.524, -117.6]], [[San Diego County]]
  "text" : "Join other Wikimedians for a '''[[Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/April 2026|National Volunteer Month edit-a-thon/salon]]''' in Logan Heights, San Diego."

Discussion

 Done the wub "?!" 15:27, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/March 2026

  "begin" : "14 February 08:00 UTC",
  "end" : "14 March 21:00 UTC",
  "corners" : [[33.429, -116.082], [32.524, -117.6]], [[San Diego County]]
  "text" : "Join other Wikimedians for '''[[Wikipedia:Meetup/San Diego/March 2026|White Day]]''' in Pacific Highlands Ranch, San Diego for a salon."

Discussion

 Done the wub "?!" 15:26, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

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