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-end API is available here.
• A demo of the software and API is available here.
• A demo of the script used to pull and export all the latest updates is available here.
• A Medium article that dives deeper into iso3166-updates is available here.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• API
• Staying up to date
• Requirements
• Installation
• Usage (iso3166-updates-Python-package)
• Usage (get_all_iso3166_updates.py script)
• Directories
• Issues
• Contact
• References

Introduction

iso3166-updates is 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 Updated

The list of ISO 3166 updates was last updated on Nov 2023. A log of the latest ISO 3166 updates can be seen in the UPDATES.md.

API

The main API endpoint is:

https://iso3166-updates.com/api

The other endpoints available in the API are:

• https://iso3166-updates.com/api/all
• https://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/year and /api/months.

• The /api/all path/endpoint returns all of the ISO 3166 updates/changes data for all countries.

• The 2 letter alpha-2 country code can be appended to the alpha2 path/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. The alpha2 endpoint can be used in conjunction with the year endpoint to get the country updates for a specific country and year, in the format api/alpha2/<input_alpha2>/year/<input_year> or api/year/<input_year>/alpha2/<input_alpha2>. If an invalid alpha-2 code is input then an error will be returned.

• The name parameter 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 the name path/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. The name endpoint can be used in conjunction with the year endpoint to get the country updates for a specific country name and year, in the format api/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.

• The year parameter 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 the year path/endpoint e.g. /api/year/2017, /api/year/2010-2015, /api/year/<2009, /api/year/>2002. The year endpoint can be used in conjunction with the alpha2 and name endpoints to get the country updates for a specific country and year, in the format api/alpha2/<input_alpha2>/year/<input_year> and api/name/<input_name>/year/<input_year>, respectively. If an invalid year is input then an error will be returned.

• The months parameter 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 the months path/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 API homepage. A demo of the software and API are available here.

Staying up to date

The list of ISO 3166 updates was last updated on Nov 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 the iso3166-updates Python 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-built iso3166-updates, iso3166-2 and iso3166-flag-icons repositories 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.

Requirements

• python >= 3.8
• iso3166 >= 2.1.1

Installation

Install the latest version of iso3166-updates via PyPi using pip:

pip3 install iso3166-updates --upgrade

Installation from source:

git clone -b master https://github.com/amckenna41/iso3166-updates.git
cd iso3166_updates
python3 setup.py install

Usage (iso3166-updates Python package)

Below are some examples of using the custom-built iso3166-updates Python package.

Import package:

import iso3166_updates as iso

Get all listed changes/updates for all countries and years:

iso.updates.all

Get 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").IE

Get any listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for Tanzania, with year >= 2015:

iso.updates.year(">2015").TA

Get any listed ISO 3166 changes/updates for Romania, with year < 2007:

iso.updates.year("<2007").RO

Get 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 the get_all_iso3166_updates.py script which is used to pull all the ISO 3166 updates from the various data sources.

Requirements:

• python >= 3.8
• iso3166-updates >= 1.3.0
• pandas >= 1.4.4
• numpy >= 1.23.2
• requests >= 2.28.1
• beautifulsoup4 >= 4.11.1
• iso3166 >= 2.1.1
• selenium >= 4.10.0
• flask >= 2.3.2
• tqdm >= 4.64.0

Input 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 the get_all_iso3166_updates.py script for the updates/changes to an ISO 3166-2 country returns 4 columns: Edition/Newsletter, Date Issued, Code/Subdivision Change and Description of Change in Newsletter. For the CSV export, if more than one country input, then an additional primary key column Country Code will 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 exported CSV for AD (Andorra) is:

E.g. The output format of the exported JSON for 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 for iso3166-updates Python package.
• /iso3166_updates - source code for iso3166-updates Python package.
• /iso3166-updates-api - all code and files related to the serverless Google Cloud Function for the iso3166-updates API, 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 for iso3166-updates software 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.

Issues

Any issues, errors/bugs or enhancements can be raised via the Issues tab in the repository.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments, please contact amckenna41@qub.ac.uk or raise an issue on the Issues tab.

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-icons

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