In short, GeoDoc is a geotagging tool. GeoDoc automatically identifies place names in text and anchors each name to the place to which it is most likely to refer. GeoDoc's simple web interface allows you to quickly correct any mistakes made by the automatic tagger. Finally, you can export the geotagged text as XML or HTML.

Just click here to launch GeoDoc. We think you'll find working with GeoDoc easy and intuitive. If you do get stuck, this guide should answer your question.

After launching GeoDoc, you need to import a document. You then clean the document, correcting any mistakes that GeoDoc made and confirming GeoDoc's correct tags. Finally, you can export your geotagged document.

Happy tagging!

For text stored on your computer, click the Load File... button. Select the file you want to tag, then click Submit.

For text on the Web, click the Load URL... button. Enter the URL of the document you want to tag, then click Submit.

GeoDoc currently supports the following import formats:

Click the Export as HTML button to export the text in HTML format, or click the Export as GTML(XML) button to export the text in XML format.

Your browser will then prompt you to save the document or open the document in another application.

GeoDoc uses a number of intelligent heuristics to automatically geotag your text, but it is impossible to achieve the level of accuracy that humans are capable of. Therefore, you will need to confirm GeoDoc's tags and correct any mistakes. We hope that GeoDoc makes this process as quick and painless as possible.

Most of the time, you can simply confirm that GeoDoc tagged a place name correctly. To do this, hover over the place name with your mouse and then click the Accept button () in the popup dialog. If the same name appears in multiple places, click the Accept All button () to accept all instances of the name.

GeoDoc occasionally makes three types of errors:

If GeoDoc failed to tag a place name, select the name with your mouse then click the Add Place Name button ().

If GeoDoc tagged a non-place name, hover over the incorrect tag with your mouse and then click the Reject button () in the popup dialog. If the same phrase is tagged incorrectly in multiple places, click the Reject All button () to reject all instances of the phrase.

Click on the place name. You can either click on the correct anchor on the map or select it in the drop-down list on the Where is... dialog. The drop-down list is sorted with the system's most recommended places at the top and the least likely at the bottom. Finally, click the Accept or Accept All button to re-anchor the place name.

If the correct place does not appear on the map or in the drop-down list, follow the instructions in the next section.

Screenshot of the Where is... dialog

If the place identified by a place name does not appear in the place name's Where is... dialog, there are two possible courses of action:

Sure, just click on the place name to open the Where is... dialog, select "Other" in the drop-down list, and click Accept.

GeoDoc highlights phrases that it identifies as place names in yellow. In the course of cleaning the document, these highlights will change to reflect your actions. When you accept a place name without anchoring it, the highlight will turn pink to indicate that the place name has been accepted but still requires your attention. When you accept and anchor a place name, the highlight turns gray indicating that you are finished with it. The highlight will disappear when you reject a tagged phrase, but you can still click on the phrase to bring up the Where is... dialog if you change your mind.

There are several reasons that GeoDoc may not tag an "obvious" place name. First, GeoDoc intentionally skips certain place names - "Seattle" will not be tagged in "Seattle Mariners", for example. It may be that the place name is not in GeoDoc's database or that one of GeoDoc's heuristics incorrectly eliminated the name from consideration.

GeoDoc is Beta software, which means that it has not been thoroughly tested in "the wild". As a result, unexpected situations may arise that cause the software to fail. We apologize profusely for any inconvenience this may cause, but all is not lost.

In fact, you can usually save your progress even after a failure by exporting your document as XML. You can then import the XML document and pick up where you left off.

If the error recurs or you're in a helpful mood, please shoot us an email with the following information: