Geonames servers out of service ?

[achmedfsx]

The last weeks, I get a message about no connection to any Geoname servers.
So I'm missing POIs except the SIM internal VOR/NDB/airport.

What I found: http://www.geonames.org/maps/wikipedia.html ->
"This map view is currently disabled. Thanks for your understanding."

Is there anything I can do to get the landscape POIs back ?

[achmedfsx]

Hmm...XPOI still doesn't show POIs other than P3D navaids and airports.
Any solution ?

[achmedfsx]

Still get message about no geonames servers, no help here ? 

[virtuali]

I can't reproduce the problem, XPOI works normally here.

[jimre6]

Achmedfsx is not experiencing this outage on his own, it seems...
For literally months now, my purchased XPOI v2.2.0 mirrors the problem Achmedfsx describes... 
It originally was fully functional, but now only indicates VOR's & Airports.   Any other selected Points of Interest are no longer produced.
The software, in my case, tries to connect to Geoname's server  api.geonames.org  for this data,  but this only creates a resulting screen banner, stating:
 "the maxRows is too big for the free service, max=500,  use the premium service for up to 2000,  trying another server"
This is then very quickly followed by another screen banner, stating:
 "XPOI - GeoNames server  ws.geonames.org  not responding, no more servers to try"

My XPOI's current settings are as follows:

[settings]
geoNamesServers = ws.geonames.org
enableFacilities = 1
titlesDistance = 100
enableWikipedia = 0
enableGeonames = 1
geoNamesServersApi = api.geonames.org
inexactPois = 1
floatingFacilities = 1
wikiLanguage = en
whichFacilities = 3

[featureClasses]
H = 0 0 STM GLCR
L = 2 0 PRT
P = 2 0 PPLA LCTY PPL
S = 2 0 AIRP
U = 0 1
T = 0 1 BCH MT HLL ISL CAPE PLN
V = 0 1 FRST

Assured to hear that your's still functions (unable to reproduce the problem) but something definitely has changed in XPOI's connectivity to geoname's operational free servers !!
Can you possibly liaise with Geonames.org  to confirm what functioning servers to target with this software... ??   and advise us of what's required to restore XPOI's functionality...
It's a fabulous FSX sim addition, and at the moment, it's very much missed...
Hope you can resolve this for us.

[achmedfsx]

From my XPOI.ini:

geoNamesServers = ws.geonames.org
nslookup ws.geonames.org -> no IP address
http://ws.geonames.org -> Firefox "Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site."
https://ws.geonames.org -> Firefox "Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site."

geoNamesServersApi = api.geonames.org
http://api.geonames.org/ -> Firefox "You are not authorized for this request, please login." with User/Password menu



Another try:
http://www.geonames.org/hotel/ , clicked the sample links to ws.geonames.org/find...
-> "Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site."

I found a similar problem in 2019 here:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55557301/how-to-fix-problems-connecting-to-geonames-server-http-ws-geonames-org
WARNING: problems connecting to geonames server http://ws.geonames.org
java.net.UnknownHostException: ws.geonames.org
Anwswer:Well, the host "ws.geonames.org" does indeed not exists, but "api.geonames.org" exists.

Just another thought:
Do I have an account for api.geonames.org or has XPOI its own internal credentials ?

On their "services.html" page, I found
GeoNames data is available under a liberal creative commons attributions licence. For professional users and mission critical applications the GeoNames team is offering commercial services. The revenues generated with the commercial services help to keep the data free and guarantee the continuance and future maintenance of the project.


On the "export" page, I found
Terms and Conditions
    free : GeoNames data is free, the data is available without costs.
    cc-by licence (creative commons attributions license). You should give credit to GeoNames when using data or web services with a link or another reference to GeoNames.
    commercial usage is allowed
    'as is' : The data is provided "as is" without warranty or any representation of accuracy, timeliness or completeness.
    20'000 credits daily limit per application (identified by the parameter 'username'), the hourly limit is 1000 credits. A credit is a web service request hit for most services. An exception is thrown when the limit is exceeded.
    Service Level Agreement is available for our premium web services.

BTW my XPOI installation is an older one, bought it at the flightsimstore that doesn't exist anymore.
As I save all registration codes in an Excel sheet, that and my former flightsimstore mail address are the only leftover, no download material (except maybe some backup on DVD deep in my dark, dusty cellar).
So a new installation would be a time consuming process.

[achmedfsx]

Deeper dive:

- searching geonames POI by XPOI commands menu works
- disable/re-enable geonames in the settings menu shows "no more geonames servers"
- procmon shows me in both cases a tcpip connection to ws7.geonames.org by http
  (TCP connect, send , tcpcopy, receive, tcpcopy, receive)

So it seems not a problem with network access to geonames.

[virtuali]

"the maxRows is too big for the free service, max=500,  use the premium service for up to 2000,  trying another server"

If you got this error, it's because you haven't updated the program, since in November 2022, we had an update that makes queries with maximum 500 items, to comply with the changed policy on geonames.org.

[achmedfsx]

Hmm, so how to get further ?
I bought XPOI in December 2015 at FlightSimStore from where I got a license key.
As I collect all product keys in Excel, I know my former mail address at flightsimstore and the license key.
But as FlightSimStore doesn't exist anymore, I cannot download it from there.
So do I have to buy the product again to get the newest update ?
(I may have the former version on DVD in my dusty cellar but FSDT Live Update seem not able to update XPOI).

[achmedfsx]

What I did the last minutes:

downloaded the installer from your website, klicked in the XPOI section, it lead me to a XPOI download site from where I downloaded setup_xpoi.exe (                         version 2.2.0).

I run this setup, it seems to install XPOI again (didn't remove former version).
First start of P3D V4.5 HF3, Addon Manager stated "TRIAL version" for GSX, GSX LVL2 and XPOI.
Stopped P3D V4.5 HF3, run FSDT Live Update.
Second start of P3D V4.5 HF3, Addon Manager now states "Registered".
No XPOI arrows at all, so I enabled something like "local facilities" in XPOI:
ok, airports, VORs, NDBs back.

But same message "no more geoname servers". 

While all these steps, Kaspersky was stopped.                                                             

[achmedfsx]

If you got this error, it's because you haven't updated the program, since in November 2022, we had an update that makes queries with maximum 500 items, to comply with the changed policy on geonames.org.

As I've writen some days ago, a re-install followed by a Live Update didn't help me, so have you any hint about

• Removing config files
• first uninstall XPOI

[jimre6]

Again...  I can commiserate with your frustrations  : (
I'd only days ago, purged my Win7 PC, once again, of all things XPOI, and downloaded FSDT's latest version from their own website...
However... once it's installer was complete, I'd discovered that it produced the very same troublesome version 2.2.0.0, as I'd just purged !!
Then, like you, I ran it's 'Live Update', but to no avail...
It still tries to connect to Geoname's server  api.geonames.org  to acquire their data,  and this still creates the resulting screen banner:
 "the maxRows is too big for the free service, max=500,  use the premium service for up to 2000,  trying another server"
then very quickly, is followed by another screen banner, stating:
 "XPOI - GeoNames server  ws.geonames.org  not responding, no more servers to try"
So this latest available/downloadable version (2.2.0.0) still generates these Geoname connect errors !!

Now we're left with having to convince FSDT, of this continuing connect failure, and campaign for an update that resolves the problem...
Never give up...  we'll somehow convince someone to have another look...  please !!

[achmedfsx]

Your uninstallation/installation process is really a mess and I'm totally frustrated.

First, I tried to uninstall GSX, XPOI, Addon Manager - Windows told me it has removed them, but the folder AddonManager was left and not empty. So I moved manually the AddonManager folder to another disk (for backup purposes).

The installation process is even obscure, I downloaded the universal installer, it told me, it cannot install nor GSX nor XPOI
and lead me to a download page. Clicking on P3D, I came to a download site without XPOI.
Finally, I found the XPOI installer under FSX software...ok, I tried my luck.
Downloaded GSX Level 2 (bought it last year at simmarket) and XPOI installer, installed it.
The installers told me they have to close the couatl_updater2 (or something like this), but they couldn't do it in the end.
Don't know what happened in detail - after one hour of fiddling, I nearly lost my mind.

It seems, the product were installed (in P3D the addon manager showed me them in trial mode) but trying to register my keys,
it tells me that the couatl scripting engine isn't running (but I see a "couatl_... 32bit" process running).
Running Live Update doesn't help - Live Update runs for just a second (until today, it downloaded some files and needed about 15-30 seconds at minimum).

So what ? I try not to get angry...so: is there some document how I can remove completely all FSDT software
for a new installation ?

[achmedfsx]

Again...  I can commiserate with your frustrations  : (
...
Never give up...  we'll somehow convince someone to have another look...  please !!

I'm about to remove all FSDT from my rigg. Troubles with GSX, XPOI not working,
uninstallation incomplete, installation with bugs, hard to find downloads, don't know if FSX or P3D too,
now unusable for the missing couatl scripting thing.
But I cannot even remove it from disk as the uninstallers seem not work correctly.
Totally unhappy...

[virtuali]

The installation works perfectly fine, and XPOI works too, provided you have the latest version with the fix discussed here.

The ONLY issue was the Live Updater, that didn't update XPOI correctly, the problem has been fixed in the current version of the Live Update, which will automatically downloaded when the updater starts.

So, again, the sure way to fix this is:

- Install XPOI with the latest installer.

- Run the FSDT Live Update.

And of course, the usual suggestion of being sure the antivirus is not interfering, meaning adding the whole "Addon Manager" folder to the Antivirus EXCLUSIONS.