Looking for a list of countries, regions, cities.

Anyone know a (preferably free) hierarchical list?

[pete_m]

I want to populate a database with countries, regions, and cities.

One possibility is downloading the ODP data and crawling through the Regional section, although if there's an easier way I'd like to know!

Thanks

[dillonstars]

If you cant find a free database then [meridianworlddata.com...] is a pretty comprehensive one to buy...

[choster]

If you just want lists, they shouldn't be too difficult to obtain. But if you want a hierarchy, you'll have to deal with hundreds of different classification schemes-- at least one in a centralized country like France, dozens in a federal country like the U.S. or Russia. The ODP has at least two basic regional models, not counting variations in terminology (dmoz.org/regionaltaxonomy.html#Building ).

[pete_m]

Thanks for the replies - the Meridian World Data looks promising.