placebot 1.5.2

PlaceBot: Multi-vendor AI locality processor for extracting geographic coordinates from locality descriptions

PlaceBot - Multi-Vendor AI Locality Processor

PlaceBot is a lightweight tool designed to convert verbatim locality descriptions, such as those found on natural history specimen labels, into standardised geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude). It uses modern natural language processing (NLP) and large language model (LLM) techniques to interpret descriptive place names, estimate coordinates, convert grid references, and assess confidence levels.

This tool is intended to support digitisation, curation, and research workflows by automating a key step in georeferencing legacy specimen data.

Key Features

• Multi-vendor AI models: native Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, local Ollama/Qwen, and OpenRouter routes from one key
• Cost Optimisation: Up to 90% savings with advanced caching strategies
• Batch Processing: 50% cost reduction using asynchronous batch APIs
• Benchmark Tracking: Historical test runs record model success rates and processing costs for comparison
• Supplementary Benchmarks: Public Bombus and Odonata reference datasets from the paper analyses are included under benchmarks/
• Dataset Prep & Reconstitution: placebot-prep filters any dataset (native PlaceBot, Darwin Core, or GBIF) to records needing georeferences and deduplicates repeated localities; placebot-expand re-attaches results to every original record
• Privacy Options: Local models via Ollama for offline processing
• Performance Tracking: Built-in benchmarking and comparison tools
• Production Ready: Tested on 100+ records, scales to thousands

Quick Start

Installation

pip install placebot

Then run:

placebot-gui

Pre-built Windows/macOS installers are built by the release workflow and are attached to tagged GitHub releases. They are unsigned, so first launch can show the normal Windows SmartScreen or macOS Gatekeeper warning. PyPI publishing is configured through Trusted Publishing.

Graphical interface (easiest)

placebot-gui

This opens PlaceBot in your browser. From the graphical interface you can:

• Use the top How to use button for step-by-step workflow instructions.
• Paste your API keys in the sidebar, including multiple Gemini keys for very large jobs. Keys are session-only by default; tick Remember on this computer if you want PlaceBot to save them locally in ~/.placebot/.env.
• Upload a CSV/TSV file and preview it.
• Pick a model from the comparison table or choose a local Ollama model from the local picker.
• Run in real-time, submit a batch job, or use staggered batch for very large, quota-safe jobs.
• Download completed batch results (including merged staggered jobs) without opening a terminal.
• Results are saved straight to your output folder (CSV uses a UTF-8 BOM so Excel shows accents correctly), with one-click access to that folder.

After the one-time install, the graphical workflow does not require terminal use.

Command-line usage

# Run the interactive CLI
placebot

# Or use the short alias
pb

To deduplicate repeated localities before processing (any dataset — native, Darwin Core, or GBIF), prepare candidate records first:

placebot-prep path/to/occurrences.csv \
  --output ~/.placebot/input/placebot_candidates.tsv

After processing, re-attach the results to every original record:

placebot-expand --original path/to/occurrences.csv \
  --processed path/to/placebot_results.tsv \
  --output ~/.placebot/output/georeferenced.csv

The CLI will guide you through:

1. Selecting processing mode (real-time or batch)
2. Choosing your AI model
3. Loading your data file
4. Viewing cost estimates
5. Processing and exporting results

Configuration (command line)

Add at least one API key to ~/.placebot/.env:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_key_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_key_here
GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_google_key_here
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_openrouter_key_here

Get your API keys from:

• Anthropic: https://console.anthropic.com/
• OpenAI: https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
• Google: https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey
• OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai/keys

The graphical interface can use pasted keys without saving them. If you tick Remember on this computer, it writes the key to ~/.placebot/.env. Run placebot --show-dirs to see where PlaceBot stores input, output, and configuration.

Input Data Format

PlaceBot accepts TSV or CSV files with locality descriptions. It needs a record identifier column and a locality text column; a country column and existing coordinates are optional but improve results.

Barcode	Locality verbatim	Country
1	"California, San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Park"	United States
2	"UK, Scotland, Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden"	United Kingdom

Darwin Core support

PlaceBot also recognises Darwin Core column names, so files exported from collection management systems work without renaming anything. The following terms are accepted as inputs:

Concept	Native column	Darwin Core terms accepted
Record identifier	Barcode	collectionID, catalogNumber, occurrenceID, materialEntityID, recordNumber
Locality text	Locality verbatim	verbatimLocality, locality
Country	Country	country
Existing coordinates	Latitude / Longitude	decimalLatitude / decimalLongitude
Verbatim coordinates	—	verbatimCoordinates, verbatimLatitude, verbatimLongitude (passed to the model as context)

To emit Darwin Core column names in the results, tick Use Darwin Core (DwC) output terms in the GUI, or answer yes at the Darwin Core prompt in the CLI. PlaceBot's produced columns are then renamed to their closest DwC equivalents (e.g. Latitude → decimalLatitude, Exact_Site → locality, Coordinate_Radius_Meters → coordinateUncertaintyInMeters) in every export.

Deduplication & Reconstitution

Large occurrence/specimen exports often repeat the same locality many times. placebot-prep and placebot-expand let you georeference each unique place once and then re-attach the result to every original record, so you only pay for (and review) one candidate per distinct locality.

Both commands work on any locality-bearing CSV/TSV — native PlaceBot (Barcode / Locality verbatim / Country), Darwin Core (occurrenceID / verbatimLocality / country / decimalLatitude…), and GBIF occurrence exports — because columns are resolved through the same field mapping described under Darwin Core support. Output is CSV or TSV (by file extension), optionally renamed to Darwin Core terms with --dwc.

Built in to the GUI and CLI too. You don't have to run these as separate steps: the interactive placebot CLI asks "Deduplicate repeated localities? (Y/n)" and the GUI has a "Deduplicate repeated localities before processing" checkbox — both on by default. When enabled, PlaceBot collapses duplicates before processing and re-expands the results onto every original record automatically. The standalone placebot-prep / placebot-expand commands below are for when you want the prepared file as an explicit artefact (e.g. to review before processing). For batch/staggered jobs the re-expansion happens at download time, so keep the source file in ~/.placebot/input/ until you download the results.

Prepare: placebot-prep

Reads a CSV, TSV, or TXT file and writes the subset of records PlaceBot should georeference: those with locality text and missing or invalid decimal coordinates. By default it deduplicates repeated locality/country targets so each unique place string is processed only once. The output keeps placebotOccurrenceIDs, placebotOccurrenceCount, and placebotDedupKey columns so a candidate georeference can be traced back to every original record that shared that text.

# Default: filter + deduplicate
placebot-prep path/to/occurrences.csv \
  --output ~/.placebot/input/placebot_candidates.tsv

# Include records that already have valid coordinates (audit / benchmarking)
placebot-prep occurrences.csv --include-existing

# Cap the number of selected records, useful for a small demo file
placebot-prep occurrences.csv --max-records 50

# Keep every record, even when locality/country strings repeat
placebot-prep occurrences.csv --no-deduplicate

Reconstitute: placebot-expand

After PlaceBot processes the candidate file, placebot-expand reverses the deduplication. It joins the full original file against PlaceBot's results on the same locality + country key used to collapse them, then copies the georeference columns (Latitude, Longitude, Coordinate_Radius_Meters, Confidence, georeferencing remarks, and the resolved place hierarchy) onto every original record — so each record that shared a locality receives the same candidate georeference.

placebot-expand \
  --original path/to/occurrences.csv \
  --processed path/to/placebot_results.tsv \
  --output ~/.placebot/output/georeferenced.csv

# Rename produced columns to Darwin Core terms in the output
placebot-expand --original occurrences.csv --processed results.tsv --dwc

The join uses locality plus country, so it works even if the tracking columns were dropped during processing; those columns remain useful as an audit trail of which records shared a target.

Try it on the example data

# GBIF-format sample
placebot-prep examples/gbif_occurrence_sample.csv -o /tmp/candidates.tsv

# Native PlaceBot and Darwin Core samples work the same way
placebot-prep examples/ai_test.tsv  -o /tmp/native_candidates.tsv
placebot-prep examples/dwc_test.csv -o /tmp/dwc_candidates.tsv

Benchmark Datasets

Supplementary benchmark files for the paper analyses are included in benchmarks/:

File	Records	Purpose
benchmarks/data/bombus_uk_reference.tsv	709	Bombus locality benchmark input with manual reference coordinates.
benchmarks/data/odonata_global_reference.tsv	908	Odonata locality benchmark input with manual reference coordinates.
benchmarks/results/bombus_uk_model_comparison.tsv	709	Archived multi-model comparison output for the Bombus benchmark.
benchmarks/results/odonata_global_model_comparison.tsv	908	Archived multi-model comparison output for the Odonata benchmark.

Use the files under benchmarks/data/ to re-run PlaceBot. The files under benchmarks/results/ are paper-era comparison outputs for review and reproducibility checks.

Model Comparison

PlaceBot ships native model profiles for Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, and local Ollama/Qwen models, plus OpenRouter profiles that can route to several vendors through one key. Speed/accuracy figures are indicative (measured on earlier model versions); cost is the per-token list price tier. Verify current pricing with each provider.

For local processing, PlaceBot currently uses Ollama to host and run models on your own machine. Ollama is not the only local model runner available, but it gives PlaceBot a simple, cross-platform way to discover installed models and call them from the same workflow as cloud models. The model profile system is modular, so other local backends can be added later.

In the GUI, the sidebar shows Local models (Ollama) on every page. It lists installed local models when Ollama is running, or gives the install/pull command if setup is still needed. After choosing a dataset, use Model source → Local Ollama to select one of the local models for processing.

Vendor	Model	Cost	Best For
Gemini	Gemini 3.5 Flash	Low	Speed & cost (stable)
Claude	Haiku 4.5	Low	Reliability
OpenAI	GPT-4.1-mini	Very Low	Balance
OpenAI	GPT-5 mini	Low	Cost-efficient current-gen
Claude	Sonnet 4.6	Medium	Premium quality
OpenAI	GPT-4.1	Medium	Large context
OpenAI	GPT-5	Medium	Highest-quality extraction
Claude	Opus 4.8	Medium	Deep reasoning
Gemini	Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview)	Medium	Advanced tasks
Qwen	3 1.7B (local)	FREE	Privacy/offline
Qwen	3 14B (local)	FREE	Best local
Qwen	3 8B (local)	FREE	Offline balance
OpenRouter	GPT-5 mini, GPT-4.1, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Claude Haiku/Sonnet/Opus	Varies	One-key multi-vendor routing

Advanced Features

Batch Processing

Process large datasets with 50% cost savings:

placebot-batch

Batch processing is ideal for:

• Museum collections (1000+ specimens)
• Historical archives
• Large biodiversity datasets
• Any dataset where 24-hour processing time is acceptable

For very large datasets (3,000+ records), staggered batch mode splits the job into several smaller sub-batches submitted with short delays, so you stay under each provider's quota limits while keeping the 50% batch discount.

Batch and staggered jobs submitted from the graphical interface can also be fetched (and, for staggered jobs, merged) from the Batch downloads page once they complete — no command line required.

Ensemble Analysis

Run the same dataset through two different models, then compare their coordinate estimates to find where they agree (likely accurate) and where they diverge (worth a manual check):

placebot-ensemble

You pick which of the two output files is the primary (its values are carried forward), and PlaceBot matches records on their Barcode, computes the great-circle (haversine) distance between the two estimates, and tags each record with an agreement category:

Category	Distance between estimates
close (<2km)	< 2 km
moderate (2-5km)	2–5 km
low (5-10km)	5–10 km
none (>10km)	> 10 km
no comparison	coordinates missing in either file, or barcode only in one file

The output TSV and CSV files contain the carried-forward records plus Agreement_Category, Distance_km, and the other model's Secondary_Latitude/Secondary_Longitude for reference, so you can filter straight to the records that need verifying. A summary report shows how many records fall into each category.

The same workflow is available in the graphical interface on the Ensemble analysis page — just pick the two files from your output folder (or upload them) and click Run comparison.

Cost Optimisation

PlaceBot implements multiple cost-saving strategies:

1. Prompt Caching (up to 90% savings)

• Claude: Explicit caching with 5-minute TTL
• OpenAI: Automatic caching (50% discount)
• Gemini: Explicit caching with 1-hour TTL

2. Batch API Processing (50% discount)

• Available for all 3 cloud vendors
• Asynchronous processing with 24-hour completion
• Automatic retry and error handling

3. Smart Model Selection

• Cost estimator shows price before processing
• Model comparison tool helps choose the optimal model
• Local models available for zero API costs

Multi-API Key Support

For processing very large datasets, you can configure multiple Gemini API keys:

GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_primary_key
GOOGLE_API_KEY_2=your_secondary_key
GOOGLE_API_KEY_3=your_tertiary_key

These can be entered directly in the graphical interface (under the Google section of the sidebar) or added to ~/.placebot/.env by hand. Additional keys let you spread very large jobs across separate Gemini quotas.

Output Formats

Choose from multiple output formats:

• CSV: Standard comma-separated values
• TSV: Tab-separated values, useful for locality text with commas
• JSON: Machine-readable structured data
• GeoJSON: Geographic data format for GIS tools

Example output:

{
  "locality_id": "1",
  "original_locality": "California, San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Park",
  "extracted_coordinates": {
    "latitude": 37.7694,
    "longitude": -122.4862
  },
  "confidence": "high",
  "model_used": "claude-haiku-4-5",
  "processing_time": 7.2
}

Development

Project Structure

placebot/
├── benchmarks/           # Paper benchmark input and comparison data
├── placebot/              # Main package
│   ├── cli/              # Command-line interface
│   │   ├── main.py       # Main CLI entry point
│   │   ├── prep.py       # Dataset prep & reconstitution (dedup/expand)
│   │   ├── batch_manager.py  # Batch processing manager
│   │   └── user_interface.py # Interactive prompts
│   ├── core/             # Core processing modules
│   │   ├── ai_processor.py      # AI model integration
│   │   ├── batch_processor.py   # Asynchronous batch processing
│   │   ├── async_batch_processor.py  # Advanced batch logic
│   │   ├── config.py            # API key management
│   │   ├── cost_estimator.py    # Cost calculations
│   │   ├── deduplication.py     # Locality dedup & reconstitution
│   │   ├── dataset_preview.py   # Data preview
│   │   ├── model_comparison.py  # Model comparison
│   │   ├── output_formatter.py  # Export formats
│   │   ├── coordinate_utils.py  # Coordinate validation
│   │   └── file_manager.py      # File I/O operations
│   ├── gui/              # Streamlit graphical interface
│   └── models/           # AI model implementations
│       ├── claude_*.py   # Claude model configs
│       ├── gpt_*.py      # OpenAI model configs
│       ├── gemini_*.py   # Gemini model configs
│       └── qwen*.py      # Local Qwen configs
├── pyproject.toml        # Package configuration
├── requirements.txt      # Python dependencies
└── README.md            # This file

Running Tests

# Install development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest tests/

# Run with coverage
pytest --cov=placebot tests/

Performance Metrics

Based on historical testing with 100+ records. These figures are benchmark context, not a guarantee for every dataset, model version, or provider account.

Speed Comparison

• Fastest cloud tier: Gemini Flash-class models
• Cloud Average: typically a few seconds per record, depending on provider
• Local Average: hardware-dependent; larger Ollama models are slower but private

Accuracy

• Cloud Models: high success rates in the historical benchmark runs
• Local Models: strong local benchmark results, with performance depending on the installed model and local hardware

Cost Efficiency

• Without Caching: $0.50-2.00 per 1000 records
• With Caching: $0.05-0.20 per 1000 records (90% savings)
• Batch Processing: Additional 50% discount
• Local Models: $0 (free)

Architecture

PlaceBot uses a modular architecture:

1. CLI Layer: User interaction and input validation
2. Processing Layer: AI model orchestration and coordination
3. Model Layer: Individual model implementations
4. Caching Layer: Prompt caching and optimisation
5. Output Layer: Result formatting and export

Caching Strategy

Each vendor has different caching capabilities:

Claude (Anthropic):

• Manual cache control with cache_control parameter
• 5-minute TTL
• Requires 1024+ tokens for caching
• Best for: High-volume processing with identical prompts

OpenAI:

• Automatic prompt caching
• 5-10 minute TTL
• No configuration required
• Best for: Simple integration, automatic optimisation

Gemini (Google):

• Explicit caching with cached_content API
• 1-hour default TTL (customisable)
• Requires 1024-2048+ tokens depending on model
• Best for: Long-running batch jobs

Use Cases

PlaceBot is ideal for:

• Natural History Museums: Processing specimen locality data
• Biodiversity Research: Geocoding occurrence records
• Historical Archives: Extracting coordinates from historical documents
• Field Research: Converting field notes to coordinates
• Data Migration: Bulk processing of legacy locality data

Citation

If you use PlaceBot in your research, please cite:

@software{placebot2025,
  title = {PlaceBot: Multi-Vendor AI Locality Processor},
  author = {Jack Hollister and Ben Price},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/JackDanHollister/PlaceBot}
}

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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Made for the biodiversity and research community.