Geni API has been recently changed to do automatic location lookup when updating location fields via API. This change was mentioned in a SmartCopy discussion (https://www.geni.com/discussions/145968?msg=1271703) but not on API documentation nor here either. This unannounced and ill-advised change has now corrupted numerous location records when I have been updating the records using names and coordinates from Finnish geological survey databases or stripping extra whitespace from them.
This automatic lookup will go horribly wrong when historical names are used. As an example, the record for a village called Sumeria in Finnish Karelia was was updated automatically with name fields and coordinates from Indian location. A place name record "matkalla Viipuriin" (on the way to Viipuri) was updated with the present day Russian name and administrative regions of the city.
Jeff Gentes suggested that this lookup can be avoided by specifying coordinates {lat:0, lon:0} - This is not really an option as my goal is to correct coordinates, not to add more bogus coordinates. For many of the locations the correct coordinates may not be known, and the API should not force to provide them.
Please, make the location lookup optional - something that the API user has to opt-in.
