1,206-CITY ATLASSOURCE-BACKED CITY REFERENCE
Türkiye
Compare this sourced profile of Istanbul, Türkiye before planning. Stable fields identify the place; confirm current transport, access and opening details with official sources.
01What the data says — and does not say
This page separates the checked GeoNames row for Istanbul—15,701,602, Europe/Istanbul, and source coordinates—from live travel claims. Those fields identify and compare the record; they do not prove current transport, accessibility, census totals, or a City Atlas Club visit.
Wikidata's localized description: largest city in Turkey.
02This city's dataset fingerprint
The source row behind Istanbul is GeoNames ID 745044. Its recorded administrative path is Istanbul → Türkiye, and GeoNames classifies the place as a first-order administrative seat. Istanbul occurs once as a primary city label in this atlas sample; the numeric ID remains the durable source key if names change. The city row itself was updated 2026-04-14; that date belongs to the source record, not to every transport or visitor detail in the real destination.
Within the fixed 1,206-record atlas, Istanbul ranks 6 by recorded population. Inside the 26 selected Türkiye entries it ranks 1; inside the 243 entries in its broad region it ranks 2. Its 15,701,602 population value is 19.82 times the 792,110 median for the country cohort and 17.40 times the 902,588 regional median. Istanbul falls inside the leading tenth of this atlas's Türkiye population cohort. Istanbul's recorded value reaches at least twice the country-cohort median in this snapshot. These comparisons describe this selected dataset only; they are not current census rankings or official urban-area boundaries.
Istanbul's three nearest other atlas coordinates are Üsküdar at 5.46 km with 524,452 recorded people; Esenler at 6.99 km with 520,235 recorded people; Bahçelievler at 7.648 km with 576,799 recorded people. The closest-to-farthest distance spread is 2.188 km. Compared with Üsküdar, Istanbul's recorded population is 29.94 times as large. Against Istanbul, Üsküdar follows UEskuedar → Istanbul → Türkiye in the source. Its point has higher latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Türkiye cohort, uses the shared Europe/Istanbul identifier, and carries populated place rather than first-order administrative seat. Its recorded population is below Istanbul's. Against Istanbul, Esenler follows Esenler → Istanbul → Türkiye in the source. Its point has higher latitude and lower longitude; it belongs to the same selected Türkiye cohort, uses the shared Europe/Istanbul identifier, and carries populated place rather than first-order administrative seat. Its recorded population is below Istanbul's. Against Istanbul, Bahçelievler follows Bahcelievler → Istanbul → Türkiye in the source. Its point has lower latitude and lower longitude; it belongs to the same selected Türkiye cohort, uses the shared Europe/Istanbul identifier, and carries populated place rather than first-order administrative seat. Its recorded population is below Istanbul's. Its nearest-neighbor distance ranks 63 of 1,206 from shortest to longest in the same snapshot. Istanbul's nearest-coordinate gap belongs to the tightest tenth of the atlas. This pattern can reveal whether other catalog references are geographically close, but it cannot establish whether a border crossing is possible or practical, or whether rail, road, fare, or journey-time connections exist. Read as one record signature, GeoNames 745044, the coordinate pair 41.0138 / 28.9497, country rank 1 of 26, and neighbor GeoNames 738329 at 5.46 km bind Istanbul to a reproducible comparison. That combined key distinguishes the row; it is not a recommendation or evidence of a physical connection.
Istanbul's reference point is 41.0138° north and 28.9497° east. The IANA identifier Europe/Istanbul is shared by 26 city rows in this catalog, while the GeoNames class PPLA is shared by 429 rows. Istanbul's row carries a first-order administrative label but no second-order label. Istanbul's point falls in the middle-latitude coordinate band used by this atlas's row checks. Istanbul's time-zone field defines the narrower catalog cohort; its place class is shared more broadly. GeoNames supplies no elevation for Istanbul, so the profile preserves that missing value instead of guessing terrain. Together these fields form a reproducible identity check for this page, not a claim about walkability, climate or accessibility.
03Nearby atlas references
Istanbul's closest other entries in this atlas are Üsküdar (5.46 km), Esenler (6.99 km), Bahçelievler (7.648 km).
04Verify before you book
Before visiting Istanbul, confirm changing decisions with current first-party sources:
Read how City Atlas Club verifies changing travel facts →05Sources and freshness
GeoNames updated the row 2026-04-14; the atlas checked the dataset 2026-08-04. Available Wikidata fields were verified in the same run.
GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Wikidata labels and descriptions: CC0 1.0.