Geographic top-level domain

A geographic top-level domain (often shortened as geographic TLD or geoTLD) is any of an unofficial group of top-level domains in the Domain Name System of the Internet using the name of or invoking an association with a geographical, geopolitical, ethnic, linguistic or cultural community. The IANA does not recognize these domains as their own group within the Root Zone Database, rather classifying them as generic top-level domains.

As of 2026, several examples of geographic TLDs exist: .london,^[1] enabling London businesses, organizations, and individuals to establish an online naming presence, .asia (for Asia), .rio (for Rio de Janeiro city), .quebec (for Québec province), .cat which is a sponsored top-level domain intended to be used to highlight the Catalan language and culture. .eu is a country code top-level domain, since "EU" is a reserved country code for the European Union in ISO 3166-1.

In 2017, an interest group focused on geographic TLDs was formed and joined as a member of the Registry Stakeholder Group (RySG) at ICANN. The GeoTLD Group AISBL is an international non-for-profit membership association resident in Belgium. It represents and promotes the interests of organizations operating a generic top-level domain which denominates a geographic name, geographic identifier or geographic origin (so-called GeoTLD) with the purpose of serving the respective place, language and culture on the internet.^[2]

Examples of proposed top-level domains in this category are:

• .αθήνα (Athens, Greece)
• .berlin (city of Berlin, Germany)
• .wien (city of Vienna, Austria)
• .bcn (city of Barcelona)
• .bzh (Breton community)^[3]
• .cym( Gales ( Cymru ); otorgado a las Islas Caimán) ^{[ 4 ]}
• .cymru(Gales ( Cymru ))
• .wales(Gales)
• .eus( Idioma vasco ) ^{[ 5 ]}
• .gal( Idioma gallego ) ^{[ 6 ]}
• .saarland(el estado alemán de Sarre ) ^{[ 7 ]}
• .africa(Comunidades africanas y panafricanas )
• .vlaanderen( Flandes , Bélgica ) ^{[ 8 ]}
• .上海( Shanghái )
• .lny .le- Actualmente se venden por la " Comisión de la Embajada Lunar " de Dennis Hope junto con .lunar, .moon, .venus, .mars, .jupiter, .saturn, .uranus, .neptune, .pluto, .space. Las personas que le compran escrituras novedosas para propiedades en el espacio exterior también reciben dominios gratuitos. ^{[ 9 ]} Ninguno de estos TLD es compatible con los servidores raíz y es improbable que lo sea en el futuro (aunque, con la decisión de la ICANN de permitir el registro de gTLD personalizados, se vuelve posible).
• .toronto( Toronto )

El 13 de junio de 2012, ICANN reveló cerca de 2000 solicitudes para nuevos dominios de nivel superior, que se esperaba que entraran en funcionamiento a lo largo de 2014 después de un examen exhaustivo. ^{[ 10 ]}

Muchos de ellos son geográficos, entre ellos:

An internationalized country code is similar to a GeoTLD, with two differences: it is a domain used exclusively for a sovereign state. The other difference is that an internationalized country code is considered a ccTLD and not a GeoTLD.

• Generic top-level domain (gTLD)
• Country code top-level domain (ccTLD)
• Internationalized domain name

• Contribution about GeoTLD at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum IGF in Athens 2006
• Article about GeoTLDs by former German Governmental Advisory Committee GAC member at ICANN Michael Leibrandt
• Workshop on GeoTLDs at ICANN Meeting in San Juan June 2007
• ICANN Public Participation Website
• ICANN GeoTLD wiki page
• CityTLD literature
• ICANN new gTLD program information page