diff -r 07b44a378ad8 -r e032d686d88e server/src/app/Libraries/CocoonUtils.php
--- a/server/src/app/Libraries/CocoonUtils.php	Fri Sep 30 00:43:04 2016 +0200
+++ b/server/src/app/Libraries/CocoonUtils.php	Sun Oct 02 11:49:00 2016 +0200
@@ -76,4 +76,14 @@
         );
     }
 
+    public static function getGeonamesidFromUrl($url) {
+        $matches = [];
+        if(preg_match(config('corpusparole.geonames_url_regexp'), $url, $matches) === 1) {
+            return $matches[1];
+        }
+        else {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
 }