genc.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import json
import re
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET

NS = {'genc': 'http://api.nsgreg.nga.mil/schema/genc/2.0'}
ent = lambda name, ns: '{%s}%s' % (NS[ns], name)


tree = ET.parse('genc.xml')
root = tree.getroot()

countries = {}

for entity in root:
    if entity.tag != ent('GeopoliticalEntity', 'genc'):
        continue
    code_node = entity.find('.//%s' % ent('char2Code', 'genc'))
    name_node = entity.find(ent('shortName', 'genc'))

    if code_node is None or name_node is None:
        continue

    code = code_node.text.lower()
    name = name_node.text

    # Omit US gov't entity codes.
    if re.match(r'a\d', code):
        continue

    countries[code] = name

print json.dumps(countries, indent=4, sort_keys=True)