[postgis-users] Geocoder for PostGIS

[Paul Scott]

>>> abe.gillespie at gmail.com 08/15/05 4:36 PM >>>
I disagree with making a universal geocoder depend on PostGIS.  I
think it's a better idea to have it completely independent of PostGIS.


I must agree with this sentiment. I, personally, would rather go the
route of a PHP, Perl or Python framework that could instantiate a
country "module" as needed. Something like a core set of functions (db
abstraction, output template etc) with a pluggable module for each
country with the parcel specific data for that country/territory. That
would make it a lot more efficient, as I would say only install the core
+ the South Africa module. 

The database should exist as it is, I wouldn't want to get too deep into
that, rather use webservices (SOAP, REST etc) or a hardy abstraction
layer to talk to the data. Let the scripting language do what it does
best, that is parse the data to be useful to "end users", without
putting unnecessary pressure on the db.

--Paul