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<TITLE>Re: [postgis-users] Re: Status of geocoding functions in PostGIS?</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Sorry about the wrong email contact on the last post. The PAGC </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>contact email is pagcmail@gmail.com.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Dan</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>On 31-Mar-06, at 8:24 AM, Putler, Dan wrote:</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>> Hi Steve,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> At the moment we are working on two things. First, modifying PAGC so</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> that we can use it to augment road network files, particularly the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> new StatsCan road network. The data is released province by province,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> but their are no local identifiers. So common addresses like 821 10th</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> street get multiple perfect matches. The second thing we are doing is</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> allowing people to edit the address ranges (temporarily) on the fly.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Often the address range information is incomplete or simply missing</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> for some streets in all the road network files we have worked with.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> So a user will often find an address range that is very close, but</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> not exact. PAGC will allow them to alter the address range of the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> "close" road segment, and geocode relative to the altered segment's</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> address range. The users changes will be written to a separate file,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> with the idea that we might be able to collaboratively filter users</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> proposed changes to update the underlying road layer.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Right now PAGC is a command line tool (and is about as complicated to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> use as something like ogr2ogr), and a bit more oriented to doing</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> batch geocoding. Converting it to a library is likely to be next</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> after we get the address range editing capability to a reasonable</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> level, as well as figuring out what we need to do to allow PAGC to be</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> used in web applications. Up to this point we have not thought about</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> creating a library oriented towards implementing a Postgres stored</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> procedure. It does make a lot of sense. I will say we are likely to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> need a hand or two (or three) to help us do that. Walter Sinclair is</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> the lead developer on PAGC itself, while I handle testing and data</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> issues. Neither of us has much (read "no") experience with Postgres</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> internals. Walter's underlying geocoding engine is really excellent</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> (much better that the commercial products I have used), but certain</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> very worthwhile extensions we are going to need help implementing. If</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> you, or anyone else on this list, is interested in helping out the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> PAGC project, please get a hold of us at pagcmail@google.com.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Dan</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> On 31-Mar-06, at 4:54 AM, Stephen Woodbridge wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > Hi Dan,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > Have you guys made any progress in refactoring PAGC to be a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > library. Since I see you on this list also have you thought about</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > building a library that can be used to implement a Postgres stored</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > procedure using PAGC?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > PAGC is very cool with lots of nice technology but it is a little</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > difficult to get ones arms around it in its current state :), OK</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > for me anyway.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > Very nice work,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > -Steve</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> > Putler, Dan wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> Hi Paul,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> You might want to look at the PAGC project (www.pagcgeo.org),</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> which I'm a member of. PAGC is written in C and works with</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> shapefiles. The intention goal is also to make PAGC extensible so</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> it can be used for geocoding postal addresses in a number of</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> countries. Currently it works out of the box with TIGER/Line data</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> and the new Statistics Canada public road network file (that</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> actually needs to be augmented with additional information until</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> it is really useful). The problem we have run into is that few</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> governments release address ranged road network files (we only</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> know that the US and Canada do, and all the EU countries don't),</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> so we haven't been able to work with anything other than US and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> Canadian data. It sounds like you might benefit from our code</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> base, and there could be room for collaboration at some point.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> Dan</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> On 30-Mar-06, at 9:48 PM, Paul Scott wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > On Fri, 2006-03-31 at 04:48 +0000, Mark Thomas wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >>> Alex Smith wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >>>> Did some searching of the archives and found this article</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >>>> stating that a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >>>> geocoder for PostGIS is in the works (see</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >>>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >> <A HREF="http://postgis.refractions.net/pipermail/postgis-users/2004-" TARGET="_blank">http://postgis.refractions.net/pipermail/postgis-users/2004-</A></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >> September/005762.html).</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> >></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > If you would like to contribute to a project that is based on</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > creating a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > set of global geocoders, take a look at</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > <A HREF="http://avoir.uwc.ac.za/projects/geocoder/" TARGET="_blank">http://avoir.uwc.ac.za/projects/geocoder/</A></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > This project is attempting to collect geocoders that will </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> work for</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > almost anywhere that you may need. If you would like to join the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > project, please just let me know!</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > --Paul</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > _______________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > postgis-users mailing list</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > postgis-users@postgis.refractions.net</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> > <A HREF="http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users" TARGET="_blank">http://postgis.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/postgis-users</A></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> </FONT>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >> ---</FONT>
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