[OSGeo-Discuss] Anyone interested in geocoding and routing?

[(Orkney)Toru Mori]

Apart from technical design, geocoder is "useless without data" :)

Address systems are varied and messy, at least here in Japan and in other 
Asia region. For example, Japan has more than 3 systems. Additionally it 
is very tough to get good "enough" data. There is no separation in address 
text. 

We developed geocoder.ja already for our region specifically, but 
unfortunately it won't work in even other countries in Asia. 
http://www.postlbs.org/ja/geocoder


A sigle universal, global geocoder may sound perfect. However, there is 
very limited space in terms of standardization as follows.

-----------------------------------------
     API (can be standardized)
-----------------------------------------
 thin parser (might be standardized)
-----------------------------------------
 geocoding logic (cannot be standardized)
-----------------------------------------
     local dataset (varied and messy)
-----------------------------------------

So what OSGeo should lead would be just APIs. If OSGeo wants to 
standardize lower levels, then the project won't finish probably.


p.s. Anybody want to talk about routing?

Toru Mori


"Andrew Ross" <grof at rogers.com> wrote：
> Thank you everyone for the great response to this post.
>  
> I'd like to poll everyone's thoughts regarding the appropriate next
> steps. It seems to me we have good support for this initiative. 
>  
> It isn't as clear to me yet what the best way forward is. My instincts
> are leaning towards spending time to capture requirements, identify key
> use cases, and crucial standards. The thinking is that with this
> information captured, we're in a better position to review the
> implementations available to identify which candidates are best
> positioned to satisfy those needs.
>  
> I would like to echo Andrew Turner's comments that we're focusing on
> API's that can be used offline rather than a web service. (though it's
> good to see great web service projects out there!)
>  
> Input, thoughts, feedback are greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance,
>  
> Andrew
> 
>