[postgis-users] Geocoder for PostGIS

[Abe Gillespie]

I disagree with making a universal geocoder depend on PostGIS.  I
think it's a better idea to have it completely independent of PostGIS.
 Once it works on its own, say a separate library, only then should it
be rolled into PostGIS.

-Abe

On 8/15/05, David Bitner <osgis.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've got my PL/PGSQL / PL/Perl geocoder at http://foo.gyttja.org.  I
> have tried to develop it so that it could have different types of
> datasets plugged in.  I'm all for getting a standard base.
> 
> I would propose keeping the work completely within the database, I
> have found that PL/Perl is great for the address parsing, but it adds
> a requirement for the user.  Additional "clients" could then be added
> for PHP or Perl or ASP or whatever to access the PostgreSQL/PostGIS
> geocode function.
> 
> In order to make a worldwide geocoder, we should keep as many
> components of the geocoder separate as possible so that we can reuse
> as much code as possible between localizations.  The two
> functionalities that will change between geocoders depend on the local
> way of presenting an address (ie 4000 East Harriett Parkway,
> Minneapolis, MN 55560) and the type of dataset geocoding agains (do
> you have both left and right address ranges, can we make a function
> that geocodes off parcel data).  We should also have some functions to
> standardize and index the information in the source data.
> 
> On 8/15/05, Stephen Woodbridge <woodbri at swoodbridge.com> wrote:
> > Paul,
> >
> > I think we might need to define the code and/or development environment
> > also. For example is it going to be:
> >
> > 1. inside postgres
> > 2. php, perl, C, java, etc or one language and wrappers, etc
> >
> > It would be nice to see a design section that would be organized by
> > country that people with local knowledge can update with country
> > specific addressing requirements and address parsing requirements, etc.
> >
> > A data section, that is more oriented to identifying data sources as
> > opposed to storing data by country might be useful.
> >
> > Just some thoughts,
> >    -Stephen Woodbridge
> >     http://imaptools.com
> >
> > Paul Scott wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2005-08-15 at 05:29 -0400, "René F. Viancos S." wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >> Someone knows an opensource development  for geocoding in PostGIS
> > >> and/or PHP
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > > Seeing as though this thread comes up with _alarming_ regularity, I
> > > propose that we *start* a project for exactly this.
> > >
> > > We could divide the source tree by country, and let everyone
> > > interested contribute some country specific code. Once that is done,
> > > try then to create a generic "world-geocoder" of sorts. I am sure
> > > that the Mapserver Community would also like to get involved.
> > >
> > > I am prepared to host such  a project, as well as provide additional
> > > mailing lists etc, to keep it off this list (eliminating unnecessary
> > > mail to uninterested parties).
> > >
> > > Comments? Thoughts? Flames?
> > >
> > > I could have this set up in a matter of minutes, so let me know. I
> > > think that this project will create some respite for all users of
> > > this list :)
> > >
> > > --Paul
> > >
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> > >
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