An Approach to OSM Geocoding:From Ships to Apples

Tyler Bell: @twbell

Matthew Fontaine Maury(January 14, 1806 – February 1, 1873)

American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator.

"Every ship that navigates the high seas may henceforth be regarded as a floating observatory, a temple of science"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Fontaine_Maury

Geocoding: Hugely Exciting

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/alexnormand/5992512756

Geocoders: where your love of mapping goes to die

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/5855930819

GPS: Most Successful Open Data Ever

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GPS_Satellite_NASA_art-iif.jpg

● The World Requires a(many) Open Geocoder(s)

● OSM is not great for geocoding● The Geocoder use case has changed

○ Reverse geocoding now arguably more important

● Open addresses, open polys are critical for our future

The Geocoding Use Case has

Changedhttps://secure.flickr.com/photos/bostworld/2151258519

Formerly: Maps and Nav

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/kachkaev/6167965144

Now: About Context

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/abavetta/5644816547

July 2007 – scalebariffic

April 2014 – we have satellite

Source: “Emergence of a $Trillion MEMS Sensor Market”, Fairchild Semiconductor, Dr. Janusz Bryzek, SensorCon 2012, Yole 2011

AccelerometerGyroscopeCompassGPSBluetooth

Radio Picoprojector

Image Sensor

CameraProximity Sensor

Microphone

Moving from a 3rd Person Perspective, to 1st

Forward Reverse

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/57336354@N00/5647194292

1. Reverse Geocoder Only2. Designed for Tagging3. Bloody Fast (~6k qps)4. On-prem5. Uniform Hierarchy6. Unambiguous Entities7. Global (natch)8. Low/No Touch: Improves w/ OSM9. Address Level Granularity

OSM: the 'S' is for 'Street'

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/bibliodem/6246117945

Technical Challenges:

Hierarchy NormalizationNon-street ContextHuman Expectations

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/7797312736

LA: makes no sense

{ "features":[ { "name":"Century City Shopping Mall", "type":"mall" } ], "street_name":{ "name":"Avenue of the Stars" }, "address":{ "name":"1801 Avenue of the Stars" }, "locality":{ "name":"Los Angeles" }, "neighborhood":[ { "name":"Westside Village" } ], "country":{ "name":"US" }, "region":{ "name":"CA" }, "county":{ "name":"Los Angeles County" }}

Response Packet

1. Get Everyone Using OSM2. Force Examination of OdBL3. Force Case Law (?)4. Ultimately Raise Comfort Level5. Increase Contributions to OSM6. GOTO 1

Data Value: Not Zero Sum

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/pyth0ns/4571657460

"When you and I interact, our ability to be together on Earth is predicated by all the stuff that people did for thousands of years. You and I didn't invent language. You and I didn't invent clothes, roads, agriculture. It's up to us to be not just the receivers of what was given to us, but the givers of whatever's going to come next."

- John Bunker

Fin

Tyler Belltyler@factual.com@twbell