Post codes for the Uk

[Tony Gamble]

I flushed up an oldish message suggestiing that we would have to wait for post code searching.

Is this still the case for the UK?

Tony

[Victor Shcherb]

Some of bugs about postcodes were fixed, some still left. 

But the good answer for your question is another question. Is the data present at http://www.openstreetmap.org/?

Victor

Tony

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[Tony Gamble]

Vs.

Not from what about an hour of googling could tell me,

Oddly, maybe, I think this should be their priority. OpenStreetMap I mean.

When I want to find a home, shop or pub - with a normal satnav like a Garmin this is what I key in.

If OSM don't see that as the way people find places then nothing is going to change all that quickly and people will use paid for maps that work with post codes.

But maybe the UK is the prime place that uses them?


Tony

[Onkar Shinde]

Tony,

> Not from what about an hour of googling could tell me

Are you really searching on Google whether OSM contains post codes or not? Why not search OSM itself?

> Oddly, maybe, I think this should be their priority. OpenStreetMap I mean.

> If OSM don't see that as the way people find places then nothing is going to change all that quickly and people will use paid for maps that work with post codes.

I think you are confusing OSM as some institution/company who keeps adding data to their database. OSM data is updated by OSM users. So if you want things to change then start adding data to OSM database.

Victor,

I have been adding address data to the shops/buildings around where I live currently (Swindon, Wiltshire). Are you looking for something specific? If not then I can provide some sample data for test purposes if you are already working on postcode search feature.

For ex. If you search for post code 'SN1 1BB' (without quotes) on OSM then it should give you Tesco Metro in Swindon as one of the search results.

[Victor Shcherb]

That might be an osmand issue, I think I put some UI limitations that postcode should start from digits. I just never saw non-digit starting postcode.

I believe this "SN11BB" is right? (Without space).

In that case we should open a bug on googlecode.com and track it. Please attach also OSM url location.

Victor

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[Onkar Shinde]

On Wednesday, 12 June 2013 00:19:14 UTC+1, V S wrote:

That might be an osmand issue, I think I put some UI limitations that postcode should start from digits. I just never saw non-digit starting postcode.

Even I didn't, till I came to UK. :-)

 

I believe this "SN11BB" is right? (Without space).

It is with space. All of the postcodes I have come across in UK contain space.

 

In that case we should open a bug on googlecode.com and track it. Please attach also OSM url location.

Are you asking me to open a bug of the form "allow searching by postcodes" or "take into consideration postcodes starting with letters instead of numbers"? Let me know so that I can provide test data accordingly.

[Tony Gamble]

Victor

 

"Are you really searching on Google whether OSM contains post codes or not? Why not search OSM itself?"

I tried OSM and then broadened my search to the whole internet in case someone outside the OSM community had a solution. 

I think you are confusing OSM as some institution/company who keeps adding data to their database. OSM data is updated by OSM users. So if you want things to change then start adding data to OSM database.

I accept I do not know everything about OSM but I assume that the 'users' did not draw these worldwide maps themselves. I assume they were acquired from some public domain source.

Using that thought process I hoped that the UK postcodes might be acquirable somehow. They cost a pittance to buy when I was in business a decade ago. Then some clever software guru would be able to match them with the OSM maps - maybe like the hillshading combination.

But, as you can tell, I am out of my depth and will simply wait for the gurus to see if there is ultimately a solution.

Tony
 

[Onkar Shinde]

On Wednesday, 12 June 2013 08:39:13 UTC+1, Tony Gamble wrote:

Victor

 

"Are you really searching on Google whether OSM contains post codes or not? Why not search OSM itself?"

I tried OSM and then broadened my search to the whole internet in case someone outside the OSM community had a solution. 

I think you are confusing OSM as some institution/company who keeps adding data to their database. OSM data is updated by OSM users. So if you want things to change then start adding data to OSM database.

I accept I do not know everything about OSM but I assume that the 'users' did not draw these worldwide maps themselves. I assume they were acquired from some public domain source.

Your assumption is partly correct. Some part of the map was acquired from public sources or provided by different governments. But if I remember correctly about 70% data is contributed by users and updated on daily basis.

Using that thought process I hoped that the UK postcodes might be acquirable somehow. They cost a pittance to buy when I was in business a decade ago. Then some clever software guru would be able to match them with the OSM maps - maybe like the hillshading combination.

It may be easy to acquire pass codes. But it is not easy to add it to map. Matching an address you have to a point on the map (or a node in database) is not easy task. Hence it takes time.

But, as you can tell, I am out of my depth and will simply wait for the gurus to see if there is ultimately a solution.

The only solution I can see is to keep adding data to OSM based on local knowledge or from some external data sources who have compatible license.

[David White]

Problem with buying up the data is the usage license behind: everything goes into the database as open database license. Your seller will generally disagree with that. There is a similar problem in importing public transport routes and times.

David

[Victor Shcherb]

The bug is about handling postcodes, if it is a legal postcode and it is present in OSM, then we should handle it even with space and starts with letter.

Victor

On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 4:03 PM, David White <dgkw...@gmail.com> wrote:

Problem with buying up the data is the usage license behind: everything goes into the database as open database license. Your seller will generally disagree with that. There is a similar problem in importing public transport routes and times.

David

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[Onkar Shinde]

On Thursday, 13 June 2013 23:30:20 UTC+1, V S wrote:

The bug is about handling postcodes, if it is a legal postcode and it is present in OSM, then we should handle it even with space and starts with letter.

Victor,

I filed bug https://code.google.com/p/osmand/issues/detail?id=1935

Included link to this discussion.