[OSM-dev] Name finder for the main OSM page?

[Tom Hughes]

In message <46B30972.3080301 at web.de>
        Ulf Lamping <ulf.lamping at web.de> wrote:

> The name finder at http://www.frankieandshadow.com/osm/ is doing a *much 
> better* job to find stuff than what we currently have a the 
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/index.html
>
> For example: When I enter Schuckertplatz at OSM I simply get nothing 
> useful, but the name finder just points me to the place I was looking for.
>
> I would think having a good engine to find things is an *essential* part 
> of an online map and make the OSM map much more useful - so IMHO this is 
> really important.
>
> Is there any chance to replace the current "finding engine"?

One problem is that the OSM one will do a very good job for places
that have been well mapped on OSM but a rubbish job for places that
haven't been touched yet!

The fact that you were searching for a road name won't have helped
you much either as I don't think any of the current sources goes to
anything like that level of detail - they really only have names of
towns and villages I think.

The solution therefore is probably just to add the OSM name finder
to the list of sites which the search engine uses rather than
replacing one with the other.

I'll try and have a look at it anyway...

Tom

-- 
Tom Hughes (tom at compton.nu)
http://www.compton.nu/