[OSM-dev] [Marble-devel] NOTICE: gazetteer.osm.org being retired

[David Earl]

On 31/08/2010 11:44, Andy Allan wrote:
> Secondly, remember that we're an open-source, volunteer project kind
> of thing, so have appropriate expectations! If the server had stopped
> working and nobody was interested in fixing it, then you'd have had
> zero notice. On the other hand, if you have someone who's interested
> in running the namefinder service, and have the hardware and hosting
> to do so, then you have more than the OSM project has on all counts
> and that would be great!

I should add that independently of the server on which it was running, 
the namefinder index hadn't been updated in over 2 years. I tried very 
hard last summer and the rate of increase of OSM data defeated me. It 
needs some serious work to make it viable again in an environment where 
the data volume is 10x more than it was when I first wrote it, time 
which I didn't have, and also I didn't see the point when nominatim 
provided essentially that rewrite.

If someone wanted to write a gateway just to convert formats, I imagine 
we could resurrect the gazetteer URL pointing at the Nominatim server. 
Andy's right about embedding URLs, but that's too late for you 
unfortunately.

David