[Talk-us] Neighborhoods / Zillow

[Martijn van Exel]

As for Bryce's observation - Zillow does not have overlapping polygons as
far as I know, so it is by its nature sort of rigid - but then again this
is probably what they require for their use case, as there would be no way
to disambiguate.

Interesting in this context is the much-quoted example of flickr alpha
shapes [1] where flickr tags are used to create (overlapping) polygons of
vernacular place names.


On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Martijn van Exel <m at rtijn.org> wrote:

> Yea, I think this is where sources like Geonames and Zillow, which are
> built (to an extent) based on actual perceived names rather than official
> ones, could be so valuable - and why GNIS populated places are detrimental
> to OSM map quality, at least in many urban areas.
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 1:55 PM, John F. Eldredge <john at jfeldredge.com>wrote:
>
>> My house is technically in a subdivision named Murray Heights, but I have
>> only seen that name on the deed, and on maps. In the 21 years I have lived
>> here, I have never heard anyone use that name. The subdivision was built in
>> the late 1950s, and, unlike some other local subdivisions, there aren't any
>> permanent signs in place as you enter the subdivision.
>>
>> According to the post office, my house is in the Woodbine postal
>> district, named after a small town that was subsequently swallowed up by
>> the expansion of Nashville. However, when people refer to the Woodbine
>> area, they usually mean the approximate area of the old town, several miles
>> from my house.
>>
>> I usually refer to my neighborhood as Antioch, the name of another small
>> town that has expanded outward, even though the official border of Antioch,
>> according to the post office, is about 300 feet from my house.
>>
>>
>> Bryce Nesbitt <bryce2 at obviously.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> On 11/giu/2013, at 21:07, Mike N <niceman at att.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Often, I can't determine the subdivision boundary from either Bing or
>>>> a survey; I'd need to see an organization map which would be of
>>>> questionable license.
>>>>
>>>> or ask the people that live there, would that be feasible?
>>>
>>>
>>> Sometimes subdivisions map cleanly to neighborhoods.  But not always.
>>>
>>> In the USA aspirational neighborhoods are common, if not the rule.  As a
>>> neighborhood gets trendy more and more people at the edges (and more and
>>> more Realtors) latch on to that name.
>>>
>>> The Zillow data is a very rigid idea of what a neighborhood is.
>>> Walk three blocks away from "Noe Valley" and ask what neighborhood you
>>> are in,
>>> and you're likely to get four answers.  Capturing that diversity would
>>> produce a far more useful neighborhood guide than just importing Zillow.
>>>
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>> --
>> John F. Eldredge -- john at jfeldredge.com
>> "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than
>> not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
>>
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>
>
> --
> Martijn van Exel
> http://oegeo.wordpress.com/
> http://openstreetmap.us/
>



-- 
Martijn van Exel
http://oegeo.wordpress.com/
http://openstreetmap.us/
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