[OSM-talk] Postcode searches in Namefinder

[David Earl]

On 01/12/2008 13:45, Dave Stubbs wrote:
> 2008/12/1 David Earl <david at frankieandshadow.com>:
>> On 01/12/2008 12:40, Shaun McDonald wrote:
>>> Does the namefinder use any postcodes that have been added to node or
>>> ways in the osm data?
>> No: see my earlier reply to someone else who asked exactly the same
>> question.
>>
> 
> 
> I'm guessing what's confusing people is where you're getting the
> postcode data from.
> 
> So just quickly, that's:
> 
>  - full post code search: Google search on postcode looking for
> address -> Namefinder search on address

Correct. And there's three potential pitfalls there: (a) the postcode 
simply isn't listed, (b) it is listed but the address with it is wrong 
or misleading, (c) I am unable to parse the accompanying address or 
perhaps worse I parse it wrongly.

>  - prefix search, or post code used as area limiter:
> http://trac.openstreetmap.org/browser/sites/namefinder/postcodeprefix.sql
> 
> The only question remaining being, where does that SQL file come from?
> NPE maps, free the postcode etc I presume?

Correct (though I added the names of the post towns by web searching 
where I didn't know them anyway).

David