[OSM-talk] can search engines index osm data?

Aun Johnsen (via Webmail) skippern at gimnechiske.org
Sat Aug 8 10:04:30 BST 2009


On Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:49:17 +0100, Lester Caine <lester at lsces.co.uk>
wrote:
> David Earl wrote:
>> Lester Caine wrote:
>>> maning sambale wrote:
>>>> For example, I search a POI in "G" and it points me to an OSM node.
>>>
>>> The simple answer has to be no. 
>> 
>> But the complicated answer is yes: in that I am working on the 
>> namefinder index to make it available through URLs (and a set of 
>> gazetteer pages). Though the first step is to get the index updated 
>> again, which is proving to be hard at the moment.
> 
> But that will only provide what you include in the namefinder? And given
> the 
> crap going on in most search engines, it's unlikely the results will be 
> displayed anywhere near the top with just a single text match?
Google uses algorithms to vectorize how reliable a source of information
is, and given its name and how it is built, namefinder might get a prety
high score. I guess most modern search engines have the same approach as
google to make the most interesting searches appear at the top of the list.
Of course there will be a difference in the occurance of a big place
compared to a little place. There are millions of references to London on
the net, while not that many of Pitlochry. That meaning a search for London
might not give any OSM returns unless OSM becomes a featured site, while a
search for Pitlochry probably will return a OSM link.

A wiki page describing the mapping progress of a place such as Pitlochry
will even more increase that chance, and with even firther and more
advanced algorithms, google can choose to group similar search phrases with
almost identical possitions, so that it doesn't matter if the links to
London points north or south of the Thames.

The question then is how far have Google and other search engines come in
enhancing such algoritms?

-- 
Brgds
Aun Johnsen
via Webmail




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