Hi Bryce I strongly agree that there is a need that users can search for tags via a specialized API (in topical or vertical search engine API). Unfortunately I know no answer yet within OSM which does that.
Taginfo is definitely a good starting point. And yes, it's a challenge to extract synonyms (or related terms). But just to complete what Jochen wrote: There is already a proposal of putting synonyms (and more) into the Wiki text! See "Related Terms" at bottom e.g. of "forest" [1]. Everyone can contribute by adding such related terms right now. Based on Tagfinder db and API we implemented a prototype called TagFinder which gives you an idea how nice such a function would be: If you enter "Wald" into TagFinder [2] you get "landuse=forest" in a ranked result page. This prototype reads out the synonyms from the Wiki pages mentioned above and includes a thesaurus. For more background of TagFinder see slide 8 at [3]. Yours, Stefan [1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:landuse%3Dforest [2] http://openpoimap.ch/tagfinder/search?q=Wald [3] http://www.fossgis.de/konferenz/2012/programm/attachments/328_FOSSGIS%202012%20-%20OpenPOIMap%20-%20en.pdf 2013/1/26 Bryce Cogswell <bryc...@yahoo.com>: > On Jan 26, 2013, at 12:12 PM, Jochen Topf <joc...@remote.org> wrote: > >> On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 10:52:06AM -0800, Bryce Cogswell wrote: >>> I have an editor that consumes TagInfo data from the wiki, allowing users >>> to search for the tag they want. I search both the tag name and the >>> description text. I'd like the search to include common synonyms for tags >>> because newbies (and I) don't always know what to search for, so: drugstore >>> -> amenity=pharmacy, salon -> shop=beauty, curb -> kerb, etc. >>> >>> What is the correct place to put this information? Should it be a new tag >>> metadata field on the wiki, or stuffed into the description field, or >>> something else? >> >> This mailing list is about the taginfo application/service. From your >> question >> it sounds that you are not actually doing anything with taginfo, but parsing >> the Wiki directly. Is that correct? In that case you might want to raise this >> issue on the general dev or talk lists. That being said, I do think that the >> taginfo program is the right place to collect this information and bring it >> to other parts of the OSM ecosystem. >> >> I think framing the issue as being about synonyms is too simplistic. It is >> about finding the right tags. Just having a list of synonyms is not going to >> be >> enough. Say for instance "forest" and "woods". Those are synonyms by some >> definitions. But there are actually different tags for these two things, >> because in the OSM context they mean different things. So you'd have to read >> the description on the wiki to find out which to use. I am sure there are >> many >> words you can't easily associate with just one tag. >> >> The other problem is maintainance. People actually have to maintain the lists >> of synonyms. And there is the internationalization issue of course. >> >> So I think the approach has to be different. I suggest a mixture of full-text >> search in wiki pages plus thesaurus plus maybe some kind of word-stemming >> plus >> maybe dictionaries. It is a bit of work to get that going, but I think it >> can be done. We'll get a lot of synonyms for free that way and where we don't >> get them, somebody just has to make sure they appear in the wiki text >> somewhere. >> >> There is already a very simple full-text search for the wiki integrated into >> taginfo that I whipped up in a few hours. Just use the search field and then >> choose the "Full text" tab. Your first two examples will find the right tags: >> http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/search?q=drugstore#fulltext >> http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/search?q=salon#fulltext >> That could be the basis of something better. >> >> Jochen >> -- >> Jochen Topf joc...@remote.org http://www.remote.org/jochen/ +49-721-388298 > > I currently pull the info from taginfo-wiki-db.bz2 at build time but long > term I would prefer to get it via an API (or periodically download the bz2 to > the client automatically). My editor is for a mobile device so for > performance I don't want to hit the server doing a search on every keystroke. > > I expect iD is going to want similar functionality so it would be nice to > have it centrally located rather than implemented in each client. > > I see that Nominatim has similar functionality already: > http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Nominatim/Special_Phrases/EN > That may be sufficient for me and gives me a place to submit patches (they > include shop=drugstore, unfortunately). > > Thanks for your feedback and suggestions. > > Bryce > > > _______________________________________________ > Taginfo-dev mailing list > Taginfo-dev@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/taginfo-dev _______________________________________________ Taginfo-dev mailing list Taginfo-dev@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/taginfo-dev
