Mapcode – A short address for any location on Earth • Hacker News Board

Re: Mapcode – A short address for any location on Earth

#121

Post by fixermark » Sat, Jul 19, 2014, 8:21 PM UTC

chippy wrote: post #120

fixermark wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's possible with Google Maps also ( http://www.google.com/mapmaker ) But thank you for noting that I can do the same with OSM. After making an account and logging in, I've created a feature-point for my address, but I don't see a way to correct or suppress the incorrect information from OpenStreetMap Nominatim. shrug Problem for another day.

Hmm, I think that Nominatim gets updated with a bit of lag (minutes to an hour), so the address should be there now? Assuming you changed the information from the map, it should update it within Nominatim, as it get's it's info from the map If not, you can leave a note http://www.openstreetmap.org/note/new and someone can take a look at it. I've been contributing for a while now and still like using Notes to let peop…

Looks like it's updated. Thank you for the tip!

Re: Mapcode – A short address for any location on Earth

#122

Post by fredsmith219 » Sat, Jul 19, 2014, 9:38 PM UTC

I'll use my mapcode to tell my friends where to meet me. I'll use swatch internet time to tell them when to meet me. It's about as useful.

Re: Mapcode – A short address for any location on Earth

#123

Post by xxxmadraxxx » Mon, Jul 21, 2014, 4:31 PM UTC

n0body wrote: post #21

It gave me a map code that was longer than my postcode. I'm not sure how postcodes work everywere else in the world, but in the uk they point to a specific road, so it's pretty good for navigating to a place with. I do know that in belgium they point to an area, so they're not as good as a navigation aid.

I live in quite a big block of maisonettes. At the maximum map zoom level, trying to pin down the exact location of my particular house gave me about three options to choose from –just by moving the cursor a few mm in any direction. So what happens then? Do I pick the mapcode I like best? Does some central body decide which is my 'official' mapcode?

Living in the UK, I don't see what this offers over my postcode, which identifies my location to within a couple of houses. The houses across the street have a different postcode to me as do my neighbours three doors away. Theoretically* all anyone needs to find me is my house number and postcode. Try it. Send me a postcard:

madra 84A *Actually, it's not theoretical. I have as an experiment in the past sent someone a letter addressed just to their house number and postcode and it got there. In spite of that I do tend to write out fuller addresses though. It just seems a bit too 'minimalist' relying on only the postcode.

Re: Mapcode – A short address for any location on Earth

#124

Post by microcolonel » Mon, Jul 21, 2014, 8:28 PM UTC

grey-area wrote: post #101

microcolonel wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mapcodes are coordinates within a rectangular region, you define the region, then the code(or if you're IN the region, you don't need to worry about defining it). One of the available regions is "Earth", which offers global coordinates(they're a bit longer, four or five characters on each side of the dot). The upside of this is that it is possible to implement it completely offline, you don't need to query the region…

One of the available regions is "Earth", which offers global coordinates(they're a bit longer, four or five characters on each side of the dot). Why not just use lat, lon, which can be shorter too? Central park, NY - 40.78 -73.97 Hyde Park, LON - 51.51, -0.17

Those coordinates are obviously less accurate than the mapcode, and not at all any smaller.