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How can I create a link to a mobile friendly OSM site, based on arbitrary input?

For example, a Twitter user's location may be 34.63677866,135.22868514 or Oxford, UK or Düsseldorf. I don't have any control over the format of text they input.

That works fine with Nominatim (https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=Whatever), but the results are not mobile friendly.

alt text

The regular OSM is mobile friendly, but I can't seem to find the syntax which will allow me to link directly to a search result.

For example, the documentation shows how to link to a Lat/Long, but not a search result.

Ideally, I want to write something like:

https://www.openstreetmap.org/?q=34.63677866,135.22868514
https://www.openstreetmap.org/?q=Oxford,UK
https://www.openstreetmap.org/?q=D%C3%BCsseldorf

I appreciate that there may be ambiguous results returned for search queries - but the first result is usually the best.

Currently, the best I can do is https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=oxford%2CUK - but that takes me to a list of results:

osm.org search results screenshot on mobile device

So, how do I link to the first result of a search in a mobile friendly manner?

Thanks :-)

asked 07 Nov '15, 23:45

Terence%20Eden's gravatar image

Terence Eden
46225
accept rate: 0%

edited 08 Nov '15, 01:19

aseerel4c26's gravatar image

aseerel4c26 ♦
32.6k18248554

That doesn't take me to the first result. It takes me to a list of results. I want the user click on a link and see a map. I've updated the question to reflect that. Thanks.

(08 Nov '15, 00:52) Terence Eden
1

thanks for the clarification (my old text - since the conversion technique does not work currently: Umm, do I miss something or are you just searching for this kind of URL? https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=oxford%2CUK (you get there just by using the search box on osm.org))

(08 Nov '15, 01:16) aseerel4c26 ♦

You can't add a own custom service on server side, can't you?

(08 Nov '15, 07:38) iii

@iii I'm not sure quite what you mean. I don't want to install an entire OSM instance for this. I just want to point people at a map. Doesn't have to be the main OSM site - I'd use Open MapQuest but they don't support mobile.

(08 Nov '15, 11:20) Terence Eden

Can you explain what you are actually trying to do?

You say you want to "create a link" but "in what"? If the answer to that is "in some website code" then you'd do exactly what SimonPoole describes below below in that website code. If the answer is "in something on a mobile phone" then you'd probably create a web app on the phones (using something like Cordova/Phonegap) and add the logic there. It's easier to do that it sounds - I helped someone with no JavaScript experience at all do this a couple of years ago and they figured out the Nominatim part for themselves.

(08 Nov '15, 15:58) SomeoneElse ♦

@someoneelse On Twitter, people can set their location - either in their Bio or in a tweet. I am generating a link on a web page to that location, for example, https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Oxford or https://maps.google.com/maps?q=34.63677866,135.22868514 ... That takes a user to a website (suitable for mobile & desktop) which has the "best guess" prominently displayed. Not a list of suggestion - just a map.

(08 Nov '15, 16:12) Terence Eden

... so on the web page where you're generating the link, you'd add code that does what SimonPoole suggests, and generate the link based on that.

(08 Nov '15, 16:18) SomeoneElse ♦
showing 5 of 7 show 2 more comments

IMHO you are approaching this the wrong way. What you need to do is query nominatim directly (or any other search engine)

  • get list of results

  • take first one

  • and generate either a link with the position or the object in question

You won't be able to do the above using the openstreetmap.org website as a "proxy" to nominatim, at least not without support in the actuall rails port code.

permanent link

answered 08 Nov '15, 15:45

SimonPoole's gravatar image

SimonPoole ♦
44.7k13326701
accept rate: 18%

edited 08 Nov '15, 15:46

As I said in a different comment, I've got a long list of locations. Sending ~200 queries is a bit of an unnecessary overhead.

On a service like Google, I don't need to make an API query, I can just craft a URL and, if the user chooses to click on it, they get taken to a map.

The nominatim service does this perfectly, but isn't mobile friendly:

Same as Open MapQuest:

Takes me to the right map, but not mobile friendly.

All I want is an OSM site which is mobile friendly and will take the user to a "best guess" based on a query.

(08 Nov '15, 16:22) Terence Eden
3

@Terence Eden there is nothing stoping you from producing such a site. Doable with some JS and one of the JS map display libraries in a jiffy.

But I guess that is not the real issue, which seems to be a misunderstanding of the nature of the OpenStreetMap web site and associated service. They a mainly geared towards mapping support and support for any other usage is at best incidential (this has been a matter of debate since early on in OSM history, but it is in any case the current situation). The tl;dr version is that OSM is about collecting and distributiong a open and freely available geo-dataset, -not- about providing free services. Given that you can simply take the data and build your own, this should not be a big issue.

(08 Nov '15, 16:56) SimonPoole ♦

... and, Terence, you should have a closer look to the wiki page http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Search_engines just to find other nominatim based search engines, or even very own standing search engines based on raw OSM data.

(09 Nov '15, 18:38) stephan75

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question asked: 07 Nov '15, 23:45

question was seen: 4,503 times

last updated: 09 Nov '15, 18:38

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum