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I've noticed that the postcode information of many streets in the Netherlands are known by nominatim. For instance, this place is very correctly reported by nominatim as "Buitenboogerd, 2611 KA, Nederland" (as can be seen here).

In the Netherlands, each street has a different postcode (or more). But on the "Buitenboogerd" way, I cannot see any information about the postcode, nor anywhere around! So I wonder, where is this information stored? How can I edit/update it?

asked 14 Jun '11, 10:22

%C3%89ric%20Piel's gravatar image

Éric Piel
116458
accept rate: 0%

edited 14 Jun '11, 10:25


You can check how Nominatim got its data by going to Nominatim's page, and entering the query there.

For "Buitenboogerd", you'll get (after clicking on "details"):

http://open.mapquestapi.com/nominatim/v1/details.php?place_id=15365374

There you can see that Nominatim used a node located next to "Molenstraat" (two blocks to the south). That node belongs to a shop, but it also has complete address information, including postcode, and Nominatim just guesses that streets close to it have the same postcode.

The node in Nominatim: http://open.mapquestapi.com/nominatim/v1/details.php?place_id=79652437

The same node in OSM: http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/553511622

In general, Nominatim seems to use a variety of heuristics to find out where areas of cities, postcodes etc. are. This sometimes works... and sometimes not.

permanent link

answered 15 Jun '11, 12:03

sleske's gravatar image

sleske
4.1k135678
accept rate: 24%

1

Thanks! I didn't know that nominatim was using the info from POI around. That's pretty clever :-) Actually I now realize on this example that the real postcode of Buitenboogerd is 2611 WS. So the explanation also explain why it's the wrong postcode.

(15 Jun '11, 12:54) Éric Piel

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question asked: 14 Jun '11, 10:22

question was seen: 6,071 times

last updated: 15 Jun '11, 12:54

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