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I've been looking up local post boxes in the postcode BA13 (UK) where I live and have noticed that the addresses for them are unnecessarily long. Several include the place name Chalford in the address, yet Chalford is tiny and doesn't have a post box and several others have Leighton Park in the address and this doesn't exist. There is a Leigh Park however.

Example: https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=ba13%2044#map=19/51.26859/-2.18398

The post box labelled BA13 44 has Chalford in the address and it shouldn't be there. How does a new user like myself edit the address, or am I unable to?

asked 28 Jun '20, 15:06

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simonali
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Having clicked around a bit more I can see this is a massively tangled knot that I don't want to get involved in unraveling!

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answered 28 Jun '20, 15:20

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simonali
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edited 28 Jun '20, 15:20

The response to a search is not the address stored in OpenStreetMap. It is a structured set of address elements which can be associated with the object queried. You can see how this structure is worked out here (https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/details.php?osmtype=N&osmid=500367365&class=amenity) on the dedicated website of Nominatim, the relevant search engine. Nominatim tries to provide information which may be relevant across the globe, therefore not every element may be necessary for forming a valid address. More usually applications call the Nominatim API and select the elements of the address which are appropriate to their needs: in Britain this would usually be house number or name, street name, settlement name and postcode. Elsewhere different elements may be needed.

In general dont get too worried about how something is presented to you from the OSM website: these are usually best regarded as examples of what can be done rather than definitive ways to use the data for particular purposes. It's certainly a bad idea to manipulate the data to achieve a particular outcome with one tool because doing so almost certainly breaks a lot of other tools. See "Tagging for the Renderer" on the wiki.

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answered 28 Jun '20, 16:56

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SK53 ♦
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I did take a look at the Nominatim database and it seems that Chalford has a series of roads (incorrectly) allocated to it and could see that editing those would be a massive amount of work!

I shall be updating the collection times on the aforementioned post boxes and leaving the rest well alone methinks...

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answered 28 Jun '20, 20:40

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simonali
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edited 28 Jun '20, 20:40

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question asked: 28 Jun '20, 15:06

question was seen: 927 times

last updated: 28 Jun '20, 20:40

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