This is a static archive of our old OSM Help Site. Please post any new questions and answers at community.openstreetmap.org.

How does OSM know an address that is not mapped?

1

I want to add the address values for some houses I am adding in my neighborhood, but the addresses already show up when I search for them. How does OSM know where these unmapped places are? Also, how does it know where neighborhoods that are not explicitly marked are?

When I add the tags for addresses, will OSM automatically recognize that the new address is better (it is), or do I need to do something to help it?

asked 04 Sep '14, 02:46

iansan5653's gravatar image

iansan5653
1917812
accept rate: 0%


One Answer:

2

The search function on the http://www.openstreetmap.org/ map page uses Nominatim. In addition the OSM data, Nominatim is loaded with information from other databases. If Nominatim does not find a result in the OSM data it looks at those other databases. So it is likely that your search is turning up data from another database.

If you add the address information to OSM it should show up first in the search function and, better yet from my point of view, will be available for "off line" searching with other software like OsmAnd.

So please add your locally gathered neighborhood address information to OSM, it will improve the data. And thanks for doing that!

answered 04 Sep '14, 03:55

n76's gravatar image

n76
10.8k1082172
accept rate: 17%

OSZAR »