Address search and new posting interface

We have a new posting interface in Tagzania. And there's address search included in it.

Now, it's registered users that may use the improved feature. Once you register, you go to POST and a new interface appears. The main component of the new system is the search feature.



You can put an address there, or a world placename, and, either several options appear to click, or your are taken directly to a given spot.

Address search is done thru the Google Maps API and works in the following countries: The US, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

However, the search feature also queries Tagzania's own database of places, and Geonames's big and open placename gazetteer. So, if you search for something prosaic like Wine, you will find some occurrences in Tagzania's database and also places in the world named after that beverage...

When searching places or addresses, there's a useful tip: type the country 2-letter ISO code after the address. The world's code list,
here, look at the 1st column, the ISO-3166 alpha2 code, that's what you need. Address search will not work in most countries or cities, unless it is in the US or you do type that 2-letter code.

• Zurriola 10 Donostia (NO RESULTS)
• Zurriola 10 Donostia ES (this one will work)

Also this way:

• Zurriola 10 Donostia Spain
• Zurriola 10 Donostia España

So, if you are going to use address search extensively, just learn the country codes and do it in the simplest way.

The two-letter code tip is also good for world placenames. If you search SAN RAMON, a handful of options appear:



However, if you know your desired San Ramon  is in Uruguay, the you type SAN RAMON UY and you get the precise town.

The 2-letter code tip is not necessary for the US. Instead, the Google Maps API recognises 2-letter codes for US States... This may lead to some confusions. If you type Lancaster CA, the search feature will lead you to a city in southern California. Yet CA also is the code for Canada... Therefore, dear Canadians: please type Lancaster CANADA for your own country. Maybe other confusing occurrences may happen with IL (code for Illinois in the USA, and international code for Israel as well). If anyone experiments with codes, places and countries and finds problems or curious facts, we will be happy to knpow.

The 2-letter country code may also be used for postal code or ZIP searches. Write number and country code, and there you go. Once again, this works for these countries: The US, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Japan

tagzania - Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:36:15 -0500

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Source: http://www.tagzania.com/blog/news/address-search-and-new-posting-interface
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