OpenBenches' Address Conundrum: Geolocating 40,000 Benches Elegantly
2025-04-27
OpenBenches, a crowdsourced database of nearly 40,000 memorial benches, faces a challenge: converting latitude/longitude coordinates into human-readable addresses. Many benches lack formal addresses, residing in parks, etc. Existing geocoding APIs provide overly detailed or irrelevant information. The author explores using multiple APIs and Points of Interest (POIs) for automated address generation, but encounters issues with language localization, address formatting inconsistencies, and POI accuracy. Balancing address precision with user-friendliness and internationalization remains a key challenge.