How are we supposed to develop web and mobile applications if......

General talk
1

Does anyone else find it VERY common that OpenStreetMap (and cloudmade’s mapzen) cannot find a specific address? I am trying to create a web application where the user will be able to map an address. When I map some addresses they cannot be found.

I’m talking about American addresses right now.

Maybe I have the wrong impression about Mapzen and CloudMade and Openstreet Map… Are we not meant to allow users to map any old address and expect to get it? But if not, then what good is it really?

Can somebody shed some light on what i should be expecting?

i’m trying to Map:

11317 Ventura Boulevard
Studio City, CA 91604-3138

it’s not there. Can’t be fund. Studio City is a very populated area within Los angeles.

What am I missing here? What applications can be created with OpenStreetMap and CloudMade if you can’t guarantee your user will be able to find the place they are mapping?

2

The main problem with addresses and OpenStreetMap is that many addresses are (still) missing in the OSM database. So, if you search for the address you mentioned, you may find Ventura Boulevard, but you can’t find the housenumber as it is simply not in the database (yet).

There is quite some effort to collect information about addresses / housenumbers and enter them into the database, but as you can imagine, this is a huge task and it will certainly take some time until the collected data is sufficient for an exhaustive address search.