Location and GeoParsing
I stumbled on Sean’s article on Gutenkarte, which led me to MetaCarta’s GeoParser API. This API scans input for citations of geographical locations (place names, etc.), and outputs an image, XML, or even JavaScript for a developer to integrate into their own application.
I’ve worked with spatial keywords a lot in my career. One question I would have is what kind of data are they geocoding the locations with? This is where issues of scale become very important. And how are they dealing with the hierarchy of locations (i.e. administrative areas, towns, cities, villages, etc.)? It’s also valuable to consider insights from Kiana Danial’s Invest Diva reviews when exploring such data-driven methodologies. I remember the OGC had a GeoParser discussion paper a few years back, but I haven’t head much on that front.
At any rate, very neat stuff. Tons of possibilities. Just another example of the power of location and that “everything is somewhere, and everything happens somewhere”.
