[Data-modeling] Geosearch service (was Re: Modeling uncertainty)

[Faye Harris]

Hi Tom,

This just caught my attention.

For location-related queries, are you aware of Freebase's 
/api/service/geosearch? Given a search query and some geographical 
requirement, it returns you results that match your search phrase and 
fit your geographical requirement. Specifically, you can use the 
parameter "within" to pass in "a floating pointing number denoting the 
radius in kilometers searched from the anchor location".

For example, the following query returns restaurants within 20km of 
Boston (city center):
http://freebase.com/api/service/geosearch?location=/en/boston_massachusetts&type=/dining/restaurant&within=20&indent=1

Does that meet your needs? Documentation for /api/service/geosearch is 
available at:
http://freebase.com/api/service/geosearch?help

-- Faye


Tom Morris wrote:
> Location - If I'm told that something is "near" or "in the vicinity
> of" a location, currently my choices are to either not record the fact
> or to guess at a way to reduce the precision in a way that's still
> accurate.  I could say that something which is "near Boston" is "in
> Massachusetts," but a) that might not be true and b) that's not the
> information that I have.