Hi everyone,
one question that continually comes up with potential customers evaluating our service is “How are you on country X?”
The question is entirely understandable, as most people still think in terms of national mapping agencies releasing data. That mental model doesn’t correspond to the crowdsourced reality of OpenStreetMap, our primary data source.
Volunteers add data wherever they like, which can result in the confusing situation that one street can be perfetly mapped, and the neighbouring street is not. So there can be significant variance within a country.
And of course different countries have radically different concepts of geography. Not just different levels of administrative divisions, but different address structures and components. As a basic example, some countries have postal codes, some do not. And in those that do the concept of what a postal code represents can vary widely. Indeed some countries do not really use addresses at all. And even within a country there are often differences between regions or between rural and urban areas.
So it is perhaps not surprising, given all this complexity, that for years we have struggled to answer this seemingly basic question.
Happily, OSM this month turned 22 years old, and much of the world is now very well mapped. Indeed, in many parts of the world, OSM is the best data available at any price.
In this context I am pleased to announce that we are now regularly publishing a geocoding API coverage report where we break down coverage by country, assigning each a basic “great”, “good”, or “coarse” score.
Obviously the score needs to be put in the context of the complexity of reality, and is no substitute for actual testing (which is why we offer a free trial), but we hope this helps prospective customers more quickly assess whether our service can be a good match for their needs.
One final point: if you are evaluating different geocoding providers, I can highly recommend our Geocoding Buyer’s Guide where we discuss all the factors you should consider to avoid the dreaded “I wish I had thought of that before we bought” feeling.
Happy geocoding,