This talk was transcribed.

The only thing better than open geo-data, is searchable open geo-data!

Adding data to OpenStreetMap is very satisfying, but searching for that data afterwards and seeing it show up in the search results makes it REAL! Geographic search, also known as geocoding, is a hairy beast of a problem: a pipeline for data ingestion, interpretation, manipulation, and normalization must be established before any searching can happen.

The good news: ginormous (technical term) crowdsourced data sets are an amazing resource for geocoders. The bad news: they present many challenges to the aforementioned pipeline.

Come learn some pro-tips for making your OpenStreetMap edits more geocoder-friendly. Get the inside scoop on establishing a solid and lasting friendship between OpenStreetMap and a geocoder, such as Mapzen Search. The Mapzen Search API is powered by an open-source geocoding engine that happens to be best friends with OpenStreetMap data.

Hearing first-hand what makes data more geocoder-friendly can help editors make the data more usable. If the data is more usable, it’s more searchable, more findable, and consequently more REAL!