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sanderd17

Hi,

In Flanders, we have a free address database (see https://download.agiv.be/Producten/Detail?id=447 )

Sadly, it also contains too much errors for a direct import in OSM. So an import process started that needs manual review (see https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Belgium/Using_AGIV_Crab_data )

But this manual review is slow. So I wondered if I could make my own free map with all addresses of Flanders. We've written an utility that reads the address database, and can export to any format (currently JSON for the import tool: https://github.com/aptum/aptum.github.io/blob/master/extract.py ), so I can transform it to any format with a clear specification.

Is there a spec available for Navigator FREE, or is there an app available that compiles a custom OSM file (or any other standard file format) into a compatible map?

tomas

did you try this import tool?
http://download.mapfactor.com/digger_12.zip

hvdwolf

Hi Sander,

There is diggerQT/digger_console which can create POI files.

The POI files can be made of gpx and csv (and a number of other formats). OSM is not one of them.

The problem with these mca files is that they are coordinate based, not address based.

Last year, when the Netherlands was not completely in OSM yet, I also made two of those files: one for the Netherlands, based on the BAG data, and one for Flanders, based on the CRAB data (also multiple for OsmAnd as address obf files).

So yes, you can create it, but you need to use some concatenated string like "City, streetname number" which makes it cumbersome.

Note also that when an mca file contains lots and lots of entries (100.000+), it becomes quite slow.

sanderd17

Oh, great, thanks.

The format offered is Dbase or Shapefile, but the projection (Lambert) isn't available in the options. So I guess I'll fist have to convert it to a CSV or GPX file with WGS84 coordinates.

This process will take a while, so I can't test it immediately.

But from the first look, this will only add POI, and not improve the main address search. Or am I wrong?

hvdwolf

You are right. The files you can make yourself are POI files based on coordinates, not address based files.

So you can't search from the address part in MNF. You need to search from the POI screen.

sanderd17

Sorry hvdwolf, didn't see your comment first (was already making mine).

So I guess there's no way to add about 3 million addresses, that's too bad.

hvdwolf

If you can export to osm, you can do it relatively easy for osmand.

Edit: you could also write a python script that recursively runs through all data folders using the python "re" module to convert them to an osm file.

sanderd17

I'm looking for a Windows CE solution, so OsmAnd is no option (unless I go via an Android emulator, which seems to exist too, but I don't expect that to be stable).

Be-on-road (being from sygic) seems to be more closed than MNF (and the maps in be-on-road are awfully outdated, and the search engine isn't too good either, didn't test other behaviour). Then I guess Navit is the only remaining option, but that costs a lot of configuration work to get a decent behaviour,

hvdwolf

Be-on-road is no longer actively maintained AFAIK. The only update has been the marketing when it was acquired by cygic. You can also make poi maps for be-on-road, but they suffer more or less from the same as the MNF mca's in that they are really poi files and can only be accessed from the POI screen (and trust me: I've created the same files for Be-on-road as well)

For poi files the approach of MNF and B-o-R as such is fine but not for an address point of view.

I have hardly any experience with Navit. It was too cumbersone to get it nicely working and it misses a lot of functionality compared to the 3 apps we have mentioned now.

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