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  1. SimplyE 2.0
  2. SIMPLY-1044

Improve recognition of human-readable place names

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      A number of place names for SimplyE libraries can't be processed by the existing implementation of `Place.lookup_inside()`.

      • Several small localities in Connecticut do not have census shapefiles or ZIP codes named for them, so identifying them by name just won't work: Woodbridge, North Canaan, Franklin, Griswold, Vernon, Rowayton, Mansfield, Woodbridge. I think for these the only solution is to use a nearby ZIP code.
      • Hamden is a large town in Connecticut, but for some reason it doesn't have a census shapefile. Maybe the Census Bureau thinks it's part of New Haven. Our query finds three ZIP codes called "Hamden", but since there's more than one of them, it appears as though "Hamden" is ambiguous.
      • "Frederick County, MD" appears ambiguous because there is a "Frederick County, VA" near by (but not directly adjacent, as far as I can tell). I don't understand this one at all unless the shapefiles are weird.
      • California contains both a Santa Barbara County and a city called Santa Barbara, so lookup_inside() believes "Santa Barbara, CA" is ambiguous.
      • St. Mary's County, MD can't be found, possibly for a reason involving the abbreviation or the apostrophe.

      Even when it does work, lookup_inside() is often very slow compared to an equivalent implementation that looks at Place.parent_id to determine "insideness" and falls back to using GIS trickery to determine "insideness" if that doesn't work. Using Place.parent_id would also solve the Santa Barbara problem and the Frederick County problem, so it's a good idea all around.

            leonardrichardson Leonard Richardson [X] (Inactive)
            leonardrichardson Leonard Richardson [X] (Inactive)
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