Program to mine addresses/lats/lons from Switchboard
  15 years
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I wrote a program to search Switchboard.com and pull Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Latitude, and Longitude for POIs. It is available at:
http://sites.google.com/site/raptorbase/
it's called SwitchMiner_042409.zip
I tried to post a self-extracting EXE, but Google Sites wouldn't let me so I had to Zip it up.
1) Set the filename for the results (cvs.txt for instance)
2) Type the search keywords in the box (cvs pharmacy for instance)
3) Hit [Go!]
4) the completed file will be comma delimited and have:
Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Lat, Lon
5) Since it pulls from html, it doesn't ALWAYS pull the data out right, but it seems to work ALMOST all the time 
.
6) go through the file and make sure things look right. Cleaning up a couple corrupted names is far better than pulling all this stuff off the site manually!
7) Now you can pull the data you want and make a CSV file for GPS. Maybe in the future I'll add this to Switchminer to automatically make a CSV file based on your choices for fields.
Enjoy!
Mike
program
I wrote a program to search Switchboard.com and pull Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Latitude, and Longitude for POIs. It is available at:
http://sites.google.com/site/raptorbase/
it's called SwitchMiner_042409.zip
I tried to post a self-extracting EXE, but Google Sites wouldn't let me so I had to Zip it up.
1) Set the filename for the results (cvs.txt for instance)
2) Type the search keywords in the box (cvs pharmacy for instance)
3) Hit [Go!]
4) the completed file will be comma delimited and have:
Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Lat, Lon
5) Since it pulls from html, it doesn't ALWAYS pull the data out right, but it seems to work ALMOST all the time
.
6) go through the file and make sure things look right. Cleaning up a couple corrupted names is far better than pulling all this stuff off the site manually!
7) Now you can pull the data you want and make a CSV file for GPS. Maybe in the future I'll add this to Switchminer to automatically make a CSV file based on your choices for fields.
Enjoy!
Mike
the files created via this type of software are not allowed on the site!!!i would talk to Jon or MaryAnn About this !!!
Everyday is a GREAT day :)
OH! Didn't know that... why
OH! Didn't know that... why is that?
Mike
hmm.. just read the FAQ
hmm.. just read the FAQ again and saw the question about files from POI Harvester not being allowed. My question is: is Switchboard related to GTE (Yellow pages) and if so, isn't this about the most accurate address info you can find?
Maybe I was spoofed by the yellow icons with the walking fingers into thinking it is from GTE Yellow Pages...
I have a question put in to the admins to clear this up. Didn't mean to do something wrong, just trying to help.
I've temporarily removed the program from my site.
Mike
Program is fine, it's the data that's a problem
...
I've temporarily removed the program from my site.
Mike
There's no problem with the program itself. What they are telling you is that the data that it extracts is probably copyrighted by the site you pull it from. And the Terms of Service here do not allow reposting that data file here. There is no problem with anyone using the program to compile their own personal POI file. They just don't want you publicly distributing the data that it extracts.
I'd like a copy
Looks like the file was pulled from your site.... I'd be very interested in a copy, for my personal use.
I believe this would be OK since it's not really posted here, it's on an external site.
Larry
raptrflite wrote: I wrote a
I wrote a program to search Switchboard.com and pull Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Latitude, and Longitude for POIs. It is available at:
http://sites.google.com/site/raptorbase/
it's called SwitchMiner_042409.zip
I tried to post a self-extracting EXE, but Google Sites wouldn't let me so I had to Zip it up.
1) Set the filename for the results (cvs.txt for instance)
2) Type the search keywords in the box (cvs pharmacy for instance)
3) Hit [Go!]
4) the completed file will be comma delimited and have:
Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Lat, Lon
5) Since it pulls from html, it doesn't ALWAYS pull the data out right, but it seems to work ALMOST all the time
.
6) go through the file and make sure things look right. Cleaning up a couple corrupted names is far better than pulling all this stuff off the site manually!
7) Now you can pull the data you want and make a CSV file for GPS. Maybe in the future I'll add this to Switchminer to automatically make a CSV file based on your choices for fields.
Enjoy!
Mike
I would like to have a copy of it for my own use just to see what the program can do.Tried to email you but you don't have the contact button on your profile activated.
Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.
reposted...
I reposted the program to the site for personal use. Please don't use it for POIFactory files until we can get some resolution on this topic.
I guess I don't see how we are violating copyright by using data freely supplied to the public in files that are also freely supplied to the public.
Got it.Thanks.
Got it.Thanks.Just email Miss Poi with the file and get her take on it.
Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.
Disclaimer: I still haven't
Disclaimer: I still haven't gotten the issue straightened out, so please don't use this for POIFactory files...
Updated the code to allow you to pick output fields.
If you already installed the software, just get the new EXE file and replace the old one. Otherwise, run the install program...
Mike
We have looked at this and
We have looked at this and found that it is very similar to Harvester / Yahoo Local Search. The information on Switchboard comes from sources like InfoUSA and Acxiom.
While tools like this are certainly convenient for making personal files, it is better to rely on information from more authoritative sources (like a company's web site) or your own first-hand observations when creating files to share at POI Factory.
I will add this to the FAQ as a tool to avoid when making files that you will be sharing on POI Factory.
Miss POI
huh... guess I thought it
huh... guess I thought it was related to GTE and that they would have used their customer database as the source. I'll just use it for my files.
Mike
.
Mike - thanks for sharing this with everyone. It will be useful for creating personal POI files.
One suggestion - would it be possible to include the Location field when searching for businesses? Right now you can only search the entire country. But it would be nice to limit results to a specific area.
That shouldn't be a big
YW! That shouldn't be a big deal. I'll look into it later tonight. I did the fields addition on my lunch break, and now it's back to work
Mike
Disclaimer... Miss POI has
Disclaimer... Miss POI has asked that this program not be used for POI files posted to this site
Uploaded the new Switchminer to the website. Location query is active in this one... Leave
that field blank for all US.
MIke
AT&T Wifi POI harvesting
Can your nifty program be used to harvest AT&T wifi POIs through their website?
http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=13540
It would be tasty treat for the Garmin. Thanks!
I might be able to mod it to
I might be able to mod it to do that, might be a while b4 I can get to it though....
Mike