What are some possible geocoders that would be acceptable for use in
laconica?

Yahoo!'s has a 5,000 request/IP/day limit. It also has a TOS which I doubt
will work for laconica
http://info.yahoo.com/guidelines/us/yahoo/ydn/ydn-3955.html For example,
it can't be used on sites that store geocoding results (which obviously is
important here)

Google's has a 15,000 request/IP/day limit. Their TOS is also a concern.
For example, "10.6 use the Service in a manner that gives you or any other
person access to mass downloads or bulk feeds of any Content, including
but not limited to numerical latitude or longitude coordinates, imagery,
and visible map data" which rules out allowing data exports, as I would
expect under the site's eventual full compliance with the Franklin Street
Statement. There are other points of concern too... it requires a good
read through.

Geocoder.us may be an option, but with a bit of additional complication.
The web service as their site disallows commercial use. However, the
application is available under GPLv2, and the data is from the US
government under the public domain. However, this won't help non-US users.

Open Street Maps uses a combination of services, such as geocoder.us,
geocoder.ca, geonames.org,
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Search#Geonames . But, perhaps we
could just use their Name Finder...
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Name_finder I don't think it's as good,
but it seems to be the most Free and closest to what is desired.

Thoughts?

~Craig

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