Hi Gerd,

I found the first issue why so many cities were missing. It turns out in my area many boundaries contain 'place_name' instead of 'name'. Examples: http://overpass-turbo.eu/s/5HL

I realize I could add this tag to name-tag-list, but i think it would be better to have it searched as a last resort. Thus, I propose the following patch:

Index: src/uk/me/parabola/mkgmap/reader/osm/boundary/BoundaryLocationPreparer.java
===================================================================
--- src/uk/me/parabola/mkgmap/reader/osm/boundary/BoundaryLocationPreparer.java (revision 3341)
+++ src/uk/me/parabola/mkgmap/reader/osm/boundary/BoundaryLocationPreparer.java (working copy)
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@
  int admLevel = getAdminLevel(tags);
  boolean isISO = false;
  String name = getName(tags);
+ if (name == null) {
+ log.warn("No name found for boundary", tags);
+ }
  if (locator != null){
  if (admLevel == 2) {
  String isoCode = locator.addCountry(tags);
@@ -142,6 +145,11 @@
  }
  return nameParts[0].trim().intern();
  }
+ String place_name = tags.get("place_name");
+ if (place_name != null) {
+ log.warn("Boundry has controversial place_name:", place_name, tags, "http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/drop_recommendation_for_place_name");
+ return place_name;
+ }
 
  return null;
  }

Secondly, while I don't have a complete admin_level2 in my boundary file, most city, county and state boundaries contain is_in tags. For example, Danbury (http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/33271879), contains 
is_in:countryUSA
is_in:stateConnecticut
With these tags, I should be able to set state and country information even if I don't have those boundaries explicitly loaded. I was thinking this extra information could be added to the BoundaryLocationInfo class, much like how the zip code is today. What do you think about that approach?

Brian

On Oct 30, 2014, at 4:00 AM, Gerd Petermann <gpetermann_muenchen@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Brian,

I see.
I fear the meanings of the --country-xxx options are not well documented.
If I got it right, they have an influence on the address search indexes, but they have no
meaning for the rules in the style.

Maybe your problem could be solved with an
additional line in the address rule. Something like this
mkgmap:admin_level5='New York City' & mkgmap:admin_level2!=* { set mkgmap:admin_level2='USA' }
as a first line in inc/address.

Another option would be to change the LocationHook to optionally use the
values given with --country-xxx to fill the mkgmap:admin_level2 tag.

Gerd

From: brianegge@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 02:38:17 +0000
To: mkgmap-dev@lists.mkgmap.org.uk
Subject: Re: [mkgmap-dev] Building northeast map

Thanks Gerd,

I've been adding/fixing city boundaries in my area, so I'm trying to create my own bounds file. If an admin_level2 can't be found, does it use the --country-abbr option?

Brian