mirror of
https://github.com/osm-search/Nominatim.git
synced 2024-12-26 06:22:13 +03:00
docs: add developer doc page for Tokenizer
This commit is contained in:
parent
31d9545702
commit
68bff31cc9
70
docs/develop/Tokenizers.md
Normal file
70
docs/develop/Tokenizers.md
Normal file
@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
|
||||
# Tokenizers
|
||||
|
||||
The tokenizer is the component of Nominatim that is responsible for
|
||||
analysing names of OSM objects and queries. Nominatim provides different
|
||||
tokenizers that use different strategies for normalisation. This page describes
|
||||
how tokenizers are expected to work and the public API that needs to be
|
||||
implemented when creating a new tokenizer. For information on how to configure
|
||||
a specific tokenizer for a database see the
|
||||
[tokenizer chapter in the administration guide](../admin/Tokenizers.md).
|
||||
|
||||
## Generic Architecture
|
||||
|
||||
### About Search Tokens
|
||||
|
||||
Search in Nominatim is organised around search tokens. Such a token represents
|
||||
string that can be part of the search query. Tokens are used so that the search
|
||||
index does not need to be organised around strings. Instead the database saves
|
||||
for each place which tokens match this place's name, address, house number etc.
|
||||
To be able to distinguish between these different types of information stored
|
||||
with the place, a search token also always has a certain type: name, house number,
|
||||
postcode etc.
|
||||
|
||||
During search an incoming query is transformed into a ordered list of such
|
||||
search tokens (or rather many lists, see below) and this list is then converted
|
||||
into a database query to find the right place.
|
||||
|
||||
It is the core task of the tokenizer to create, manage and assign the search
|
||||
tokens. The tokenizer is involved in two distinct operations:
|
||||
|
||||
* __at import time__: scanning names of OSM objects, normalizing them and
|
||||
building up the list of search tokens.
|
||||
* __at query time__: scanning the query and returning the appropriate search
|
||||
tokens.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
### Importing
|
||||
|
||||
The indexer is responsible to enrich an OSM object (or place) with all data
|
||||
required for geocoding. It is split into two parts: the controller collects
|
||||
the places that require updating, enriches the place information as required
|
||||
and hands the place to Postgresql. The collector is part of the Nominatim
|
||||
library written in Python. Within Postgresql, the `placex_update`
|
||||
trigger is responsible to fill out all secondary tables with extra geocoding
|
||||
information. This part is written in PL/pgSQL.
|
||||
|
||||
The tokenizer is involved in both parts. When the indexer prepares a place,
|
||||
it hands it over to the tokenizer to inspect the names and create all the
|
||||
search tokens applicable for the place. This usually involves updating the
|
||||
tokenizer's internal token lists and creating a list of all token IDs for
|
||||
the specific place. This list is later needed in the PL/pgSQL part where the
|
||||
indexer needs to add the token IDs to the appropriate search tables. To be
|
||||
able to communicate the list between the Python part and the pl/pgSQL trigger,
|
||||
the placex table contains a special JSONB column `token_info` which is there
|
||||
for the exclusive use of the tokenizer.
|
||||
|
||||
The Python part of the tokenizer returns a structured information about the
|
||||
tokens of a place to the indexer which converts it to JSON and inserts it into
|
||||
the `token_info` column. The content of the column is then handed to the PL/pqSQL
|
||||
callbacks of the tokenizer which extracts the required information. Usually
|
||||
the tokenizer then removes all information from the `token_info` structure,
|
||||
so that no information is ever persistently saved in the table. All information
|
||||
that went in should have been processed after all and put into secondary tables.
|
||||
This is however not a hard requirement. If the tokenizer needs to store
|
||||
additional information about a place permanently, it may do so in the
|
||||
`token_info` column. It just may never execute searches over it and
|
||||
consequently not create any special indexes on it.
|
||||
|
||||
### Querying
|
||||
|
||||
|
Loading…
Reference in New Issue
Block a user