Philadelphia Restaurant Database

[barryg]

I don't think there is a single restaurant actually in or near to Philly in your database. Everything is in New Jersey, and not the parts that would be considered Philly suburbs. I wouldn't really care, but it causes a lot of incorrect autolinking in posts, which is confusing and is polluting your data.

If you don't intend to populate this database, can we at least turn off the autolinking?

[barryg]

Thanks for getting this to Engineering's attention Jen, nsxtasy and everyone.

[nsxtasy]

It seems like there are two different problems here. Perhaps Engineering just looked at the first problem (which isn't a problem) and didn't understand that the second problem still needs fixing.

1. barryg, the OP here, posted this to clarify the problem he was originally posting:

>> when I click Restaurants and then Philadelphia, I end up at the link below and see zero restaurants in or near Philadelphia.

When I do the exact same thing, I see 3,865 restaurants in Philadelphia. So perhaps this part of the problem either was a misunderstanding, or has been fixed.

2. However, as jen kalb also noted here, linking to restaurants - either autolinking or manual linking - is not operating properly. When I create a post on the Philly board and say that it's a review of a restaurant, the only choices it gives me are in New Jersey, and does not include clear matches in Philadelphia which are in the restaurant database. (I assume from her post that this is also true for autolinking and for manual linking in edit mode, and that it's all part of the same problem, the inability to access restaurants in Philadelphia that are already in the restaurant database.) This still occurs (I just tested it) and still needs to be fixed.

Perhaps Engineering can confirm that they are aware of this problem and that it's on their list to be fixed?

[nsxtasy]

>> Perhaps Engineering can confirm that they are aware of this problem and that it's on their list to be fixed?

They have done so; see www.chow.com/topics/814211#6906340

Thanks!

[barryg]

No interest in fixing this? It's impossible to use. Entering a chain restaurant like Capital Grill, which has a location 0.1 miles from the city center, does not show as an option when adding links, while a New Jersey location does.

[jen kalb]

autolinking will not picl up a restaurant until someone has actually linked it by hand once - then it begins. However, you have identified a real, major problem - there is currently no way to autolink an actual Philly restaurant.

I am truly suprised that Engineering has not addressed this.

[nsxtasy]

>> autolinking will not picl up a restaurant until someone has actually linked it by hand once - then it begins.

Are you sure about that? I could swear that's not how it works - at least, in the areas where I post (not Philadelphia) - but I haven't actually done a test to verify it.

Or, perhaps it's just specific to the Philadelphia board, which is obviously having a problem creating links for restaurants in Philadelphia.

[Servorg]

The WAP (Work Around Plan) I've come up with (if you are interested in getting Philly restaurant place links OUT OF the CH database included INTO your posts) involves copying and pasting in the URL for whatever restaurant - in this case the Capital Grille: http://www.chow.com/restaurants/61832... as seen here.

[barryg]

But will this make the name hot linked, make the restaurant show up in the sidebar, embed address, etc.?

[jen kalb]

no it doesnt result in linking. the method servog mentions is just a way of getting the person to the restaurant page with the other info. it doesnt have all the other benefits you mention,, doesnt create links to the discussion on the restaurant page either. There is just something radically wrong in the way Philly is set up and Engineering will have to fix it.

[Servorg]

It does however show the mapping location, links to the website/menu information and also will show past discussions/previous posts about the restaurant here on CH. Which is better than nothing (if that is what you are previously getting).

[jen kalb]

This is screwed up too - the page does not show that there are any discussions - if you click on see all discussions it takes you to a search which defaults to the Pennsylvania Board which has old posts from Philly and recent posts from places like Pittsburgh- recent posts on the Philadelphia Board do not appear unless you do an advanced search specifying the philadelphia Board.

You can see this if you follow the Girasole example I think I linked above.

Its consequently easier (if prior discussion is sought) to do a simple discussion search on the Philadephia page.

[Servorg]

Take a look at the Capital Grille place link http://www.chow.com/restaurants/215871/capital-grille and it shows prior discussions on CH's Philly board - or am I losing it?

Also, if you click on the Girasole Philly link http://www.chow.com/restaurants/65390... and then click on the "see all discussions" button it appears to show all of the previous mentions of the correct Pennsylvania/Philly branch of Girasole - at least from what I saw when I clicked on it.

[barryg]

The Capital Grille links are all from older posts when linking sort of worked for some restaurants--you would get a list of several matches, so even if a New Jersey one was the first hit, you could still select the Philly location. That doesn't seem to be possible any longer. The problem was still there then, and was especially problematic with auto-linking, which would either not work or choose the wrong place--often just a place with a similar name.

The Girasole discussions you see are just from doing a regular search for Girasole on the Philly board, not actually linked.

The main issue seems to be that the location code doesn't know where the Phila city center is--it thinks it's in central Jersey or something. So it knows where the restaurant is, but calculates the distance completely wrong.

[Servorg]

However, if you go to the map that shows up with the Girasole link, (for example) and click on "browse nearby restaurants" the places that show up are all clustered around the right Girasole in Philadelphia.

ADD: Same thing for the Capital Grille link. All the surrounding restaurants that show up are appropriate as to their location in the middle of Philly.

[barryg]

Right. It knows where the restaurants are and can calculate distance correctly. When linking, it calculates distance from the city center, and it is way off on where that is. This is my theory anyway.

[jen kalb]

it is only showing the old discussions - pre the split off of Philly as a Separate Board, which appear on the Pennsylvania Board.
Ditto the Capital Grill Discussion - if you go to them they are all on the Pennsylvania board.

I thnk that there was a major screwup when the splitoff of Philly occurred.

[nsxtasy]

Yes, it sounds like the linking process - links from posts to restaurant entries, as well as links from restaurant entries to discussions - looks at the old board structure, and not at the new structure with the new Philly board. Sounds like Engineering understands the problem, and let's hope it gets fixed soon!

[The Chowhound Team]

There are 3,851 Results restaurants with a Philadelphia address according to this search:

http://www.chow.com/search?query=&...

Auto-linking can be problematic, especially with certain common restaurant names. If you use the "report" link to let us know about a bad auto-link, we can remove the link and also mark that particular record as one that will not be included in auto-linking.

[barryg]

Interesting... when I click Restaurants and then Philadelphia, I end up at the link below and see zero restaurants in or near Philadelphia.

http://www.chow.com/restaurants/regio...

Similarly, I have never seen autolink pick up on a restaurant or bar correctly, and usually an incorrect link ends up the area shown in the above link. Maybe the two issues are related?

[Servorg]

Here is what was returned when I put Philadelphia, PA into the location box of the Restaurant search feature: http://www.chow.com/search?query=&...

[barryg]

Servorg, thanks but I am referring to the clicking the Restaurants button, then clicking Philadelphia. The list that comes up is all Central/North Jersey.

It does seem that the info is in there somewhere, but not correctly tied to the Phila region. The autolinking seems to favor the same NJ restaurants that show when browsing via the Restaurants button.

[jen kalb]

those Restaurant page entry screens are truly screwed up. CHOWshould just deactive them and allow people to rely on the search feature (city + state zip until they are fixed and ready to be usable. At this point they make me want to scream bloody murder.

New York city is just as bad as Philly- if you go to that page all you get is Manhattan, no Brooklyn. Added to which, the data the site bought to populate it is low quality and picks up every fast food/chain place imaginable. Its also seriously out of date.

You would never even know there is a Restaurant function for International if you go to the Restaurant home page. Again, have to use the search feature to access international features.

[barryg]

Any word on this? The biggest issue is that north or central New Jersey is favored over Philadelphia restaurants in the autolinking. A restaurant with the same or similar name in NJ will win out over one smack in the center of Philadelphia.

[barryg]

If you're not going to fix this, you should just turn off the autolinking for Phila. It just causes confusion as the current configuration will *always* pick the wrong restaurant--it will never choose a place actually in or around Philadelphia. Since some posters don't notice, this is littering the board with bad addresses and information.

[jen kalb]

I just investigated via some posts in the Philly Board and something is clearly radically wrong with the linking function for Philadephia as Barryg mentioned a year ago.. Restaurants that appear in the Philly database like Vetri, Girasole,etc cannot be linked to posts. What does come up as options (if anything) is restaurants in S. Jersey of the same name.
See example below when I tried to add a link for Girasole the actually Philly restaurant does not appear as an option.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/759671.

[Servorg]

One work around plan to at least get the CH link in for places like Girasole is to copy and paste in the place link URL as I have here for Girasole in Philly: http://www.chow.com/restaurants/65390...