Address finders in QGIS: OSM place search vs osmSearch

OSM place search and osmSearch are two plugins for QGIS which use the Nominatim service to find addresses and places. They are both still marked as “experimental” plugins, so users are expected to expect the unexpected.

Once installed, both plugins look very similar: There is an input text field and a results list.

A simple search with street name and house number returns the expected results. Interacting with the result shows some differences:

• OSM place search will highlight the location when you mouse-over the result in the list. On double-click, it will zoom to the result.
• osmSearch will highlight the result and move the map center to the result if you double-click but won’t zoom.

Both plugins can deal with umlauts (ä,ö,ü) but only osmSearch works with háčeks.

A nice feature of osmSearch is that it remembers your previous searches and offers an auto-complete function.

OSM place search on the other hand offers a reverse “Where am I” function (the arrow pointing to the left” which tries to find a name for the current map center location. Additionally, there are functions to add the current object as a new layer or mask layer.

Both plugins have strong and weak points. Combined, they would make a really strong tool but then nothing prevents us from having them both and choosing the best one for the task at hand.