I understand that the Mapping module is meant to give a way to provide an exact location with exact coordinates for an item. However, users adding contents to our Omeka S archive have repeatedly asked if there is a suggested way to use the Mapping module with items that refer, e.g., to a given village, but not to a specific location within that village.
The generic location (e.g… the village name) is also provided in a dedicated field, but users feel that there is great added value to having items on a map in terms of discoverability, advanced search, etc.
Ultimately, I agree.
Is there some technical solution to this? I don’t see how, but I’d love to be proved wrong.
If not, is there some widespread or accepted common practice on how to go about this? I’d be tempted to use as a point of reference the place where OpenStreetMap places the village name. This may mess up a bit with items that are actually geo-referenced in that specific point, but this slight confusion seems to be still better than not including geolocation at all for all items which have a meaningful village-level location.
Any suggestion welcome.