Often product names that are specified on prices and receipts are different from their names on package. So I think it can be useful to store these variations linked to barcodes for simplifying process of adding prices and improving search quality in OFF DB
Hey,
This is something we do store on the Open Prices project, but is not used for search. It allows us to suggest barcodes when uploading receipts.
The content is automatically detected, so there might be errors, and different stores tend to use very different product names. So I don’t know how usable it can be short term.
To give you an example using the product from your other message : Open Prices
The product name was detected as “PAINS BURGER,4x50G BRIDOR CERFAB” for one store, and as “BURGER NATURE BIO 4X50G 200G” for another.
The prices API allows lookup with an exact product name: https://prices.openfoodfacts.org/api/v1/prices?product_name=BURGER%20NATURE%20BIO%204X50G%20200G
So we’re not too far, but you can guess the complexity of a proper search.
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Yeah, they are really different in different stores and this is exactly the reason why I think it will be helpful to collect all these names and use them as aliases for search in usual OFF DB. It will make search process much easier.
Why do you believe it should be hard, if they are linked to barcode?
3419390407035 with main name “Burger nature au sésame”:
- “PAINS BURGER,4x50G BRIDOR CERFAB”
- “BURGER NATURE BIO 4X50G 200G”
- all other possible variations
Is it because potential inaccuracy? Or it will slow down all system, because potentially can be >30-40 name variations for every product and it will not work fast enough?