# The location field in profile is kind of broken
**URL:** https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949
**Category:** Forum Feedback
**Created:** [February 12, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949 "2022-02-12T18:13:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/1 "2022-02-12T18:13:11Z")
The location field in the profile is the user profile is somewhat broken (which may be why nobody really uses it).
Every character you type updates the location search, and it very quickly decides that you’re searching for locations too often and tells you to wait to do it again (and then doesn’t suggest locations until you have waited).
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://unicyclist.com/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/2 "2022-02-12T18:31:59Z")
I have no issue with my profile while entering an address, the autocompletion and selection work. Can you give me an example address that triggers this?
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/3 "2022-02-12T18:46:18Z")
It seems you can type 6 characters before it says,
“You’ve performed this action too many times. Please wait 55 seconds before trying again.”
I for example live in Woodlesford, which is far more than 6 characters, and deletions also seem to count towards that number.
No correct suggestions come up at 6 characters.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://unicyclist.com/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/4 "2022-02-12T19:02:38Z")
> [@mowcius](#):
>
> Woodlesford
I tried very long city names, typing characters one by one, slow or fast, and I didn’t encounter any issue 🤷♂️
Is it possible that you capture a video/gif of that happening?
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/5 "2022-02-12T20:06:11Z")
BIzarre. I’ve tried on Firefox, Firefox mobile, and Vivaldi and experienced the same on all of them.
I also disconnected from the WiFi in case it was my DNS ad-blocking that was causing an issue. It’s still doing it.
Here’s a very quick video on my phone (to keep it under 4MB)
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://unicyclist.com/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2022, 10:48pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/6 "2022-02-12T22:48:53Z")
I have no clue.
The location plugin gives access to several location providers, but I don’t know anything about this stuff. I don’t know which ones are free, which one needs an actual API key, and what are the various limitations of each provider.
By default, it uses nominatim.
* * *
Since you’re the first to report the issue, I’m a bit reluctant to change the setting… 🤷♂️
Anyone here encounter the same issue?
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### Author:  [@lightbulbjim](https://unicyclist.com/u/lightbulbjim)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/7 "2022-02-13T02:20:42Z")
I see the same behaviour as @mowcius
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### Author:  [@Uni2ONE2](https://unicyclist.com/u/Uni2ONE2)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 6:08am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/8 "2022-02-13T06:08:59Z")
Using my phone, the same thing happened to me. Then, I waited 55 seconds and entered my zip code/postal code. It worked.
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 7:42am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/9 "2022-02-13T07:42:17Z")
Yes I imagine it’s a setting in order to limit hammering a free API.
Or perhaps it’s the API itself reporting back that we’re making requests too fast.
It just seems like you get a very small request number before the limit - if it was doubled or tripled it’d likely make zero difference to the number of requests, but would resolve the oddities. I presume you can’t easily make a change like that though even if it is on the Discourse end.
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 7:43am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/10 "2022-02-13T07:43:23Z")
Yeah, you can get there eventually, but I wonder whether the fact it can take numerous minutes to update the location field is one reason that not so many people have done it.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://unicyclist.com/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 12:42pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/11 "2022-02-13T12:42:38Z")
No issue on my smartphone either. I’ll ask the plugin’s author.
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### Author:  [@Maxence](https://unicyclist.com/u/Maxence)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/12 "2022-02-13T15:43:42Z")
Same issue there, on Firefox Mobile 96.3.1.
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/13 "2022-02-13T15:48:38Z")
Haha, I just noticed the issue right at the bottom of your image.
Location Geocoding Rate [limit] appears to be set to 6. That permits 6 characters (searches) per minute.
Make it more like 30 and we’ll be golden.
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/14 "2022-02-13T15:51:50Z")
However, if you are using Nominatim then does this come under the following forbidden use?
> ## Unacceptable Use
>
> The following uses are strictly forbidden and will get you banned:
>
> - **Auto-complete search** This is not yet supported by Nominatim and you must not implement such a service on the client side using the API.
Although I guess it’s not actually doing an autocomplete?
> **[Nominatim Usage Policy (aka Geocoding Policy)](https://operations.osmfoundation.org/policies/nominatim/)**
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://unicyclist.com/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/15 "2022-02-13T16:01:28Z")
> [@mowcius](#):
>
> However, if you are using Nominatim then does this come under the following forbidden use?
Yes, I also have this feeling and have asked this to the Plugin’s author as well. 🙂
It should ideally behave the same way as when you add a location when creating a new #Trading Post topic.
> [@mowcius](#):
>
> Although I guess it’s not actually doing an autocomplete?
Well I don’t really know how this stuff works. It looks very much like an autocomplete though. 🤷
I saw that but since I didn’t encounter the issue I was puzzled. Plus their policy states “No heavy uses (an absolute maximum of 1 request per second).” 🤷
* * *
For those interested…
> **[Locations Plugin 🌍](https://meta.discourse.org/t/locations-plugin/69742/755?u=canapin)**
>
> Some of my users encounter a rate limit with the default provider (nominatim) that makes them wait one minute before trying again. Weirdly, I don’t come across any kind of limit. See: The location field in profile is kind of broken - Forum...
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/16 "2022-02-13T16:29:28Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> I saw that but since I didn’t encounter the issue I was puzzled. Plus their policy states “No heavy uses (an absolute maximum of 1 request per second).”
I think 30 requests a minute is probably OK to do occasionally. It will average out at significantly less than 1 request per second, especially for how infrequently anyone’s going to be updating their location.
I wonder whether you don’t encounter the issue simply because you’re an admin so it ignores those limits.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://unicyclist.com/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/17 "2022-02-13T18:03:03Z")
Let’s tweak this. I’ve made it to 20.
Can you tell me (fully reload the website before) if it still happens to you guys?
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### Author:  [@mowcius](https://unicyclist.com/u/mowcius)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/18 "2022-02-13T18:25:08Z")
It now permits 20 characters, which is probably more likely to be enough for most people.
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### Author:  [@ruari](https://unicyclist.com/u/ruari)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 4:23pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/the-location-field-in-profile-is-kind-of-broken/272949/19 "2022-02-14T16:23:24Z")
> [@mowcius](#):
>
> and Vivaldi
Off topic. Thank you for using Vivaldi, even if for a limited test. 😉