In my MT State Library days, we worked with double metaphone in conjunction with the GNIS placenames data we had. It was remarkably accurate. I see now that the author of that algorithm has a new version, which is available as a C#, C++ or Java library for $40…quite reasonable for what it does. One of the problems I’ve had with open source is that it sometimes precludes decent code from being propagated because the developer has no way to at least receive some modest compensation. On the other hand, I come across insane prices for code libraries all the time.

What I like is something such as this where it makes sense to purchase because it works and it is so cheap. Recently, I paid $35 for a DLL that does datum shifts (moving lat/lon coordinates from one geodetic model to another). The code was available (after much digging) in Java. But I would have spent 3-4X that amount converting and testing it.

No affiliation with this company: http://www.amorphics.com/