diff --git a/geoentitylinker-addon/pom.xml b/geoentitylinker-addon/pom.xml
index 6fd5059..7bed7e9 100644
--- a/geoentitylinker-addon/pom.xml
+++ b/geoentitylinker-addon/pom.xml
@@ -1,66 +1,73 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
-  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
-  <parent>
-    <groupId>org.apache.opennlp</groupId>
-    <artifactId>opennlp</artifactId>
-    <version>1.6.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
-    <relativePath>../opennlp/pom.xml</relativePath>
-  </parent>
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>org.apache.opennlp</groupId>
+        <artifactId>opennlp</artifactId>
+        <version>1.6.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <relativePath>../opennlp/pom.xml</relativePath>
+    </parent>
 
-  <artifactId>geoentitylinker-addon</artifactId>
-  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
-  <packaging>jar</packaging>
-  <name>geoentitylinker-addon</name>
+    <artifactId>geoentitylinker-addon</artifactId>
+    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <packaging>jar</packaging>
+    <name>geoentitylinker-addon</name>
 
-  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
-  <build>
-    <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>2.3.2</version>
-        <configuration>
-          <source>1.7</source>
-          <target>1.7</target>
-        </configuration>
-      </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-  </build>
-  <properties>
-    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-  </properties>
+    <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
+    <build>
+        <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>2.3.2</version>
+                <configuration>
+                    <source>1.7</source>
+                    <target>1.7</target>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+    </build>
+    <properties>
+        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+    </properties>
 
-  <dependencies>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>junit</groupId>
-      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
-      <version>3.8.1</version>
-      <scope>test</scope>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
-      <artifactId>lucene-core</artifactId>
-      <version>4.5.0</version>
-      <optional>true</optional>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
-      <artifactId>lucene-analyzers-common</artifactId>
-      <version>4.5.0</version>
-      <optional>true</optional>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
-      <artifactId>lucene-queryparser</artifactId>
-      <version>4.5.0</version>
-      <optional>true</optional>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.opennlp</groupId>
-      <artifactId>opennlp-tools</artifactId>
-      <version>1.6.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
-      <optional>true</optional>
-    </dependency>
-  </dependencies>
+    <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>junit</groupId>
+            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+            <version>3.8.1</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>log4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
+            <version>1.2.16</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+            <artifactId>lucene-spatial</artifactId>
+            <version>4.8.0</version>
+        </dependency>
+            
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+            <artifactId>lucene-core</artifactId>
+            <version>4.8.0</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+            <artifactId>lucene-analyzers-common</artifactId>
+            <version>4.8.0</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
+            <artifactId>lucene-queryparser</artifactId>
+            <version>4.8.0</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.opennlp</groupId>
+            <artifactId>opennlp-tools</artifactId>
+            <version>1.6.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/CountryContext.java b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/CountryContext.java
index e089e7b..4aa9e16 100644
--- a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/CountryContext.java
+++ b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/CountryContext.java
@@ -25,11 +25,11 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
-import java.util.logging.Level;
-import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import opennlp.tools.entitylinker.EntityLinkerProperties;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 
 /**
  * Finds instances of country mentions in a String, typically a document text.
@@ -38,22 +38,23 @@
  */
 public class CountryContext {
 
+  private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(CountryContext.class);
   private List<CountryContextEntry> countrydata;
   private Map<String, Set<String>> nameCodesMap = new HashMap<>();
   private Map<String, Set<Integer>> countryMentions = new HashMap<>();
   private Set<CountryContextEntry> countryHits = new HashSet<>();
   private EntityLinkerProperties properties;
-
+  
   public CountryContext(EntityLinkerProperties properties) throws Exception {
     this.properties = properties;
     if (countrydata == null) {
       String path = this.properties.getProperty("opennlp.geoentitylinker.countrycontext.filepath", "");
-
+      
       File countryContextFile = new File(path);
       countrydata = getCountryContextFromFile(countryContextFile);
     }
   }
-
+  
   public Map<String, Set<Integer>> getCountryMentions() {
     return countryMentions;
   }
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@
   public Map<String, Set<String>> getNameCodesMap() {
     return nameCodesMap;
   }
-
+  
   public void setNameCodesMap(Map<String, Set<String>> nameCodesMap) {
     this.nameCodesMap = nameCodesMap;
   }
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@
    * Finding mentions in documents is very helpful for scoring. Lazily loads the
    * list from the file.
    *
-   * @param docText    the full text of the document
+   * @param docText the full text of the document
    * @param properties EntityLinkerProperties for getting database connection
    * @return
    */
@@ -98,13 +99,12 @@
     countryMentions = new HashMap<>();
     nameCodesMap.clear();
     try {
-
-
+      
       for (CountryContextEntry entry : countrydata) {
         Pattern regex = Pattern.compile(entry.getFull_name_nd_ro().trim(), Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE | Pattern.DOTALL);
         Matcher rs = regex.matcher(docText);
         String code = entry.getCc1().toLowerCase();
-
+        
         boolean found = false;
         while (rs.find()) {
           found = true;
@@ -130,27 +130,26 @@
         if (found) {
           countryHits.add(entry);
         }
-
+        
       }
-
+      
     } catch (Exception ex) {
-      Logger.getLogger(CountryContext.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
+      LOGGER.error(ex);
     }
-
-
+    
     return countryMentions;
   }
-
+  
   private List<CountryContextEntry> getCountryContextFromFile(File countryContextFile) {
     List<CountryContextEntry> entries = new ArrayList<>();
     String path = countryContextFile.getPath();
     BufferedReader reader;
-
+    
     try {
       path = properties.getProperty("opennlp.geoentitylinker.countrycontext.filepath", "");
-
+      
       reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path));
-
+      
       while (reader.read() != -1) {
         String line = reader.readLine();
         String[] values = line.split("\t");
@@ -166,10 +165,10 @@
         entries.add(entry);
       }
       reader.close();
-    } catch (IOException e) {
-      System.err.println(e);
+    } catch (IOException ex) {
+      LOGGER.error(ex);
     }
     return entries;
-
+    
   }
 }
diff --git a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerIndexer.java b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerIndexer.java
index 81e31ad..dd65ec7 100644
--- a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerIndexer.java
+++ b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerIndexer.java
@@ -94,8 +94,8 @@
     String indexloc = outputIndexDir + type.toString();
     Directory index = new MMapDirectory(new File(indexloc));
 
-    Analyzer a = new StandardAnalyzer(Version.LUCENE_45, new CharArraySet(Version.LUCENE_45, new ArrayList(), true));
-    IndexWriterConfig config = new IndexWriterConfig(Version.LUCENE_45, a);
+    Analyzer a = new StandardAnalyzer(Version.LUCENE_48, new CharArraySet(Version.LUCENE_48, new ArrayList(), true));
+    IndexWriterConfig config = new IndexWriterConfig(Version.LUCENE_48, a);
 
     IndexWriter w = new IndexWriter(index, config);
 
diff --git a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerSearcher.java b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerSearcher.java
index 44d7e7d..9409f70 100644
--- a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerSearcher.java
+++ b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GazetteerSearcher.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.store.MMapDirectory;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.Version;
 import opennlp.tools.entitylinker.EntityLinkerProperties;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.util.CharArraySet;
 
 /**
@@ -46,6 +47,8 @@
  */
 public class GazetteerSearcher {
 
+  private final String REGEX_CLEAN = "[^\\p{L}\\p{Nd}]";
+  private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(GazetteerSearcher.class);
   private double scoreCutoff = .90;
   private Directory geonamesIndex;//= new MMapDirectory(new File(indexloc));
   private IndexReader geonamesReader;// = DirectoryReader.open(geonamesIndex);
@@ -67,13 +70,16 @@
    *
    * @param searchString the named entity to look up in the lucene index
    * @param rowsReturned how many rows to allow lucene to return
-   * @param code         the country code
+   * @param code the country code
    *
    * @return
    */
   public ArrayList<GazetteerEntry> geonamesFind(String searchString, int rowsReturned, String code) {
     ArrayList<GazetteerEntry> linkedData = new ArrayList<>();
-
+    searchString = cleanInput(searchString);
+    if (searchString.isEmpty()) {
+      return linkedData;
+    }
     try {
       /**
        * build the search string Sometimes no country context is found. In this
@@ -91,7 +97,7 @@
         return get;
       }
 
-      QueryParser parser = new QueryParser(Version.LUCENE_45, luceneQueryString, geonamesAnalyzer);
+      QueryParser parser = new QueryParser(Version.LUCENE_48, luceneQueryString, geonamesAnalyzer);
       Query q = parser.parse(luceneQueryString);
 
       TopDocs search = geonamesSearcher.search(q, rowsReturned);
@@ -164,7 +170,7 @@
       }
 
     } catch (IOException | ParseException ex) {
-      System.err.println(ex);
+      LOGGER.error(ex);
     }
 
     return linkedData;
@@ -180,6 +186,10 @@
    */
   public ArrayList<GazetteerEntry> usgsFind(String searchString, int rowsReturned) {
     ArrayList<GazetteerEntry> linkedData = new ArrayList<>();
+     searchString = cleanInput(searchString);
+    if (searchString.isEmpty()) {
+      return linkedData;
+    }
     String luceneQueryString = "FEATURE_NAME:" + searchString.toLowerCase().trim() + " OR MAP_NAME: " + searchString.toLowerCase().trim();
     try {
 
@@ -191,7 +201,7 @@
         //if the name is already there, return the list of cavhed results
         return get;
       }
-      QueryParser parser = new QueryParser(Version.LUCENE_45, luceneQueryString, usgsAnalyzer);
+      QueryParser parser = new QueryParser(Version.LUCENE_48, luceneQueryString, usgsAnalyzer);
       Query q = parser.parse(luceneQueryString);
 
       TopDocs search = usgsSearcher.search(q, rowsReturned);
@@ -253,30 +263,34 @@
       }
 
     } catch (IOException | ParseException ex) {
-      System.err.println(ex);
+      LOGGER.error(ex);
     }
 
     return linkedData;
   }
 
+  private String cleanInput(String input) {
+    return input.replaceAll(REGEX_CLEAN, "").trim();
+  }
+
   private void init() throws Exception {
     if (usgsIndex == null) {
       String indexloc = properties.getProperty("opennlp.geoentitylinker.gaz.usgs", "");
       if (indexloc.equals("")) {
-        System.out.println("USGS Gaz location not found");
-
+        // System.out.println("USGS Gaz location not found");
+        LOGGER.error(new Exception("USGS Gaz location not found"));
       }
       String cutoff = properties.getProperty("opennlp.geoentitylinker.gaz.lucenescore.min", String.valueOf(scoreCutoff));
       scoreCutoff = Double.valueOf(cutoff);
       usgsIndex = new MMapDirectory(new File(indexloc));
       usgsReader = DirectoryReader.open(usgsIndex);
       usgsSearcher = new IndexSearcher(usgsReader);
-      usgsAnalyzer = new StandardAnalyzer(Version.LUCENE_45, new CharArraySet(Version.LUCENE_45, new ArrayList(), true));
+      usgsAnalyzer = new StandardAnalyzer(Version.LUCENE_48, new CharArraySet(Version.LUCENE_48, new ArrayList(), true));
     }
     if (geonamesIndex == null) {
       String indexloc = properties.getProperty("opennlp.geoentitylinker.gaz.geonames", "");
       if (indexloc.equals("")) {
-        System.out.println("Geonames Gaz location not found");
+        LOGGER.error(new Exception("Geonames Gaz location not found"));
 
       }
       String cutoff = properties.getProperty("opennlp.geoentitylinker.gaz.lucenescore.min", String.valueOf(scoreCutoff));
@@ -285,7 +299,7 @@
       geonamesReader = DirectoryReader.open(geonamesIndex);
       geonamesSearcher = new IndexSearcher(geonamesReader);
       //TODO: a language code switch statement should be employed here at some point
-      geonamesAnalyzer = new StandardAnalyzer(Version.LUCENE_45, new CharArraySet(Version.LUCENE_45, new ArrayList(), true));
+      geonamesAnalyzer = new StandardAnalyzer(Version.LUCENE_48, new CharArraySet(Version.LUCENE_48, new ArrayList(), true));
 
     }
   }
diff --git a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GeoEntityLinker.java b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GeoEntityLinker.java
index 1804020..b147d27 100644
--- a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GeoEntityLinker.java
+++ b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/GeoEntityLinker.java
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
   private GazetteerSearcher gazateerSearcher;
   private List<LinkedEntityScorer> scorers = new ArrayList<>();
 
-
   @Override
   public List<LinkedSpan> find(String doctext, Span[] sentences, String[][] tokensBySentence, Span[][] namesBySentence) {
     ArrayList<LinkedSpan> spans = new ArrayList<LinkedSpan>();
@@ -64,7 +63,7 @@
         ArrayList<BaseLink> geoNamesEntries = new ArrayList<>();
         if (!(countryMentions.keySet().contains("us") && countryMentions.keySet().size() == 1)
                 || countryMentions.keySet().size() > 1 || countryMentions.keySet().isEmpty()) {
-        
+
           if (!countryMentions.keySet().isEmpty()) {
             for (String code : countryMentions.keySet()) {
               if (!code.equals("us")) {
@@ -82,7 +81,8 @@
           //usgsEntries = usgsGaz.find(matches[i], names[i], linkerProperties);
           usgsEntries.addAll(gazateerSearcher.usgsFind(matches[i], 3));
         }
-        LinkedSpan<BaseLink> geoSpan = new LinkedSpan<>(geoNamesEntries, names[i].getStart(), names[i].getEnd());
+        LinkedSpan<BaseLink> geoSpan = new LinkedSpan<>(geoNamesEntries, names[i].getStart(), names[i].getEnd(), "location",names[i].getProb());
+    
 
         if (!usgsEntries.isEmpty()) {
           geoSpan.getLinkedEntries().addAll(usgsEntries);
diff --git a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/ModelBasedScorer.java b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/ModelBasedScorer.java
index 8a1564f..35b423a 100644
--- a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/ModelBasedScorer.java
+++ b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/ModelBasedScorer.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import opennlp.tools.entitylinker.BaseLink;
 import opennlp.tools.entitylinker.LinkedSpan;
 import opennlp.tools.util.Span;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 
 /**
  *
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@
  */
 public class ModelBasedScorer implements LinkedEntityScorer<CountryContext> {
 
+  private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(ModelBasedScorer.class);
   DocumentCategorizerME documentCategorizerME;
   DoccatModel doccatModel;
   public static final int RADIUS = 200;
@@ -45,12 +47,9 @@
       if (doccatModel == null) {
         String path = properties.getProperty("opennlp.geoentitylinker.modelbasedscorer.modelpath", "");
         if (path.equals("")) {
-          if (!modelexists) {
-            System.err.println(this.getClass().getSimpleName() + ": could not find property \"opennlp.geoentitylinker.modelbasedscorer.modelpath\" : no ModelBasedScoring will be performed");
-          }
-          modelexists = true;
           return;
         }
+        modelexists = true;
         doccatModel = new DoccatModel(new File(path));
         documentCategorizerME = new DocumentCategorizerME(doccatModel);
       }
@@ -67,11 +66,11 @@
       }
 
     } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
-      System.err.println(this.getClass().getSimpleName() + ": could not find modelpath using EntityLinkerProperties. Property should be \"opennlp.geoentitylinker.modelbasedscorer.modelpath\"");
+      LOGGER.error(ex);
     } catch (IOException ex) {
-      System.err.println(ex);
+      LOGGER.error(ex);
     } catch (Exception ex) {
-      System.err.println(ex);
+      LOGGER.error(ex);
     }
   }
 
@@ -80,11 +79,11 @@
    * radius of a mention within the doctext
    *
    * @param linkedSpans
+   * @param sentenceSpans
    * @param docText
-   * @param additionalContext
    * @param radius
    * @return a map of the index of the linked span to the string of surrounding
-   *         text: Map<indexofspan,surrounding text>
+   * text: Map<indexofspan,surrounding text>
    */
   public Map<Integer, String> generateProximalFeatures(List<LinkedSpan> linkedSpans, Span[] sentenceSpans, String docText, int radius) {
     Map<Integer, String> featureBags = new HashMap<>();
@@ -115,7 +114,6 @@
       featureBags.put(entry.getKey(), getTextChunk(entry.getValue(), docText, radius));
     }
 
-
     return featureBags;
   }
 
diff --git a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/PointClustering.java b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/PointClustering.java
index 81ca1eb..bf7f701 100644
--- a/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/PointClustering.java
+++ b/geoentitylinker-addon/src/main/java/opennlp/addons/geoentitylinker/PointClustering.java
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
  */
 package opennlp.addons.geoentitylinker;
 
+import com.spatial4j.core.context.SpatialContext;
+import com.spatial4j.core.io.GeohashUtils;
+import com.spatial4j.core.shape.Point;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -42,8 +45,7 @@
       Double latw = entry.getLatitude();
       Double lonw = entry.getLongitude();
 
-
-      String key = simpleGeohash(latw, lonw).substring(0, precision);
+      String key = geoHash(latw, lonw).substring(0, precision);
       if (map.containsKey(key)) {
         map.get(key).add(entry);
       } else {
@@ -72,7 +74,44 @@
       }
     }
 
+  }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns a geohash based on Lucene Spatial
+   *
+   * @param lat the input latitude Y
+   * @param lon the input longitude X
+   * @return
+   */
+  public String geoHash(Double lat, Double lon) {
+    String encodeLatLon = GeohashUtils.encodeLatLon(lat, lon);
+    return encodeLatLon;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the X and Y point for the geohash. Element 0 is the X (longitude)
+   * element 1 is the Y (latitude)
+   *
+   * @param geohash
+   * @return
+   */
+  public double[] geoHashToPoint(String geohash) {
+    Point decode = GeohashUtils.decode(geohash, SpatialContext.GEO);
+    double[] coords = new double[]{decode.getX(), decode.getY()};
+    return coords;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the X and Y point for the geohash. Element 0 is the X (longitude)
+   * element 1 is the Y (latitude)
+   *
+   * @param geohash
+   * @return
+   */
+  public String geoHashToPointStr(String geohash) {
+    Point decode = GeohashUtils.decode(geohash, SpatialContext.GEO);
+    String point = decode.getX() + "," + decode.getY();
+    return point;
   }
 
   /**