New Google Geocoding Web Service

by | Mar 10, 2010

Google has announced a new Geocoding Web Service  which contains a number of improvements over its previous version  including the following:

  • A flatter response format for address components that is easier to parse
  • The ability to tag an address component with multiple types
  • Both full names and abbreviations for countries and states
  • Differentiation between rooftop and interpolated geocoder results
  • Both the bounding box and recommended viewport for each result

The geocoding web service enables pre-caching of geocoded results for commonly used addresses in your application.  Results are cached on your server and any additional requests for these addresses will be served out of the cache rather than having to be geocoded each time.

Other items of interest from the announcement

  • Google also announce the deprecation of its previous geocoding service. 
  • Requests no longer require a Maps API key
  • CSV output not supported
  • 2,500 requests per day from a single IP address
  • Service must be used in conjunction with maps generated by Google Maps APIs or Google Earth API

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Eric Pimpler
Eric is the founder and owner of GeoSpatial Training Services (geospatialtraining.com) and has over 25 years of experience implementing and teaching GIS solutions using ESRI, Google Earth/Maps, Open Source technology. Currently Eric focuses on ArcGIS scripting with Python, and the development of custom ArcGIS Server web and mobile applications using JavaScript. Eric is the author of Programming ArcGIS with Python Cookbook - 1st and 2nd Edition, Building Web and Mobile ArcGIS Server Applications with JavaScript, Spatial Analytics with ArcGIS, and ArcGIS Blueprints. Eric has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from Texas A&M University and a Master's of Applied Geography degree with a concentration in GIS from Texas State University.

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