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England UK address returns lat and long for USA from Google geocoding

Posted on 2011-03-10

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Last Modified: 2012-05-11

I geocode an address below and get lat and long for the same town name in
North Carolina USA> I have tried +GB and +UK . Other countries are ok but problems for UK
The CF code is fine - it just appears google is giving funny results. Durham England UK gets lat long for Durham in NC USA. So what do I need to do with the data?

location = Ludworth,County Durham,England+UK
Returns
lat = 54.7665696
long = -1.4377006

Code:
</cfoutput>


<cfinclude template = "jsondecode.cfm">
<cfoutput>
<cfhttp method="get"
url="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=#urlencodedformat(location)#&sensor=false"
resolveurl="no">
</cfhttp>
<cfset GeoCodeLattitude = jsondecode(cfhttp.FileContent).results[1].geometry.location.lat />
<cfset GeoCodeLongitude = jsondecode(cfhttp.FileContent).results[1].geometry.location.lng />
</cfoutput>

Comment

Question by:Ian White

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8 Comments

Author Comment

by:Ian White

ID: 350936212011-03-10

I did some more research about region bias and added the region=uk on the end according to google docs - but same result Google think

Ludworth,County Durham,England+UK
is in NC USA

So
<cfhttp method="get"
url="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=#urlencodedformat(location)#&sensor=false" & region=uk
resolveurl="no">
</cfhttp>

LVL 11

Expert Comment

by:Brijesh Chauhan

ID: 350939222011-03-10

I tested it out.. seems to be the correct results...

<cfset location = 'Ludworth,County Durham,England,UK' />

<cfoutput>
<cfhttp method="get"
        url="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=#urlencodedformat(location)#&sensor=false&region=uk"
        resolveurl="no">
</cfhttp>
</cfoutput>

Open in new window

Gives - 54.7665696 -1.4377006

Open in new window

while

<cfset location = 'Durham,NC,USA' />

<cfoutput>
<cfhttp method="get"
        url="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=#urlencodedformat(location)#&sensor=false"
        resolveurl="no">
</cfhttp>
</cfoutput>

Open in new window

Gives - 35.9940329 -78.898619

check the dump in BOTH cases, it shows the correct location...

<cfdump var="#jsondecode(cfhttp.FileContent)#">

Author Comment

by:Ian White

ID: 351009642011-03-10

Yes it is the correct lattitude verified by

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=54.7665696,+-1.4377006+(You+can+insert+your+text+here)

However I generate the above link dynamicaly and get
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=54.7665696,+-1.4377006+(Housecarers Housesit+County Durham+Ludworth+7 miles from Durham City)">Map</a>

And this get a result:
"We could not understand this location "So it defaults to Durham in USA
Somehow it strips part of location out of the optional description

This is the only one I am having problems with the other generated links are fine

LVL 11

Expert Comment

by:Brijesh Chauhan

ID: 351045732011-03-10

There seems to be some issue with the string which you are trying to search with

if you search with

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=54.7665696,+-1.4377006+(County Durham+BLudworth) - it gives the correct UK result, but the moment you add either 7 miles from Durham City or Housecarers Housesi, Google says it cannot find the location and by default you must be having locale as US, so it tries to give you a US result as a suggestion.

Author Comment

by:Ian White

ID: 351049512011-03-10

Very Strange as it works for around 300 other cases but not this one? The area in brakets Google provides to add description only - so you can add what you like to this free format text area. It should not form part of the google search - just lat and long is used for that.

eg the following works fine as do all others

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=51.2624605,+-1.0840243+(Housecarers+Housesit+ Near Basingstoke+Hampshire+North Hampshire)

LVL 11

Expert Comment

by:Brijesh Chauhan

ID: 351049832011-03-10

Yes, it is very strange,

if you search directly at google for 'Housecarers Housesit+County Durham+Ludworth+7 miles from Durham City' it gives you correct results, the first one is http://www.housecarers.com/search_detail_housesit.cfm?mem=2145605329.

BUT if you click on MAP or use the above URL it says it cannot FIND it.. ..

Author Comment

by:Ian White

ID: 351052172011-03-10

I tested some more as soon as I remove the word "from" out of the description it works. So Google has a bug if the word From is included in the free format description. They say to add whatever you like.

LVL 11

Accepted Solution

by:Brijesh Chauhan

Brijesh Chauhan earned 2000 total points

ID: 351063422011-03-11

wow.. cool.. glad that your issue is resolved, may be Google will fix it sometime soon.

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