How do I use Address rather than Longitude and Latitude in google maps?

Question

I have this script that is working. I can drag the marker and it will populate two text input fields with Longitude and Latitude. I have the variable "address" which holds a state and county. How should I alter my code to make it work off the address variable rather than the static latitude and longitude variables. So initially I want the map to center in the middle of the address location.

function selectState(state_id){
if(state_id!="-1"){
loadData('city',state_id);
var e = document.getElementById("state");
var stateloc = e.options[e.selectedIndex].value;

var address = state_id + stateloc;

 var $latitude = document.getElementById('latitude');
 var $longitude = document.getElementById('longitude');
 var latitude = 35.00636021320537
 var longitude = -53.46687316894531;
 var zoom = 12;

var LatLng = new google.maps.LatLng(latitude, longitude);

var mapOptions = {
  zoom: zoom,
  center: LatLng,
  panControl: false,
  zoomControl: true,
  scaleControl: true,
  mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
}  

var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map'),mapOptions);

var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
  position: LatLng,
  map: map,
  title: 'Drag Me!',
  draggable: true
});

google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'dragend', function(marker){
  var latLng = marker.latLng;
  $latitude.value = latLng.lat();
  $longitude.value = latLng.lng();
});


      }else{ $("#city_dropdown").html("<option value='-1'>Select city</option>");
}
  }

html

     <li>
              <label for="lat">Latitude:</label>
              <input id="latitude" placeholder="latitude" name="lat" type="text" class="text" />
            </li>
                  <li>
              <label for="lon">Longitude:</label>
              <input id="longitude" placeholder="longitude" name="lon" class="text" type="text"/>
            </li>
   <div id="map" style="width: 460px; height: 350px;"></div>

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

Checkout this code here, it uses 'San Diego, CA' to start map.

<html>
<head>
<meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no"/>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/>
<title>Google Maps JavaScript API v3 Example: Geocoding Simple</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  var geocoder;
  var map;
  var address ="San Diego, CA";
  function initialize() {
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(-34.397, 150.644);
    var myOptions = {
      zoom: 8,
      center: latlng,
    mapTypeControl: true,
    mapTypeControlOptions: {style: google.maps.MapTypeControlStyle.DROPDOWN_MENU},
    navigationControl: true,
      mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
    };
    map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);
    if (geocoder) {
      geocoder.geocode( { 'address': address}, function(results, status) {
        if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
          if (status != google.maps.GeocoderStatus.ZERO_RESULTS) {
          map.setCenter(results[0].geometry.location);

            var infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow(
                { content: '<b>'+address+'</b>',
                  size: new google.maps.Size(150,50)
                });

            var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
                position: results[0].geometry.location,
                map: map, 
                title:address
            }); 
            google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'click', function() {
                infowindow.open(map,marker);
            });

          } else {
            alert("No results found");
          }
        } else {
          alert("Geocode was not successful for the following reason: " + status);
        }
      });
    }
  }
</script>
</head>
<body style="margin:0px; padding:0px;" onload="initialize()">
 <div id="map_canvas" style="width:100%; height:100%">
</body>
</html>

Source of answer: Using Address Instead Of Longitude And Latitude With Google Maps API

Precisely what you need to do is, use Geocoding to convert "Text Address" into respective latitude and longitude and then use those values to feed Google Map API.

You can read more about Google Geocoding in maps documentation https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/geocoding#GeocodingRequests

and a Sample code from documentation

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>Geocoding service</title>
    <style>
      html, body, #map-canvas {
        height: 100%;
        margin: 0px;
        padding: 0px
      }
      #panel {
        position: absolute;
        top: 5px;
        left: 50%;
        margin-left: -180px;
        z-index: 5;
        background-color: #fff;
        padding: 5px;
        border: 1px solid #999;
      }
    </style>
    <script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?v=3.exp&sensor=false"></script>
    <script>
var geocoder;
var map;
function initialize() {
  geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
  var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(-34.397, 150.644);
  var mapOptions = {
    zoom: 8,
    center: latlng
  }
  map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map-canvas'), mapOptions);
}

function codeAddress() {
  var address = document.getElementById('address').value;
  geocoder.geocode( { 'address': address}, function(results, status) {
    if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
      map.setCenter(results[0].geometry.location);
      var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
          map: map,
          position: results[0].geometry.location
      });
    } else {
      alert('Geocode was not successful for the following reason: ' + status);
    }
  });
}

google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, 'load', initialize);

    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="panel">
      <input id="address" type="textbox" value="Sydney, NSW">
      <input type="button" value="Geocode" onclick="codeAddress()">
    </div>
    <div id="map-canvas"></div>
  </body>
</html>

Cool! I got it working and still able to drag the marker and populate the text inputs with longitude and latitude. Thanks man! — Jake H., Mar 03 '14 at 04:25
Duplicate of [Using Address Instead Of Longitude And Latitude With Google Maps API](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15925980/using-address-instead-of-longitude-and-latitude-with-google-maps-api) — geocodezip, May 18 '15 at 20:56

How do I use Address rather than Longitude and Latitude in google maps?

1 Answers1