122

I need a list of countries, states & cities based on a collection of lat/long values I have. I need to store this information in a manner that hierarchy is preserve and without duplicates (e.g. "USA" and "United States" and "United States of America" are the same country; I only want one instance of this country in my database).

Is this possible to do with Google Map API?

StackOverflowNewbie
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11 Answers11

145

What you are looking for is called reverse geocoding. Google provides a server-side reverse geocoding service through the Google Geocoding API, which you should be able to use for your project.

This is how a response to the following request would look like:

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=40.714224,-73.961452&sensor=false

Response:

{
  "status": "OK",
  "results": [ {
    "types": [ "street_address" ],
    "formatted_address": "275-291 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA",
    "address_components": [ {
      "long_name": "275-291",
      "short_name": "275-291",
      "types": [ "street_number" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "Bedford Ave",
      "short_name": "Bedford Ave",
      "types": [ "route" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "New York",
      "short_name": "New York",
      "types": [ "locality", "political" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "Brooklyn",
      "short_name": "Brooklyn",
      "types": [ "administrative_area_level_3", "political" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "Kings",
      "short_name": "Kings",
      "types": [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "New York",
      "short_name": "NY",
      "types": [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "United States",
      "short_name": "US",
      "types": [ "country", "political" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "11211",
      "short_name": "11211",
      "types": [ "postal_code" ]
    } ],
    "geometry": {
      "location": {
        "lat": 40.7142298,
        "lng": -73.9614669
      },
      "location_type": "RANGE_INTERPOLATED",
      "viewport": {
        "southwest": {
          "lat": 40.7110822,
          "lng": -73.9646145
        },
        "northeast": {
          "lat": 40.7173774,
          "lng": -73.9583193
        }
      }
    }
  },

  ... Additional results[] ...

You can also opt to receive the response in xml instead of json, by simply substituting json for xml in the request URI:

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/xml?latlng=40.714224,-73.961452&sensor=false

As far as I know, Google will also return the same name for address components, especially for high-level names like country names and city names. Nevertheless, keep in mind that while the results are very accurate for most applications, you could still find the occasional spelling mistake or ambiguous result.

Daniel Vassallo
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  • Thanks! This collection of lat/long I have are actually associated with user profiles in my database. Do you know how I can implement a search feature that would allow users to find other users within a specified location (e.g. find all users in Brooklyn, NY)? Remember, all I have are lat/longs. – StackOverflowNewbie Oct 25 '10 at 11:05
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    @StackOverflowNewbie: You may want to reverse geocode all your lat/longs, and fill in "city", "state", "country" fields in your database. Then simply do a filter on these fields in your database. – Daniel Vassallo Oct 25 '10 at 11:10
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    Or you can use spatial datatype like geography if you are suing MS Sql 2008 and need to find location near a point – GibboK Jun 20 '12 at 04:35
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    How can you be sure about the index number of city and country in the response? It keeps changing, e.g if some area has a sub area then the index keys change – Khan Shahrukh Sep 01 '15 at 18:56
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    what does `sensor=false` do? – jofftiquez Jan 27 '16 at 13:50
  • @StackOverflowNewbie Alternatively, but more expensive computationally, you could go through your lat,lngs and use a (lat,lng distance) formulate to calculate the distance (miles/kms whichever works for you) between a user's lat,lng and the other lat,lngs. Example: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html – Zuks Feb 23 '17 at 07:09
  • I was using this method till now, as per this [post](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/faq) there is an update on geocoding api from google and old one is deprecating on April 2017. Because of this update results are limited for certain location. I'm not able to access country details with this api anymore, you can check the same [link](http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=40.714224,-73.961452&sensor=false) above. – Rathan Apr 01 '17 at 08:50
24

You have a basic answer here: Get city name using geolocation

But for what you are looking for, i'd recommend this way.

Only if you also need administrative_area_level_1,to store different things for Paris, Texas, US and Paris, Ile-de-France, France and provide a manual fallback:

--

There is a problem in Michal's way, in that it takes the first result, not a particular one. He uses results[0]. The way I see fit (I just modified his code) is to take ONLY the result whose type is "locality", which is always present, even in an eventual manual fallback in case the browser does not support geolocation.

His way: fetched results are different from using http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=bucharest&sensor=false than from using http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=44.42514,26.10540&sensor=false (searching by name / searching by lat&lng)

This way: same fetched results.

<!DOCTYPE html> 
<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>Reverse Geocoding</title> 

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script> 
<script type="text/javascript"> 
  var geocoder;

  if (navigator.geolocation) {
    navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(successFunction, errorFunction);
} 
//Get the latitude and the longitude;
function successFunction(position) {
    var lat = position.coords.latitude;
    var lng = position.coords.longitude;
    codeLatLng(lat, lng)
}

function errorFunction(){
    alert("Geocoder failed");
}

  function initialize() {
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();



  }

  function codeLatLng(lat, lng) {

    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(lat, lng);
    geocoder.geocode({'latLng': latlng}, function(results, status) {
      if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
      //console.log(results);
        if (results[1]) {
        var indice=0;
        for (var j=0; j<results.length; j++)
        {
            if (results[j].types[0]=='locality')
                {
                    indice=j;
                    break;
                }
            }
        alert('The good number is: '+j);
        console.log(results[j]);
        for (var i=0; i<results[j].address_components.length; i++)
            {
                if (results[j].address_components[i].types[0] == "locality") {
                        //this is the object you are looking for City
                        city = results[j].address_components[i];
                    }
                if (results[j].address_components[i].types[0] == "administrative_area_level_1") {
                        //this is the object you are looking for State
                        region = results[j].address_components[i];
                    }
                if (results[j].address_components[i].types[0] == "country") {
                        //this is the object you are looking for
                        country = results[j].address_components[i];
                    }
            }

            //city data
            alert(city.long_name + " || " + region.long_name + " || " + country.short_name)


            } else {
              alert("No results found");
            }
        //}
      } else {
        alert("Geocoder failed due to: " + status);
      }
    });
  }
</script> 
</head> 
<body onload="initialize()"> 

</body> 
</html> 
Kailas
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tabacitu
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6

I used this question as a starting point for my own solution. Thought it was appropriate to contribute my code back since its smaller than tabacitu's

Dependencies:

Code:

if(geoPosition.init()){  

    var foundLocation = function(city, state, country, lat, lon){
        //do stuff with your location! any of the first 3 args may be null
        console.log(arguments);
    }

    var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder(); 
    geoPosition.getCurrentPosition(function(r){
        var findResult = function(results, name){
            var result =  _.find(results, function(obj){
                return obj.types[0] == name && obj.types[1] == "political";
            });
            return result ? result.short_name : null;
        };
        geocoder.geocode({'latLng': new google.maps.LatLng(r.coords.latitude, r.coords.longitude)}, function(results, status) {
            if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK && results.length) {
                results = results[0].address_components;
                var city = findResult(results, "locality");
                var state = findResult(results, "administrative_area_level_1");
                var country = findResult(results, "country");
                foundLocation(city, state, country, r.coords.latitude, r.coords.longitude);
            } else {
                foundLocation(null, null, null, r.coords.latitude, r.coords.longitude);
            }
        });
    }, { enableHighAccuracy:false, maximumAge: 1000 * 60 * 1 });
}
mkoryak
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3

I found the GeoCoder javascript a little buggy when I included it in my jsp files.

You can also try this:



    var lat = "43.7667855" ;
    var long = "-79.2157321" ;
    var url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng="
       +lat+","+long+"&sensor=false";
    $.get(url).success(function(data) {
       var loc1 = data.results[0];
       var county, city;
         $.each(loc1, function(k1,v1) {
            if (k1 == "address_components") {
               for (var i = 0; i < v1.length; i++) {
                  for (k2 in v1[i]) {
                     if (k2 == "types") {
                        var types = v1[i][k2];
                        if (types[0] =="sublocality_level_1") {
                            county = v1[i].long_name;
                            //alert ("county: " + county);
                        } 
                        if (types[0] =="locality") {
                           city = v1[i].long_name;
                           //alert ("city: " + city);
                       } 
                     }

                  }          

               }

            }

         });
         $('#city').html(city); 
    }); 

YP Leung
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3

I wrote this function that extracts what you are looking for based on the address_components returned from the gmaps API. This is the city (for example).

export const getAddressCity = (address, length) => {
  const findType = type => type.types[0] === "locality"
  const location = address.map(obj => obj)
  const rr = location.filter(findType)[0]

  return (
    length === 'short'
      ? rr.short_name
      : rr.long_name
  )
}

Change locality to administrative_area_level_1 for the State etc.

In my js code I am using like so:

const location =`${getAddressCity(address_components, 'short')}, ${getAddressState(address_components, 'short')}`

Will return: Waltham, MA

Stephen Burke
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2

This is not that tricky. If you looking for a country, please have a look at the following code:

const latlng = `-8.838333,13.234444`
let url_ = `https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=${latlng}&key=API_KEY&result_type=country`;
    $.ajax({
        url: url_,
        method: "GET",
        success: (data)=>{
            let country = data.results[data.results.length-1].formatted_address;
            console.log(country)
        },
        error: (e)=>{
            console.error(e)
        }
    })

The following code is the one that actually retrieves the country:

data.results[data.results.length-1].formatted_address

The last element from the data array it is actually the country.

1
 <div id="location"></div>
        <script>
            window.onload = function () {
                var startPos;
                var geoOptions = {
                    maximumAge: 5 * 60 * 1000,
                    timeout: 10 * 1000,
                    enableHighAccuracy: true
                }


                var geoSuccess = function (position) {
                    startPos = position;
                    geocodeLatLng(startPos.coords.latitude, startPos.coords.longitude);

                };
                var geoError = function (error) {
                    console.log('Error occurred. Error code: ' + error.code);
                    // error.code can be:
                    //   0: unknown error
                    //   1: permission denied
                    //   2: position unavailable (error response from location provider)
                    //   3: timed out
                };

                navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(geoSuccess, geoError, geoOptions);
            };
            function geocodeLatLng(lat, lng) {
                var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder;
                var latlng = {lat: parseFloat(lat), lng: parseFloat(lng)};
                geocoder.geocode({'location': latlng}, function (results, status) {
                    if (status === 'OK') {
                        console.log(results)
                        if (results[0]) {
                            document.getElementById('location').innerHTML = results[0].formatted_address;
                            var street = "";
                            var city = "";
                            var state = "";
                            var country = "";
                            var zipcode = "";
                            for (var i = 0; i < results.length; i++) {
                                if (results[i].types[0] === "locality") {
                                    city = results[i].address_components[0].long_name;
                                    state = results[i].address_components[2].long_name;

                                }
                                if (results[i].types[0] === "postal_code" && zipcode == "") {
                                    zipcode = results[i].address_components[0].long_name;

                                }
                                if (results[i].types[0] === "country") {
                                    country = results[i].address_components[0].long_name;

                                }
                                if (results[i].types[0] === "route" && street == "") {

                                    for (var j = 0; j < 4; j++) {
                                        if (j == 0) {
                                            street = results[i].address_components[j].long_name;
                                        } else {
                                            street += ", " + results[i].address_components[j].long_name;
                                        }
                                    }

                                }
                                if (results[i].types[0] === "street_address") {
                                    for (var j = 0; j < 4; j++) {
                                        if (j == 0) {
                                            street = results[i].address_components[j].long_name;
                                        } else {
                                            street += ", " + results[i].address_components[j].long_name;
                                        }
                                    }

                                }
                            }
                            if (zipcode == "") {
                                if (typeof results[0].address_components[8] !== 'undefined') {
                                    zipcode = results[0].address_components[8].long_name;
                                }
                            }
                            if (country == "") {
                                if (typeof results[0].address_components[7] !== 'undefined') {
                                    country = results[0].address_components[7].long_name;
                                }
                            }
                            if (state == "") {
                                if (typeof results[0].address_components[6] !== 'undefined') {
                                    state = results[0].address_components[6].long_name;
                                }
                            }
                            if (city == "") {
                                if (typeof results[0].address_components[5] !== 'undefined') {
                                    city = results[0].address_components[5].long_name;
                                }
                            }

                            var address = {
                                "street": street,
                                "city": city,
                                "state": state,
                                "country": country,
                                "zipcode": zipcode,
                            };

                            document.getElementById('location').innerHTML = document.getElementById('location').innerHTML + "<br/>Street : " + address.street + "<br/>City : " + address.city + "<br/>State : " + address.state + "<br/>Country : " + address.country + "<br/>zipcode : " + address.zipcode;
                            console.log(address);
                        } else {
                            window.alert('No results found');
                        }
                    } else {
                        window.alert('Geocoder failed due to: ' + status);
                    }
                });
            }
        </script>

        <script async defer
                src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=YOUR_API_KEY">
        </script>
Deepak Kr
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0

Just try this code this code work with me

var posOptions = {timeout: 10000, enableHighAccuracy: false};
$cordovaGeolocation.getCurrentPosition(posOptions).then(function (position) {
var lat = position.coords.latitude;
var long = position.coords.longitude;
 //console.log(lat +"          "+long);
$http.get('https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=' + lat + ',' + long + '&key=your key here').success(function (output) {
//console.log( JSON.stringify(output.results[0]));
//console.log( JSON.stringify(output.results[0].address_components[4].short_name));
var results = output.results;
if (results[0]) {
//console.log("results.length= "+results.length);
//console.log("hi "+JSON.stringify(results[0],null,4));
for (var j = 0; j < results.length; j++){
 //console.log("j= "+j);
//console.log(JSON.stringify(results[j],null,4));
for (var i = 0; i < results[j].address_components.length; i++){
 if(results[j].address_components[i].types[0] == "country") {
 //this is the object you are looking for
  country = results[j].address_components[i];
 }
 }
 }
 console.log(country.long_name);
 console.log(country.short_name);
 } else {
 alert("No results found");
 console.log("No results found");
 }
 });
 }, function (err) {
 });
0

I've created a small mapper function:

private getAddressParts(object): Object {
    let address = {};
    const address_components = object.address_components;
    address_components.forEach(element => {
        address[element.types[0]] = element.short_name;
    });
    return address;
}

It's a solution for Angular 4 but I think you'll get the idea.

Usage:

geocoder.geocode({ 'location' : latlng }, (results, status) => {
    if (status === google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
        const address = {
            formatted_address: results[0].formatted_address,
            address_parts: this.getAddressParts(results[0])
        };
        (....)
    }

This way the address object will be something like this:

address: {
    address_parts: {
        administrative_area_level_1: "NY",
        administrative_area_level_2: "New York County",
        country: "US",
        locality: "New York",
        neighborhood: "Lower Manhattan",
        political: "Manhattan",
        postal_code: "10038",
        route: "Beekman St",
        street_number: "90",
    },
    formatted_address: "90 Beekman St, New York, NY 10038, USA"
}

Hope it helps!

Szkíta
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0

@Szkíta Had a great solution by creating a function that gets the address parts in a named array. Here is a compiled solution for those who want to use plain JavaScript.

Function to convert results to the named array:

function getAddressParts(obj) {

    var address = [];

    obj.address_components.forEach( function(el) {
        address[el.types[0]] = el.short_name;
    });

    return address;

} //getAddressParts()

Geocode the LAT/LNG values:

geocoder.geocode( { 'location' : latlng }, function(results, status) {

    if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
        var addressParts =  getAddressParts(results[0]);

        // the city
        var city = addressParts.locality;

        // the state
        var state = addressParts.administrative_area_level_1;
    }

});
Marc
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0

Better make the google object convert as a javascript readable object first.

Create two functions like below and call it passing google map return object.

function getShortAddressObject(object) {
             let address = {};
             const address_components = object[0].address_components;
             address_components.forEach(element => {
                 address[element.types[0]] = element.short_name;
             });
             return address;
 }

 function getLongAddressObject(object) {
             let address = {};
             const address_components = object[0].address_components;
             address_components.forEach(element => {
                 address[element.types[0]] = element.long_name;
             });
             return address;
 }

Then user can access names like below.

var addressObj = getLongAddressObject(object);
var country = addressObj.country; //Sri Lanka

All address parts are like below.

administrative_area_level_1: "Western Province"
administrative_area_level_2: "Colombo"
country: "Sri Lanka"
locality: "xxxx xxxxx"
political: "xxxxx"
route: "xxxxx - xxxxx Road"
street_number: "No:00000"
Roshan Perera
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