Reputation: 10375
Google Map API: How to manage different "address_components" in gecoding results?
Consider below JSON response of google map gecoding response.
It consists of an array of address_components with five elements.
Usually developer use its first item (item with index 0) to find address elements such ac route and locality and formatted address. But this is not the best alternative. For example in this case, 2nd item is more descriptive address than others. Sometime there are same address with different localities in same response.
How can I choose the better one (E.g. Google Map API in android selects one among available item but it is not always item with index 0, but it select among alternatives, I want to know how it will do that and select the best match)?
Besides, I was wondering to iterate through all elements of different address_components to extract and bring together finer pieces of information but the problem is information for same type of elements like locality have different information in different address_components which result in inconsistency of address when elements of information gathered from different address_component items.
As an example, In below sample we have two values شهر جدید اندیشه and Karaj in different locality elements which are two different city labels (in the same neighborhood).
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Unnamed Road",
"short_name" : "Unnamed Road",
"types" : [ "route" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Karaj",
"short_name" : "Karaj",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Shahriar County",
"short_name" : "Shahriar County",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Tehran Province",
"short_name" : "Tehran Province",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "ایران",
"short_name" : "IR",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Tehran Province, Karaj, Unnamed Road, ایران",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7221382,
"lng" : 51.0148178
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.716435,
"lng" : 51.0095103
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 35.719286,
"lng" : 51.012165
},
"location_type" : "GEOMETRIC_CENTER",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7221382,
"lng" : 51.0148178
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.716435,
"lng" : 51.0095103
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJmf7_zEyTjT8RkM8-nK6dTm0",
"types" : [ "route" ]
},
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "فاز ۶ شهر جدید اندیشه",
"short_name" : "فاز ۶ شهر جدید اندیشه",
"types" : [ "political", "sublocality", "sublocality_level_1" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "شهر جدید اندیشه",
"short_name" : "شهر جدید اندیشه",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "شهرستان شهریار",
"short_name" : "شهرستان شهریار",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "استان تهران",
"short_name" : "استان تهران",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "ایران",
"short_name" : "IR",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "فاز ۶ شهر جدید اندیشه، شهر جدید اندیشه، استان تهران، ایران",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7389537,
"lng" : 51.0349971
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.7039031,
"lng" : 51.0044146
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 35.7210753,
"lng" : 51.014934
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7389537,
"lng" : 51.0349971
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.7039031,
"lng" : 51.0044146
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJiYlwJLHsjT8RruE39U9NMoQ",
"types" : [ "political", "sublocality", "sublocality_level_1" ]
},
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "شهر جدید اندیشه",
"short_name" : "شهر جدید اندیشه",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "شهرستان شهریار",
"short_name" : "شهرستان شهریار",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "استان تهران",
"short_name" : "استان تهران",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "ایران",
"short_name" : "IR",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "شهر جدید اندیشه، استان تهران، ایران",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7388144,
"lng" : 51.04460479999999
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.6838973,
"lng" : 50.9894371
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 35.7078282,
"lng" : 51.0227587
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7388144,
"lng" : 51.04460479999999
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.6838973,
"lng" : 50.9894371
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJIQwwRcnsjT8RnTJfLJ3QUAg",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "شهرستان شهریار",
"short_name" : "شهرستان شهریار",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "استان تهران",
"short_name" : "استان تهران",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "ایران",
"short_name" : "IR",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "شهرستان شهریار، استان تهران، ایران",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7389885,
"lng" : 51.23044970000001
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.5333437,
"lng" : 50.8859253
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 35.6096201,
"lng" : 51.03319330000001
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 35.7389885,
"lng" : 51.23044970000001
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 35.5333437,
"lng" : 50.8859253
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJQ6KQjY7xjT8RoYD9gJh8_CY",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "استان تهران",
"short_name" : "استان تهران",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "ایران",
"short_name" : "IR",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "استان تهران، ایران",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 36.07789210000001,
"lng" : 53.216228
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 34.909543,
"lng" : 50.3186971
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 35.7248416,
"lng" : 51.381653
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 36.07789210000001,
"lng" : 53.216228
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 34.909543,
"lng" : 50.3186971
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJf5Us9YQBjj8R0OohvHQms1U",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "ایران",
"short_name" : "IR",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "ایران",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 39.782056,
"lng" : 63.3333366
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 24.8066999,
"lng" : 44.0326949
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 32.427908,
"lng" : 53.688046
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 39.782056,
"lng" : 63.3333366
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 24.8066999,
"lng" : 44.0326949
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJ8R1rwS7s9z4RzvpRntOVsEA",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
Upvotes: 1
Views: 2120
Answers (1)
Reputation: 32138
It looks like there are two different questions in one, so the scope is a bit broad. I will try to address your doubts.
First, you are using the reverse geocoding request to resolve coordinate 35.7163931455472,51.01335000246763 into street address. Note that reverse geocoding is designed to resolve the given coordinate to the nearest available address. Also the service will suggest different types of results in addition to street address: route, sublocality, locality, administrative areas, country. Sometimes if there are no street addresses close to the given point (approx. within 50 meters from the point), the result of type street address is not present in the response. In your example the result of type street address is not available, so the response contains different types of results starting from the route level. Have a look at my screenshot that represents first three items from your response.
As you can see the first item has a type route, the second item has a type sublocality and the third one has a type locality.
It is difficult to say what is the "best" criteria to chose the address. You can see that the route item is the closest one, but unfortunately this road is unnamed, so you qualify it as not good enough. Technically this is the closest item, so the service supposes this is the best match. I would suggest checking the type of results, if the item 0 has a type street_address is should be good enough to go, if the item 0 has a type route, check if the road has a name, if this is unnamed road check the item 1 that might be more detailed.
Anyway the unnamed road is the data issue and you can report it to the Google data team following the help center:
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/3094088
Second, if I understand correctly you noticed that item 0 and item 1 have different value of locality address component, although both of them (marker 1 and marker 2 in my screenshot) seem to belong to the Andisheh New Town. The route (place ID ChIJmf7_zEyTjT8RkM8-nK6dTm0) is reported as the part of the Karaj locality. I can see the boundaries of Karaj on Google Maps as in the following screenshot
And I can see the boundaries of Andisheh New Town as shown in the following screenshot
Please note that the route from your response is clearly situated inside the Andisheh New Town polygon, so at this point it looks like we are facing a data issue as well. The place ID ChIJmf7_zEyTjT8RkM8-nK6dTm0 should have locality component of Andisheh New Town, not the Karaj.
Feel free to send feedback to Google using this page:
If you would like to play with reverse geocoding, please use Geocoder tool:
https://google-developers.appspot.com/maps/documentation/utils/geocoder/#q%3D35.716393%252C51.01335
I hope my answer clarifies your doubts!
Upvotes: 5
Related Questions
- Building address fields from the "address_components" in Google maps API?
- How can I bifurcated address component wise which I am getting directly from Google Place API?
- Is it possible to get consistent address_components data from the geocoder API?
- Geocoding ambiguous addresses with google maps API
- Google Geocode Components two countries
- Google map geocoding address parser
- Google maps api v3: geocoding multiple addresses and creating map markers
- Address component type in google maps geocoding
- Google Maps API: Can you explicitly qualify address parts
- Google Geocoding -- parsing address_components that may return differently