Physical Address to GeoLocation UK

Question

Is there a good physical address to GeoLocation conversion database in the UK? I am trying to use this to build a globrix style search box http://www.globrix.com/ for a web application. Any pointers will be nice. I have been searching for hours. I have found several that convert UK Postcodes into Geolocation. But I need the addresses listed as on Globrix.

Answer 1

http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk should be able to help with this. Alternatively, you can buy the "PAF" (Postcode Address File) from the Royal Mail, but it is expensive.

Answer 2

The Google Maps API provides a geocoder webservice that you can actually use independently of Google Maps itself. You send it the address/postcode, and it responds with a lat/long plus disambiguated addresses. We use it server-side in the UK to do address lookup. It's incredibly quick, too.

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/geocoding/index.html