Finding location by zip and object name

Question

I wanted to create app that will longitude, latitude by zip and name of object (for example mcdonalds). I tried to do that via google maps geocoder but my idea was wrong because geocoder returned weird results. Maybe someone know a service or strategy of getting location by zip/name please let me know.

Answer 1

You can test out the Google Geocoder by using the same search string in the maps.google.com search box. For example "McDonalds 2000 Australia", returns appropriate geocoding results. Are you including the country? That might clarify the search results.

Answer 2

reverse-geocoding from your tags means geolocation with given latitude and longitude.

If you want to geocode something you should just use Google Maps Geocode API.

http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Sydney&sensor=false

In result you have:

{
  "status": "OK",
  "results": [ {
    "types": [ "locality", "political" ],
    "formatted_address": "Sydney Nowa Południowa Walia, Australia",
    "address_components": [ {
      "long_name": "Sydney",
      "short_name": "Sydney",
      "types": [ "locality", "political" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "Nowa Południowa Walia",
      "short_name": "NSW",
      "types": [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
    }, {
      "long_name": "Australia",
      "short_name": "AU",
      "types": [ "country", "political" ]
    } ],
    "geometry": {
      "location": {
        "lat": -33.8671390,
        "lng": 151.2071140
      },
      "location_type": "APPROXIMATE",
      "viewport": {
        "southwest": {
          "lat": -33.8764033,
          "lng": 151.1911066
        },
        "northeast": {
          "lat": -33.8578737,
          "lng": 151.2231214
        }
      },
      "bounds": {
        "southwest": {
          "lat": -33.8797030,
          "lng": 151.1970330
        },
        "northeast": {
          "lat": -33.8559920,
          "lng": 151.2229770
        }
      }
    }
  } ]
}

In results array you have result objects. Coordinates are just in geometry->location. Nothing simplier.

Here is reference: http://code.google.com/intl/pl-PL/apis/maps/documentation/geocoding/#GeocodingRequests

Answer 3

www.zipcode2business.com is this something similar to your application? Hopefully it helps :)