Python Geocoder

Simple and consistent geocoding library written in Python.

Table of content

• Overview
• A glimpse at the API
  • Forward
  • Multiple results
  • Reverse
  • House Addresses
  • IP Addresses
  • Bounding Box
• Command Line Interface
• Providers
• Installation
  • PyPi Install
  • GitHub Install
  • Snap Install
• Feedback
• Contribution
  • Documenting
  • Coding
• ChangeLog

Overview

Many online providers such as Google & Bing have geocoding services, these providers do not include Python libraries and have different JSON responses between each other.

It can be very difficult sometimes to parse a particular geocoding provider since each one of them have their own JSON schema.

Here is a typical example of retrieving a Lat & Lng from Google using Python, things shouldn't be this hard.

>>> import requests
>>> url = 'https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json'
>>> params = {'sensor': 'false', 'address': 'Mountain View, CA'}
>>> r = requests.get(url, params=params)
>>> results = r.json()['results']
>>> location = results[0]['geometry']['location']
>>> location['lat'], location['lng']
(37.3860517, -122.0838511)

Now lets use Geocoder to do the same task

>>> import geocoder
>>> g = geocoder.google('Mountain View, CA')
>>> g.latlng
(37.3860517, -122.0838511)

A glimpse at the API

Many properties are available once the geocoder object is created.

Forward

>>> import geocoder
>>> g = geocoder.google('Mountain View, CA')
>>> g.geojson
>>> g.json
>>> g.wkt
>>> g.osm

Multiple queries ('batch' geocoding)

>>> import geocoder
>>> g = geocoder.mapquest(['Mountain View, CA', 'Boulder, Co'], method='batch')
>>> for result in g:
...   print(result.address, result.latlng)
...
('Mountain View', [37.39008, -122.08139])
('Boulder', [40.015831, -105.27927])

Multiple results

>>> import geocoder
>>> g = geocoder.geonames('Mountain View, CA', maxRows=5)
>>> print(len(g))
5
>>> for result in g:
...   print(result.address, result.latlng)
...
Mountain View ['37.38605', '-122.08385']
Mountain View Elementary School ['34.0271', '-117.59116']
Best Western Plus Mountainview Inn and Suites ['51.79516', '-114.62793']
Best Western Mountainview Inn ['49.3338', '-123.1446']
Mountain View Post Office ['37.393', '-122.07774']

The providers currently supporting multiple results are listed in the table below.

Reverse

>>> g = geocoder.google([45.15, -75.14], method='reverse')
>>> g.city
>>> g.state
>>> g.state_long
>>> g.country
>>> g.country_long

House Addresses

>>> g = geocoder.google("453 Booth Street, Ottawa ON")
>>> g.housenumber
>>> g.postal
>>> g.street
>>> g.street_long

IP Addresses

>>> g = geocoder.ip('199.7.157.0')
>>> g = geocoder.ip('me')
>>> g.latlng
>>> g.city

Bounding Box

Accessing the JSON & GeoJSON attributes will be different

>>> g = geocoder.google("Ottawa")
>>> g.bbox
{"northeast": [45.53453, -75.2465979], "southwest": [44.962733, -76.3539158]}

>>> g.geojson['bbox']
[-76.3539158, 44.962733, -75.2465979, 45.53453]

>>> g.southwest
[44.962733, -76.3539158]

Command Line Interface

$ geocode "Ottawa, ON"  >> ottawa.geojson
$ geocode "Ottawa, ON" \
    --provide google \
    --out geojson \
    --method geocode

Providers

Provider	Optimal	Usage Policy	Multiple results	Reverse	Proximity	Batch
ArcGIS	World		yes	yes
Baidu	China	API key		yes
Bing	World	API key	yes	yes		yes
CanadaPost	Canada	API key	yes
FreeGeoIP This API endpoint is deprecated and will stop working on July 1st, 2018.	World	Rate Limit, Policy
Gaode	China	API key		yes
Geocoder.ca (Geolytica)	CA & US	Rate Limit
GeocodeFarm	World	Policy	yes	yes
GeoNames	World	Username	yes		yes
GeoOttawa	Ottawa		yes
Gisgraphy	World	API key	yes	yes	yes
Google	World	Rate Limit, Policy	yes	yes	yes
HERE	World	API key	yes	yes
IPInfo	World	Rate Limit, Plans
Komoot (OSM powered)	World		yes	yes
LocationIQ	World	API Key	yes	yes
Mapbox	World	API key	yes	yes	yes
MapQuest	World	API key	yes	yes		yes
Mapzen	Shutdown	API key	yes	yes
MaxMind	World
OpenCage	World	API key	yes	yes
OpenStreetMap	World	Policy	yes	yes
Tamu	US	API key
TGOS	Taiwan
TomTom	World	API key	yes
USCensus	US			yes		yes
What3Words	World	API key		yes
Yahoo	World
Yandex	Russia		yes	yes

Installation

PyPi Install

To install Geocoder, simply:

$ pip install geocoder
...

GitHub Install

Installing the latest version from Github:

$ git clone https://github.com/DenisCarriere/geocoder
...
$ cd geocoder
$ python setup.py install
...

Snap Install

To install the stable geocoder snap in any of the supported Linux distros:

$ sudo snap install geocoder
...

If you want to help testing the latest changes from the master branch, you can install it from the edge channel:

$ sudo snap install geocoder --edge
...

The installed snap will be updated automatically every time a new version is pushed to the store.

Feedback

Please feel free to give any feedback on this module.

Speak up on Twitter @DenisCarriere and tell me how you use this Python Geocoder. New updates will be pushed to Twitter Hashtags #python.

Contribution

If you find any bugs or any enhancements to recommend please send some of your comments/suggestions to the Github Issues Page.

Some way to contribute, from the most generic to the most detailed:

Documenting

If you are not comfortable with development, you can still contibute with the documentation.

• review the documentation of a specific provider. Most of the time they are lacking details...
• review the parameters for a specific method, compared to what is supported by the provider
• review documentation for command line

If you miss any feature, just create an issue accordingly. Be sure to describe clearly your use case, and to provide links to the correct sources.

Coding

• add support for a new provider. Documentation TBD, starting point possible with wip_guide.
• extend methods for an existing support, i.e support an additionnal API). Documentation TBD
• extend support of an existing API, i.e, support more (json) fields from the response, or more parameters. Documentation TBD

ChangeLog

See CHANGELOG.md