Comments on: iPad/iPhone forward geocoding API using Google gecoding service

By: Ariel Krieger

Ariel Krieger — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:40:44 +0000

Hey Bjorn,

First let me just say WOW. That is some great code you put up here…thanks!
I was wondering though, can your code be modified in some way to calculate distance between two searched locations? Perhaps using Google’s Directions API?
I thought maybe using your observeValueForKeyPath function which spits out a coordinate.latitude value for each selected annotation…

Thanks again

By: Björn Sållarp

Björn Sållarp — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:14:20 +0000

@Jorge, I am unable to correctly answer the legal questions, but my assumption is that it’s probably not ok to use their API in a commercial app for free. There must be a reason other than laziness that it’s not included in MAPKit.

If you do use it however it won’t matter if Apple replace the maps. Google return standard wgs84 coordinates that apply to any map.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:04:37 +0000

the example is great, thanks a lot for sharing.
all i wonder: is it allowed to use the google api for a iphone-app?
if one wants to retrieve the locations, but not immediately show it on a google map – maybe at some point later.
and what if apple switches the maps to some other provider one time?
i’m not sure how to understand the google terms, when it comes down to a (commercial) iphone-app…

By: Davide Benini

Davide Benini — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:55:47 +0000

I second Victor’s suggestion. I am using your wonderful classes in a project of mine, and also had noticed the address was missing from the BSKMLResult; by applying Victor’s patch everything is fixed.

At any rate, thanks a ton for this classes Björn. If you ever come to Verona, Italy, there’s a pint for you here.

By: Victor

Victor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:04:46 +0000

Think I figured out the issue. Line 220 of BSGoogleV3KmlParser.m should be changed from:
else if ([elementName isEqualToString:@"formattedAddress"]) {
to:
else if ([elementName isEqualToString:@"formatted_address"]) {

then I think the annotation title will set correctly.

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:15:31 +0000

This is great! I don’t think the BSKmlResult contains all the results it claims to, though (esp for version 3 of the API)… I’m too much of a newbie to figure it out myself, though.
If I override the description in BSKmlresult.m to see what’s coming out:

- (NSString *)description
{
NSString *descriptionString =
[[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@”address %@ countryNameCode %@ countryName %@ subAdministrativeAreaName %@ localityName %@ viewportSouthWestLat %d viewportSouthWestLon %d viewportNorthEastLat %d viewportNorthEastLon %d boundsSouthWestLat %d boundsSouthWestLon %d boundsNorthEastLat %d boundsNElon %d latitude %d longitude %d height %d accuracy %d NSArray addressComponents %@”, address, countryNameCode, countryName, subAdministrativeAreaName, localityName, viewportSouthWestLat, viewportSouthWestLon, viewportNorthEastLat, viewportNorthEastLon, boundsSouthWestLat, boundsSouthWestLon, boundsNorthEastLat, boundsNorthEastLon, latitude, longitude, height, accuracy, addressComponents];
return [descriptionString autorelease];
}

then if I add a description after the results are obtained in viewController.m:
BSKmlResult *place = [forwardGeocoder.results objectAtIndex:i];
NSLog(@”subclassed description (messy): %@”,place);

Looking in the console: For version 2, I don’t get lat/lon/height/accuracy (in addition to the ones you list above as not being returned in ver 2). For version 3, I don’t seem to get lat/lon/height/accuracy or the addressComponents array. Also in ver 3, the annotation titles don’t set correctly because ‘address’ is null (in addition to the ones missing that we expect).

By: Gonso

Gonso — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:26:29 +0000

Great Implementation!

I’ve added this to a project and its working like a charm!

Hi quality work.

Gonso

By: Gerald

Gerald — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:35:32 +0000

Thank you very much. This awesome.

Gerald

By: Björn Sållarp

Björn Sållarp — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:23:39 +0000

@Fauad,

The example in this post is only for forward geocoding, meaning, you know the name of a location and want the coordinates of that location. Google maps API v3 doesn’t require an API key but other services do, you probably want to use the new Places API (still in preview). Check out Googles services here:
http://code.google.com/intl/sv-SE/apis/maps/documentation/webservices/index.html

User location in the simulator only shows a somewhat correct location if you’re on a WLAN that has been scanned by Skyhook, otherwise your location is set to California USA. This will work on the iPhone.

You can find more information on traffic information here:
http://code.google.com/intl/en-US/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/overlays.html#TrafficLayer
I’m not sure if you can use it for the iphone.

Good luck with your project!

By: Fauad Anwar

Fauad Anwar — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:00:32 +0000

Hi,
I am confused on topic about key.
I am developing an application which show current location and info near about my location.
Is it require for me to obtain key for it?
When i run application in simulator it point my location to some infinite loop place not my location. (I am using Interface builder to show my current location). Is this due to simulation and it will work properly on iPhone??

Also how can i get traffic info from Google and show it in my map?

If possible give reply or give some sample code.

(last time i have created a API key, it works for my app. that time. But same code not working today for me.) Giving me error invalid parameter where i called url with my key.

Thanks in Advance.