Question

17

Google's Geocoder returns wrong country, ignoring the region hint

rated 0 times [ 21] [ 4] / answers: 1 / hits: 38438 / 14 Years ago, thu, april 15, 2010, 12:00:00

I'm using Google's Geocoder to find lat lng coordinates for a given address.

    var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();

    geocoder.geocode(

    {

        'address':  address,

        'region':   'uk'

    }, function(results, status) {

        if(status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {

            lat: results[0].geometry.location.lat(),

            lng: results[0].geometry.location.lng()

    });

address variable is taken from an input field.

I want to search locations only in UK. I thought that specifying 'region': 'uk' should be enough but it's not. When I type in Boston it's finding Boston in US and I wanted the one in UK.

How to restrict Geocoder to return locations only from one country or maybe from a certain lat lng range?

Thanks

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

zahrafrancisr

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 176

Total Questions: 105

Total Answers: 99

Location: Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Member since Sun, Sep 25, 2022

2 Years ago

answered 14 Years ago janettejordynm · Accepted Answer

UPDATE: This answer may not be the best approach anymore. See the comments below the answer for more details.

In addition to what Pekka already suggested, you may want to concatenate ', UK' to your address, as in the following example:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html> 

<head> 

   <meta http-equiv=content-type content=text/html; charset=UTF-8/> 

   <title>Google Maps Geocoding only in UK Demo</title> 

   <script src=http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false 

           type=text/javascript></script> 

</head> 

<body> 

   <div id=map style=width: 400px; height: 300px></div> 



   <script type=text/javascript> 



   var mapOptions = { 

      mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.TERRAIN,

      center: new google.maps.LatLng(54.00, -3.00),

      zoom: 5

   };



   var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById(map), mapOptions);

   var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();



   var address = 'Boston';



   geocoder.geocode({

      'address': address + ', UK'

   }, 

   function(results, status) {

      if(status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {

         new google.maps.Marker({

            position:results[0].geometry.location,

            map: map

         });

      }

   });



   </script> 

</body> 

</html>

Screenshot:

Geocoding

I find that this is very reliable. On the other hand, the following example shows that neither the region parameter, nor the bounds parameter, are having any effect in this case:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html> 

<head> 

   <meta http-equiv=content-type content=text/html; charset=UTF-8/> 

   <title>Google Maps Geocoding only in UK Demo with Bounds</title> 

   <script src=http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false 

           type=text/javascript></script> 

</head> 

<body> 

   <div id=map style=width: 500px; height: 300px></div> 



   <script type=text/javascript> 



   var mapOptions = { 

      mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.TERRAIN,

      center: new google.maps.LatLng(50.00, -33.00),

      zoom: 3

   };



   var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById(map), mapOptions);   

   var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();



   // Define north-east and south-west points of UK

   var ne = new google.maps.LatLng(60.00, 3.00);

   var sw = new google.maps.LatLng(49.00, -13.00);



   // Define bounding box for drawing

   var boundingBoxPoints = [

      ne, new google.maps.LatLng(ne.lat(), sw.lng()),

      sw, new google.maps.LatLng(sw.lat(), ne.lng()), ne

   ];



   // Draw bounding box on map    

   new google.maps.Polyline({

      path: boundingBoxPoints,

      strokeColor: '#FF0000',

      strokeOpacity: 1.0,

      strokeWeight: 2,

      map: map

   });



   // Geocode and place marker on map

   geocoder.geocode({

      'address': 'Boston',

      'region':  'uk',

      'bounds':  new google.maps.LatLngBounds(sw, ne)

   }, 

   function(results, status) {

      if(status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {

         new google.maps.Marker({

            position:results[0].geometry.location,

            map: map

         });

      }

   });



   </script> 

</body> 

</html>