The Google Geocoding API

Nowadays the word Google has become the synonym for "Search". To find any information we will just Google it. The term Googling has now become a phrase in English! It has now become one of my favourite word. Let's see how we can get the details about a place using Google.
Geocoding is the process of converting addresses to geographical co ordinates. The reverse process is termed as Reverse geocoding. The Google Geocoding API provides a direct way to access these services via an HTTP request.

Usage Limits

The Google Geocoding API has the following limits in place:
Users of the free API:
2,500 requests per 24 hour period.
5 requests per second.
Google Maps API for Work customers:
100,000 requests per 24 hour period.
10 requests per second.

Geocoding API Request Format

A Geocoding API request must be of the following form:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/output?parameters
where output can be either JSON or XML

Maven Dependency:

<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.code.geocoder-java</groupId>
    <artifactId>geocoder-java</artifactId>
    <version>0.16</version>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>

Sample:

import java.io.IOException;

import com.google.code.geocoder.Geocoder;
import com.google.code.geocoder.GeocoderRequestBuilder;
import com.google.code.geocoder.model.GeocodeResponse;
import com.google.code.geocoder.model.GeocoderRequest;


public class Main {

public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException{

final Geocoder geocoder = new Geocoder();
GeocoderRequest geocoderRequest = new GeocoderRequestBuilder().setAddress("Trivandrum, India").setLanguage("en").getGeocoderRequest();
GeocodeResponse geocoderResponse = geocoder.geocode(geocoderRequest);
System.out.println(geocoderResponse);
}
}

Result:

GeocodeResponse{status=OK, results=[GeocoderResult{types=[locality, political], formattedAddress='Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India', addressComponents=[GeocoderAddressComponent{longName='Thiruvananthapuram', shortName='TVM', types=[locality, political]}, GeocoderAddressComponent{longName='Thiruvananthapuram', shortName='TVM', types=[administrative_area_level_2, political]}, GeocoderAddressComponent{longName='Kerala', shortName='KL', types=[administrative_area_level_1, political]}, GeocoderAddressComponent{longName='India', shortName='IN', types=[country, political]}], geometry=GeocoderGeometry{location=LatLng{lat=8.524139099999999, lng=76.9366376}, locationType=APPROXIMATE, viewport=LatLngBounds{southwest=LatLng{lat=8.3867048, lng=76.84168699999999}, northeast=LatLng{lat=8.6127611, lng=77.0070362}}, bounds=LatLngBounds{southwest=LatLng{lat=8.3867048, lng=76.84168699999999}, northeast=LatLng{lat=8.6127611, lng=77.0070362}}}, partialMatch=false}]}

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