uploaded getting latlong coordinates from an address with geocode.xyz.md

notes/getting latlong coordinates from an address with geocode.xyz.md

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+---
+date: 2024-11-13
+title: getting latlong coordinates from an address with geocode.xyz
+tags:
+- scripting
+- maps
+---
+I like maps. I make maps. Mostly from worse maps or data that is not in map form. See some of mine on <https://alifeee.co.uk/maps/>.
+
+One thing I've been doing for a map recently is geocoding, which is turning an address (e.g., "Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row, Sheffield") into latitude/longitude coordinates.
+
+<https://geocode.xyz/> provides a free geocoding API on <https://geocode.xyz/api> which is rate limited to one request per second.
+
+Here is a script to wrap that API for using it as a script. It's not amazing but it works.
+
+```bash
+#!/bin/bash
+
+loc="${1}"
+throttled=1
+
+while [ $throttled = 1 ]; do
+  resp=$(curl -s -X POST -d locate="${loc}" -d geoit="json" "https://geocode.xyz")
+  if [[ "${resp}" =~ Throttled ]]; then
+    echo "throttled... retrying..." >> /dev/stderr
+    throttled=1
+  else
+    throttled=0
+  fi
+  sleep 1
+done
+
+echo "got response: ${resp}" >> /dev/stderr
+
+json=$(echo "${resp}" | jq | sed 's/ {}/""/g')
+
+basic=$(echo "${json}" | jq -r '
+.latt + "\t" +
+.longt + "\t" +
+.standard.confidence + "\t"'
+)
+
+standard=$(echo "${json}" | jq -r '
+.standard.addresst? + "\t" +
+.standard.statename? + "\t" +
+.standard.city? + "\t" +
+.standard.prov? + "\t" +
+.standard.countryname? + "\t" +
+.standard.postal? + "\t"
+')
+
+alt=$(echo "${json}" | jq -r '
+.alt?.loc?.addresst + "\t" +
+.alt?.loc?.statename + "\t" +
+.alt?.loc?.city + "\t" +
+.alt?.loc?.prov + "\t" +
+.alt?.loc?.countryname + "\t" +
+.alt?.loc?.postal + "\t"
+')
+echo "${basic}${standard}${alt}" | sed '1s/^/latitude\tlongitude\tconfidence\taddress\tstate\tcity\tprovince\tcountry\tpost code\talt address\talt state\talt city\talt province\talt country\talt postal\n/'
+```
+
+and then you can use it like
+
+```bash
+$ ./geocode.sh "Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row, Sheffield"
+throttled... retrying...
+throttled... retrying...
+got response: {   "standard" : {      "stnumber" : "1",      "addresst" : "Paternoster Row",      "statename" : "England",      "postal" : "S1",      "region" : "England",      "prov" : "UK",      "city" : "Sheffield",      "countryname" : "United Kingdom",      "confidence" : "0.9"   },   "longt" : "-1.46544",   "alt" : {},   "elevation" : {},   "latt" : "53.37756"}
+latitude	longitude	confidence	address	state	city	province	country	post code	alt address	alt state	alt city	alt province	alt country	alt postal
+53.37756	-1.46544	0.9	Paternoster Row	England	Sheffield	UK	United Kingdom	S1
+```
+
+The results are "ok". They're pretty good for street addresses, but I can see a lot of wrong results. I might try and use another API like OpenStreetMap's or (shudders) Google's.