Why do calls to the Google Maps Geocoder API return different results than what I see in my browser?
This one returns many items :
http://maps.google.fr/maps?q=McDonald,+paris
This one returns a ZERO_RESULT :
http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/xml?McDonald,+paris&sensor=false
FAQ: https://developers.google.com/maps/faq#geocoder_differences
The API geocoder finds postal addresses. The Maps geocoder uses lots of data, including business data, to find results.
There is the Places API which can find locations based on type/class, but it may not work for business names. Documentation
Related
Context
I am in the process of providing some consultancy on doing a HTTP GET using YouTube Data API V3; in order to develop a Windows based application to GET a list of results from Youtube, for say a specific CATEGORY, or a specific TAG.
We are open to using any programming language(I'm from a C++ background and am hoping You tube will support direct HTTP connections without using Google client SDK and so on) to connect to YouTube and (HTTP) GET data.(Once a month or so, so YouTube API quotas should not be problem).
The Issue
We are being told by some of my client's web developers that YouTube API v3 will only return a maximum of 500 records/results, for say a query that returns JUST the Total viewers, the Video's link, and basic meta data such as that.
S, say I wish to find 5,000 results for category "House music" or "basketball" - and I have the Developer Key etc are all set up, would that be possible?
If so, what GET fields would I need to populate(such as "max_results_per_page")?
Thank you.
The API won't provide more than ~500 search results for any arbitrary query. It's by design. Technically, it means that the nextPageToken field won't be returned once you hit ~500 results. No additional parameter can change that.
If you want more than ~500 results for a query, you have to split it into more specific sub-queries. I'd suggest using the publishedAfter and publishedBefore parameters to achieve that, but feel free to experiment with the other ones here.
This only holds for the search-Query. Other queries like "PlaylisItem:list" deliver more results. I have tested with 100.000 items to get the videos of a playlist.
I would like to return specific places (stores like Target, Macy's, etc.) by location (latitude, longitude).
I have been using the google places api and entering the different stores in the name parameter. The results are inconsistent at best.
Is this the api I should be using to return specific stores by name and proximity? The google places api near by search has only a single name parameter. I would ideally like to search for several specific stores in a single request to the endpoint for performance reasons.
In conclusion
What api should I be using to return specific stores by name and proximity?
The Google Places API is the correct Google API to use; however, as you mentioned it does not support multiple name or keyword parameters. There is an active Places API - Feature Request for this here, please star it if you wish to see it resolved and to be notified of future changes.
Instead of using the name parameter, try using the keyword parameter. The keyword parameter is matched against all available fields, including but not limited to name, type, and address, as well as customer reviews and other third-party content. This can often yield more or better results.
It seems as if the foursquare api does let you search for multiple specific places.
Here is an example url that does the trick:
https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/search?ll=34.017717,-118.159335&query=Target Victoria's Secret Macy's &intent=browse&radius=16094&oauth_token=mytoken
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So I'm abandoning Google Places and going with FourSquare.
I recently joined a team working on an application that maintains listings with addresses. The user searches, and includes their zipcode, and the application displays the distance to each listing. Currently we use the Google Maps API for this. Reading through questions here on StackOverflow seem to suggest that this is the best way of doing things:
php/mysql zip code proximity search
Search engine by distance
However, while reading through the API documentation, this seems to be expressly forbidden unless we also show a map for each result (and possibly also for each result we filter out, depending on how you read the following statement):
Use of the Distance Matrix API must relate to the display of information on a Google Map; for example, to determine origin-destination pairs that fall within a specific driving time from one another, before requesting and displaying those destinations on a map. Use of the service in an application that doesn't display a Google map is prohibited.
( https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/distancematrix/ )
What's the best way to accomplish this without running afoul of any API terms?
do you consider the Geo::PostalCode module (perl)? It uses maxmind database to calculate distances between locations (and there is bind in different languages).
I've been using the Google Maps Places API to do search a map for the iPhone, like in the Maps app itself. I use a line like this:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/search/json?location=%f,%f&rankby=distance&name=%#&sensor=true&key=%#
using NSString to enter the missing information. However, unlike the Maps app, this search only works for local places and not for postcodes or other information. It would appear that if I want it to accept postcodes, I have to create a geocode request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=W1A+1AA&sensor=true
But then of course, this doesn't search place information. Like the Maps app, I want my app to seamlessly return the best results of both.
Before I go ahead and code it so that it uses two separate APIs, is there a better way of doing this? Should I be using a different API that works more like the search in the Maps app?
I've looked into this for something like looking into a specific service, let's say sushi, at a zip code for those who don't want to use location services. Unfortunately, it seems like you have to make two calls, one for geocoding and the other through Google Places to get the locations that are within the radius of the coordinates given in the geocoding call.
See:
Find all parks for a given zipcode with google maps
and
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/google-places-api/P3iDK5kO7OM/Cek4BzeXMA4J
After many tests, I've been unable to get the Twitter Search API to return more than 80% of tweets containing a specific keyword or hashtag. This is not related to the maximum number of results, one test involved a hashtag which had been tweeted 50 times and only 15 of them were returned by the Twitter Search API. The same results were returned when using Twitter's own search tool.
Is the Twitter Search API simply a tool for getting estimates and trends, rather than accurate data?
Has anyone found a way to capture 100% of tweets containing a specific keyword or hashtag?
Twitter filters search api for better results. Here is a quote from developer site:
Both the Streaming API and the Search
API filter, and on some end-points,
discard, statuses created by a small
proportion of accounts based upon
status quality metrics. For example,
frequent and repetitious status
updates may, in some instances, and in
combination with other metrics, result
in a different status quality score
for a given account.
Search api simply returns a subset of the found tweets.