Google Geocoding API returns wrong language in response

Question

My project requests Geocoding API for coordinates and correct full addresses in Odessa, Ukraine.

I could request response in Russian or Ukrainian language adding language=ru (language=uk) parameter to the HTTP request. Starting today I get street name in Ukrainian in response, no matter which language I specify in request.

Examples.

Request for Russian: https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Пушкинская, Одесса, Украина&language=ru

Relevant part of the response:

"results" : [
  {
     "address_components" : [
        {
           "long_name" : "Пушкінська вулиця",
           "short_name" : "Пушкінська вулиця",
           "types" : [ "route" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "Приморський район",
           "short_name" : "Приморський район",
           "types" : [ "sublocality_level_1", "sublocality", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "Одеса",
           "short_name" : "Одеса",
           "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "Одесский горсовет",
           "short_name" : "Одесский горсовет",
           "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_3", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "Одеська область",
           "short_name" : "Одеська область",
           "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
        },
        {
           "long_name" : "Украина",
           "short_name" : "UA",
           "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
        }
     ],

Please note, that "country" and "administrative_area_level_3" fields are in Russian, as they should be, but everything else is in Ukrainian.

If I use language=uk all fields in the response are returned in Ukrainian language (as intended).

I suppose someone at Google merged Russian and Ukrainian lists, and there nothing I can do to get Russian names back on my end. So the question is more about where I should report this bug?

Cupule

Answer 1

You can report a geo-coding api issue here.

Hit "New Issue," and under "Template" select "Geocoding API - Bug."

Good luck.

Whipple

I've done it already. There are others, who experience this issue, bit no acknowledgment from Google. code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=7359 – Cupule

It looks like they can take months to respond (based on other forum posts.) My guess is, the more people post that they are experiencing the same problem, the more likely it is you'll get an answer... You might have to get creative in order to get help from someone at Google. – Whipple

I tried to talk to someone at Ukrainian Google office. But I only could find staff not working on Maps. They couldn't help. They suggested to create new language entries through map maker and wait maybe it will be added back to Maps. It easier for me to switch to Yandex Maps API, though. – Cupule

Answer 2

I used this
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Пушкинская,%20Одесса,%20Украина&language=uk

and the response is

for
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Пушкинская,%20Одесса,%20Украина&language=ukr

I get this response

if i use

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Пушкинская,%20Одесса,%20Украина&language=en

I get this response

Neusatz

Links, that you're posting are working as intended. When you ask for 'uk' you're getting Ukrainian When you ask for 'en' you're getting English transliteration from Ukrainian. When you ask for wrong language code (ukr) you're defaulting to your locale (en). But, if you ask for 'ru', you get Ukrainian instead of Russian. But before end of this November Russian worked. You can still get Russian translation for some objects like squares and public transit stops, but not for the majority of streets. – Cupule