How to get city from coordinates?

Question

I use google maps api 3 to get city from coordinates. I read the ReverseGeocoding but I did not understand how to have the correct city value from this type of result: http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=40.714224,-73.961452&sensor=false

Toupee

so, your question is "How to parse the JSON" ? – Hulsey

yes! That is, ho I can parse the array with JS? – Toupee

Answer 1

this Funktion returns the Name of a requested City at lat/long. As this Script is from end of 2012. Worked fine for me that time. Returns "unknown" when the API doesn't find any.

function get_api ($lat, $long) {
    $get_API = "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=";
    $get_API .= round($lat,2).",";
    $get_API .= round($long,2);         

    $jsonfile = file_get_contents($get_API.'&sensor=false');
    $jsonarray = json_decode($jsonfile);        

    if (isset($jsonarray->results[1]->address_components[1]->long_name)) {
        return($jsonarray->results[1]->address_components[1]->long_name);
    }
    else {
        return('Unknown');
    }
}

edit: and a jquery.

<p id="city"></p>

<script>
$(document).ready( function () {    
    // define lat / long
    var lat = 37.42;
    var long = -122.08;

    $.ajax({
        type: 'GET',
        dataType: "json",
        url: "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng="+lat+","+long+"&sensor=false",
        data: {},
        success: function(data) {
            $('#city').html(data);
            $.each( data['results'],function(i, val) {
                $.each( val['address_components'],function(i, val) {
                    if (val['types'] == "locality,political") {
                        if (val['long_name']!="") {
                            $('#city').html(val['long_name']);
                        }
                        else {
                            $('#city').html("unknown");
                        }
                        console.log(i+", " + val['long_name']);
                        console.log(i+", " + val['types']);
                    }
                });
            });
            console.log('Success');
        },
        error: function () { console.log('error'); } 
    }); 
});
</script>

Frodeen

pay attention to Shivan Raptors comment though – Frodeen

This code assumes that the desired result is in the 2nd address_components entry of the second result, there is no guarantee that is (or will always be even if it works now) the desired result. You should really look for the result with the type of the data you are looking for (locality: indicates an incorporated city or town political entity), and return that. – Tessatessellate

since OP does not specify programming language, your PHP code may not be suitable for OP. sidenote: return is not a function, thus return 'Unknown'; is more accurate – Hulsey

example of parsing out the "locality" (and the "sublocality") using the Google Maps Javascript API v3. – Tessatessellate

jeah ur right. that why i added a date (2012) - the thing is that all scripts i found this time were working with a specified depth to look in the json. i werent able to use jquery for this and i knew where to look at (special case, sure). – Frodeen

In addition to locality and sublocality, depending on which countries you care about, you may need to also look out for administrative_area_level_X (e.g. administrative_area_level_1 in Taiwan) and this may even change over time. – Anagrammatize

Answer 2

In HTML5 page we can get city name as follows:

<script src="//maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?v=3.exp&sensor=true"></script>
<script>
        (function() {

            if(!!navigator.geolocation) {
                navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(position) {

                  var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
                  var geolocate = new google.maps.LatLng(position.coords.latitude, position.coords.longitude);

                  console.log(position.coords.latitude + ', ' + position.coords.longitude);

                  geocoder.geocode({'latLng': geolocate}, function(results, status) {
                    if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
                       var result;
                       if (results.length > 1) {
                         result = results[1];
                       } else {
                         result = results[0];
                       }
                       //console.log(result);
                       console.log(result.address_components[2].long_name + ', ' + result.address_components[3].long_name);

                     }  
                  });    
                });
</script>

Clause