NAME
Smart - Google Maps Api HTTP geocoder
SYNOPSIS
use Google::GeoCoder::Smart;
$geo = Google::GeoCoder::Smart->new();
my ($resultnum, $error, @results) = $geo->geocode("address" => *your address here*);
foreach $result(@results) {
my (%params) = $geo->parse($result);
$lat = $params{'lat'};
$lon = $params{'lon'};
};DESCRIPTION
This module provides a simple and "Smart" interface to the Google Maps geocoding API.
It is compatible with the google maps http geocoder v3.
It is based on the current format of the xml returned by the API. If Google changes their format,
this module might stop working. The only dependency that this module has is the LWP::Simple module,
and its sub-dependencies. I wanted something that was adaptable and would return results
automaticaly formatted for perl.
#################################################
MAKE SURE TO READ GOOGLE's TERMS OF USE
they can be found at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html#section_10_12
#################################################
If you find any bugs, please let me know.
METHODS
new
$geo = Google::GeoCoder::Smart->new("key" => "your api key here", "host" => "host here");the new function normally is called with no parameters.
however, If you would like to, you can pass it your Google Maps api key and a host name.
the api key parameter is useful for the api premium service.
the host paramater is only necessary if you use a different google host than google.com,
such as google.com.eu or something like that.http://code.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html#section_10_12
geocode
my ($num, $error, @results) = $geo->geocode(
"address" => "address *or street number and name* here",
"city" => "city here",
"state" => "state here",
"zip" => "zipcode here"
);This function brings back the number of results found for the address and
the results in an array. This is the case because Google will sometimes return
many different results for one address.
The geocode method will work if you pass the whole address as the "address" tag.
However, it also supports breaking it down into parts.
Once I implement a validation function, breaking it down into parts will be the
best thing to do if you wish to validate the results brought back.
####################################
New Update to the geocode function.
In the older versions of this module, I had it die if google returned an error.
This version sends back the error as a scalar value.
It will return one of the following error messages if an error is encountered
connection #something went wrong with the download
limit #the google query limit has been exceeded. Try again 24 hours from when you started geocoding
no_result #no results were found for the address enteredparse
%params = $geo->parse($result);parse takes any result text passed to it and parses it out into the corresponding values.
It is how you get the lat and lon values for the result.
It will also bring back several other parameters that might be of interest to some.
it returns:
lat #the lattitude of the result
lon #the longitude of the result
formattedaddr #the formatted address of the result
streetnum #the street number of the result
streets #the streets returned.
#it returns an array because sometimes
#google brings back more than one street name.
cities #the cities returned.
#its an array because sometimes google
#sometimes brings back more than one city
state #the state returned by google for the result *administrative_area_level_1 for those outside the US
zip #zip code of the result
county #if applicable, returns the administrative_area_level_2 *which is the county in the US*
type #brings back the match type *see the google maps api documentation*
#common results are street_address or postal_code
match #brings back the match type. it is set to yes if the result is a partial match,
#and null if it is a full matchAUTHOR
TTG, ttg@cpan.org
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2010 by TTG
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.10.0 or,
at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.