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As this is a very old thread to be asked a question. But as I am having same confusion on what geocoding services can be best proved.

I am working on Java based web application where I need to following features to be implemented

  • geocode the address
  • perform reverse geocoding
  • Show Route on maps
  • Calculate the Distance and Time between two lat/long
  • If possible also give options of suggested routes so user can decide the fastest or shortest route

Intially I started with cloudemade API It works on all above features but in few cases in reverse geocoding as well as geocode addresses it does'nt give any result for lat/longs

Next I also tried with MapQuest but in this in few cases it is not able to geocode particular addresses

Now I was searching with Yahoo but as per my searching yahoo does not have its own map to show as well as no Routing functionality also Distance I need here to be calculated manually

Can anyone suggest me on which services can be more reliable and accurate with the above features included

sbhatt
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  • Have you got a look at Google API? I don't know if it does calculate distances but for the other things yes, also the API is fast and reliable : https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/ – Alexandre Lavoie Nov 28 '12 at 18:23
  • Yes I had a look on google API but as it charges high so we did'nt recommend it. Do you have any idea about Bing Map API is it preferable with Java ? – sbhatt Nov 28 '12 at 19:04
  • Sorry don't know much about Bing API, you have a good point about charges, since my applications developments doesn't need large requests I've never paid for this kind of services. – Alexandre Lavoie Nov 28 '12 at 20:04

2 Answers2

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Disclaimer: I work for MapQuest.

I can't speak to which geocoding services are more reliable and more accurate, simply because of the nature of geocoding; there are so many variables that can affect a result -- was the street name misspelled, was there extra "line 2" address information (i.e. "Apartment #5, 2nd Floor"), is the address correct and an official address (i.e., an officially recognized address by the United States Postal Service, Canada Post, etc.)? The same goes for reverse geocoding -- are you passing in coordinates that are close enough to a street for reverse geocoding to happen, or are the coordinates in the middle of a forest or within a body of water? I think it's going to be difficult to find a service that is absolutely perfect, but these are a few of the issues that can affect results. And, of course, there also sometimes can be data issues, where a street or an address is simply missing from the underlying base data.

Either way -- if you want to take a look again, MapQuest offers a Geocoding API (licensed/commercial data - daily transaction limit) and an Open Geocoding API (based on OpenStreetMap data - totally free to use, no limits), and the other APIs MapQuest offers can also meet the other requirements you listed.

jharahush
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  • Thanks jharahush for your detailed answer I appreciate. Finally we decided to use MapQuest API for showing map, Routing and Direction functionality in our application. Everything is working good, only issue we are facing is I need a Map that can be resized as per the requirements dynamically. Currently we are using the
    tag and seem it only allows width and height in pixels rather than in percentage. So can you suggest with a sample code what should I do to resolve this issue ? Will be very obliged if you can help out in this
     – sbhatt Dec 04 '12 at 17:07
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If you want to compare Google API, MapQuest and Cloud Made, you can have a look at this small utility which will show you exact location and also displays json which helps in debugging application. The utility is accessible at below url:

http://ankit-zalani.appspot.com/GeoCode/index.jsp

Ankit Zalani
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