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Is geohash and Place ID in google maps api similar thing? if not, then on what criteria Place ID is defined?

Mehreen Qaysar
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A place ID is a unique identification for a place on Google maps. A place can be any type of location, a landmark, business, residence, etc. Geohash is an actual geocoding system.

"Geohash is a geocoding system invented by Gustavo Niemeyer and placed into the public domain. It is a hierarchical spatial data structure which subdivides space into buckets of grid shape, which is one of the many applications of what is known as a Z-order curve, and generally space-filling curves." - Wikipedia

Google has a great article on Place_IDs here:

https://developers.google.com/places/place-id

A short excerpt:

"A place ID is a textual identifier that uniquely identifies a place. Place IDs are available for most locations, including businesses, landmarks, parks, and intersections. These IDs are stable, meaning that once you've identified the place ID for a place, you can reuse that value when you next look up that place.

You can use the same place ID across the Google Places API and a number of Google Maps APIs. For example, you can use the same place ID to reference a place in the Places API, the Google Maps JavaScript API, the Google Maps Geocoding API, the Google Maps Embed API and the Google Maps Roads API."

I hope this has helped clarify things for you!

Stephen Michael Hammit
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  • thanks alot @stephen. So can we calculate distance by using Place id or we have to use geohash? – Mehreen Qaysar Feb 12 '17 at 14:31
  • No problem, I'm happy to help! You can indeed use Place IDs to calculate distance. You can do this with the directions API. (https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/directions/intro#RequestParameters) You can also do this with the Distance Matrix API. (https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/distance-matrix/intro#RequestParameters) – Stephen Michael Hammit Feb 14 '17 at 17:16