-1

I'm working on a work-related Python project that will give me the latitude and longitude of an address using the Bing Maps API given that I feed it the address first. While it does yield the latitude and longitude of an address, it differs in many cases from the results you would get if you were to type the address in Bing Maps.

For example, if I look up "1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052, United States" on Bing Maps, the coordinates given towards the bottom left of the address information panel read 47.640049, -122.129797. However, using the Bing Maps API and the same address, I get 47.640568390488625, -122.1293731033802 (retrieved through the 'coordinates' portion of JSON outputted data). They are similar, but given that a tool we use at work consistently, if not always, agrees with what Bing Maps produces instead of the API, I would prefer my own program yield the exact same coordinates.

I couldn't find any documentation that would point me in the right direction, so I was hoping you kind folks might be able to assist me. I also considered simply developing my own scraping tool to scrape the coordinates given just by Bing Maps, but I haven't figured out how to compile a URL that would take me to the coordinates.

xomena
  • 31,125
  • 6
  • 88
  • 117
erik7970
  • 693
  • 1
  • 8
  • 21

2 Answers2

1

The Bing Maps website is using a new backend geocoder which also has newer data. The Bing Maps REST services are in the process of being updated to use this new geocoder but isn't yet complete. This is the cause for the difference in results for addresses like this. This upgrade to the REST services should be complete in a couple of months.

rbrundritt
  • 16,570
  • 2
  • 21
  • 46
  • Ah, I see. To this upgrade should then include coordinates exactly like those found on Bing Maps, correct? – erik7970 May 17 '17 at 21:54
  • For the most part. Some location data such as business listings are not included in the Bing Maps developer service due to licensing restrictions. – rbrundritt May 17 '17 at 23:48
0

Looks to me your values are different by a factor of a few feet. Dunno how accurate you need to be but maybe round your lat long to an acceptable range.

Jared Forth
  • 1
  • 3
  • The coordinates only match up to (including) the third decimal, that is something like 111 meters accuracy. The fourth decimal would be about 11 meters accuracy level (WGS84). – visibleman May 17 '17 at 02:37
  • How can you tell they're only off by a few feet? – erik7970 May 17 '17 at 02:42
  • I just clicked on several wings of the Microsoft campus and they all are within a couple decimals. That long string is going to be incredibly accurate and probably needlessly so – Jared Forth May 17 '17 at 02:46