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Author Topic: Geocoding incorrect in UK  (Read 701 times)

clarkac

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Geocoding incorrect in UK
March 21, 2012, 10:36:09 am
I've noticed that geocoding is often wrong - a few (usually less than 10) miles out.  This is in the UK.  The one factor that seems to be common with the incorrect ones is the occurrence of a house name - and I guess one that is not registered with the post office.  In the case where there is a straightforward house number, street name & postcode it seems to be all ok.  But add a house name and it goes wrong... Not sure what to do with this as house names are often needed so I can't just discard them.  Geocoding is an attractive feature for my client so I'd like to get it right.  Any suggestions?  I suppose I could put house/building names into a custom field...
Andy Clark

Donald Lobo

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Re: Geocoding incorrect in UK
March 21, 2012, 10:59:18 am

This has come up a few times in the recent past where different sites want a different set of values geocoded for various reasons (better accuracy, privacy etc)

I think it might be a good idea to have a "hook_civicrm_alterGeoCodeParams" so different sites can control what is sent for geocoding

Would be cool if u can work on this and submit a patch and docs for 4.2. Ping us on IRC if u need help getting started

lobo
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clarkac

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Re: Geocoding incorrect in UK
March 21, 2012, 03:27:25 pm
Thinking more about this... placing building or house name into street address is clearly the cause of the error.  I just need to figure out where to put this info, and then later make sure it's displayed as the first line of the address - which is customary in the UK.  Trouble is,  for some organisations the building name is the street address!  Sometimes nothing is simple...
Andy Clark

clarkac

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Re: Geocoding incorrect in UK
April 04, 2012, 09:23:24 am
I put building/house name in 'address_name' which works well - so problem solved. 

Except that...I just input a perfectly valid street address, city and postcode in the UK (I used to live there!) which has no house name - and geocoding placed it about 10 miles away.  It appeared to have used a part of the street address to locate a similar but wrong street - despite the correct street name that I know has been there for over 70 years!

Anyone else found problems like this, esp. in the UK?  This is a feature that has some benefits for my customer, if only it were more reliable.
Andy Clark
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This forum was archived on 2017-11-26.