GeoNames supports reverse geocoding
GeoNames is YAG (yet another geocoder), but behind the curtains lie many cool features. The most unique of which is a reverse geocoder.
Reverse geocoding is converting Latitude & Longitude to a place name. This is the other side of the mirror from traditional geocoding, which converts a place name into latitude & longitude. Why would someone want to reverse geocode you ask? With reverse geocoding you can convert your GPS tracklogs into meaningful locations easily, or allow users to click on a map and get back actual location of where they’re clicking.
The GeoNames API provides an interface for getting nearby postal codes, country, or most specific: place names.
Example
HighEarthOrbit offices: http://ws.geonames.org/findNearbyPlaceName?lat=42.4266&lng=-83.4931&style=full
returns:
<geonames>
<geoname>
<name>Northville</name>
<lat>42.43111</lat>
<lng>-83.48333</lng>
<geonameid>5003956</geonameid>
<countrycode>US</countrycode>
<countryname>United States</countryname>
<fcl>P</fcl>
<fcode>PPL</fcode>
<fclname>city, village,...</fclname>
<fcodename>populated place</fcodename>
<population>6360</population>
<elevation>252</elevation>
<admincode1>MI</admincode1>
<adminname1>Michigan</adminname1>
<admincode2 />
<adminname2 />
</geoname>
</geonames>
The whole geo-enchilada
Lastly, to make you really feel warm and good inside, the GeoNames database is provided for direct download under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Yum, free data.
See the GeoNames Blog post about it.
My name is
June 27th, 2006 at 1:38 am (#)
Andrew,
Geonames is testing right now two new reverse geocoding web services. The new services are far more specific and return the street, an educated guess for the street number and the closest intersection.
For your lat/lng the service returns “Spring Dr.” as the nearest street and “Spring Dr. / Orchard Dr” as the nearest intersection :
http://www.geonames.org/maps/reverse-geocoder.html
Marc
June 27th, 2006 at 7:41 am (#)
Thanks Marc, I knew I had run across the other service, but couldn’t find the URL when I was writing the blog post.
GeoNames is a great service. Thanks!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:52 pm (#)
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! gjdxaiouywcrc