Geocoding with Geocoder.us and Google Maps

Geocoding is the process of assigning geographic identifiers to map features — a specific example is assigning a latitude and longitude to a given street address. A common technique uses address interpolation. Using this method, if we know a street address and the endpoints of that street, we can interpolate the approximate location of the specific address.

The address information comes from the TIGER/Line files, which are extracts of selected geographic and cartographic information from the US Census Bureau’s TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database.

So the task of a geocoder is to parse an address for street numbers, names, cities, states, and zip codes, and then interpolate the coordinates of that address by finding its endpoints in the dataset. I recently used two geocoders, Google Maps and Geocoder.us, and thought I’d share the results of my work along with free software that you can use to geocode your own addresses.

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15,000 Downloads for Amazon-OnTheGo

We’re just wrapping up device support and SEO on our new mobile / web application (if all goes well, we’ll deploy in a week or two). Great stuff: mobile messaging, a maps mashup, location-based alerts, friend finder, and a place finder all wrapped up in one package called Swirl Connect.

In working on the SEO, I looked at Amazon-OnTheGo’s traffic stats, because it’s received a fair amount of traffic with very little effort on my part. It was always supposed to be a quick and dirty little project, but it’s attracted just over 15,000 downloads to date, and has received some good feedback along the way. Feedback I’m sorry to say I’m just getting around to seeing. Here are a few mentions:

• SarahInTampa.com: Amazon To Go Good luck with your move to WordPress!
• Amazon-OnTheGo on java.com
• 10 of 10 rating on GetJar
• Short mentions in SearchEngineWatch, Wendong’s Smart Phone Blog, ResourceShelf, and The Cell Freak.

Thanks for the feedback!