Re: Sample code for using Yahoo's geocoding to emulate near in the search API
Hi,
I have used Google Maps to do something similar (with my Tweet search
app - www.tweedar.com).
Basically the Geocode function in Google Maps allows you to look up a
name and it will return you a set or GPS coords. In Tweedar I have
used this within a Flex application so the code is in ActionScript,
but I did a map application for Facebook as well and I used a call
from PHP to do the same thing (this was taken from example code I
found on the net). You can then call this function from PHP (or as a
HTTP call) and get the c0ords back from a location name ( i.e. San
Francisco, USA) - you will need a key for Google Maps as well.
/**
* Look up a set of GPS coords(lat lon) from a text location/address
*
* @param string $location: the text address(comma delimited)
* @param string $key: a valid map key on Google MAPS
*
* @return an array of the result [http status, detail, lat, lon]
*/
function getGpsCoordsFromGoogle($location, $key){
// make a REST call to google for coords of location
$base=http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=.urlencode
($location).key=.$key.output=csv;
$output=file_get_contents($base);
return explode(,,$output);
}
Hope this helps,
-Steve.
www.tweedar.com
On Feb 18, 8:17 pm, Pete Warden searchbrow...@gmail.com wrote:
I needed a way for users to be able to enter readable place names and
do searches restricted to the neighborhood. The search API only
supports lat,long so I had to implement some geocoding to translate
names into coordinates. I ended up using Yahoo's free GeoPlanet
service, with 50,000 requests possible per month.
Since I couldn't find any other public examples of how to do this
(though I'm sure this must be in a lot of code out there) I put up my
sample
code:http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2009/02/how-to-emulate-ne...
It's a small PHP file, and works just like the normal search API call
but with an additional near argument that gets translated by the
geocoding. I'd love to see some more explanation on the docs wiki of
this sort of workaround for 'near', but it seems that it's only
editable by Twitter employees? Facebook's more open editing policy
seems to work well for them.
cheers,
Pete
Re: Sample code for using Yahoo's geocoding to emulate near in the search API
I use this Y! Pipe for TweetGrid to accomplish geocoding: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=27c113188a1f89baab07f2d133bc3557 it was lovingly copied and edited from a similar pipe by @JohnDBishop (with permission). I use this with a json callback (plus some regex matching) to translate between near: within: syntax and geocoding. Anyone is welcome to clone/edit it for their own use. -Chad On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 3:17 PM, Pete Warden searchbrow...@gmail.com wrote: I needed a way for users to be able to enter readable place names and do searches restricted to the neighborhood. The search API only supports lat,long so I had to implement some geocoding to translate names into coordinates. I ended up using Yahoo's free GeoPlanet service, with 50,000 requests possible per month. Since I couldn't find any other public examples of how to do this (though I'm sure this must be in a lot of code out there) I put up my sample code: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2009/02/how-to-emulate-near-in-the-twitter-search-api-using-geoplanet.html It's a small PHP file, and works just like the normal search API call but with an additional near argument that gets translated by the geocoding. I'd love to see some more explanation on the docs wiki of this sort of workaround for 'near', but it seems that it's only editable by Twitter employees? Facebook's more open editing policy seems to work well for them. cheers, Pete
Re: Sample code for using Yahoo's geocoding to emulate near in the search API
argh, hit send by mistake.. I was going to add: Your sample looks great, and I may even start using it for some other projects where the pipe would not be as useful. Thanks for posting the link, very nice. I wasn't trying to trump your example, merely posting another way to get around the non-near within sytanx availability on the API side. -Chad On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 4:28 PM, Chad Etzel jazzyc...@gmail.com wrote: I use this Y! Pipe for TweetGrid to accomplish geocoding: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=27c113188a1f89baab07f2d133bc3557 it was lovingly copied and edited from a similar pipe by @JohnDBishop (with permission). I use this with a json callback (plus some regex matching) to translate between near: within: syntax and geocoding. Anyone is welcome to clone/edit it for their own use. -Chad On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 3:17 PM, Pete Warden searchbrow...@gmail.com wrote: I needed a way for users to be able to enter readable place names and do searches restricted to the neighborhood. The search API only supports lat,long so I had to implement some geocoding to translate names into coordinates. I ended up using Yahoo's free GeoPlanet service, with 50,000 requests possible per month. Since I couldn't find any other public examples of how to do this (though I'm sure this must be in a lot of code out there) I put up my sample code: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2009/02/how-to-emulate-near-in-the-twitter-search-api-using-geoplanet.html It's a small PHP file, and works just like the normal search API call but with an additional near argument that gets translated by the geocoding. I'd love to see some more explanation on the docs wiki of this sort of workaround for 'near', but it seems that it's only editable by Twitter employees? Facebook's more open editing policy seems to work well for them. cheers, Pete
Re: Sample code for using Yahoo's geocoding to emulate near in the search API
Thanks Chad, mostly just wanted to get something into the search indexes for anyone else looking. :) I'd never thought of using Pipes, that is a very neat approach, feels more elegant than requiring PHP in a lot of situations. cheers, Pete On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 1:30 PM, Chad Etzel jazzyc...@gmail.com wrote: argh, hit send by mistake.. I was going to add: Your sample looks great, and I may even start using it for some other projects where the pipe would not be as useful. Thanks for posting the link, very nice. I wasn't trying to trump your example, merely posting another way to get around the non-near within sytanx availability on the API side. -Chad On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 4:28 PM, Chad Etzel jazzyc...@gmail.com wrote: I use this Y! Pipe for TweetGrid to accomplish geocoding: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=27c113188a1f89baab07f2d133bc3557 it was lovingly copied and edited from a similar pipe by @JohnDBishop (with permission). I use this with a json callback (plus some regex matching) to translate between near: within: syntax and geocoding. Anyone is welcome to clone/edit it for their own use. -Chad On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 3:17 PM, Pete Warden searchbrow...@gmail.com wrote: I needed a way for users to be able to enter readable place names and do searches restricted to the neighborhood. The search API only supports lat,long so I had to implement some geocoding to translate names into coordinates. I ended up using Yahoo's free GeoPlanet service, with 50,000 requests possible per month. Since I couldn't find any other public examples of how to do this (though I'm sure this must be in a lot of code out there) I put up my sample code: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2009/02/how-to-emulate-near-in-the-twitter-search-api-using-geoplanet.html It's a small PHP file, and works just like the normal search API call but with an additional near argument that gets translated by the geocoding. I'd love to see some more explanation on the docs wiki of this sort of workaround for 'near', but it seems that it's only editable by Twitter employees? Facebook's more open editing policy seems to work well for them. cheers, Pete
