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# Geo::Coder::Free

Provides a Geo-Coding functionality using free databases

# VERSION

Version 0.12

# SYNOPSIS

    use Geo::Coder::Free;

    my $geo_coder = Geo::Coder::Free->new();
    my $location = $geo_coder->geocode(location => 'Ramsgate, Kent, UK');

    # Use a local download of http://results.openaddresses.io/
    my $openaddr_geo_coder = Geo::Coder::Free->new(openaddr => $ENV{'OPENADDR_HOME'});
    $location = $openaddr_geo_coder->geocode(location => '1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC, USA');

# DESCRIPTION

Geo::Coder::Free provides an interface to free databases by acting as a front-end to
Geo::Coder::Free::MaxMind and Geo::Coder::Free::OpenAddresses.

The cgi-bin directory contains a simple DIY Geo-Coding website.

    cgi-bin/page.fcgi page=query q=1600+Pennsylvania+Avenue+NW+Washington+DC+USA

You can see a sample website at [https://geocode.nigelhorne.com/](https://geocode.nigelhorne.com/).

    curl 'https://geocode.nigelhorne.com/cgi-bin/page.fcgi?page=query&q=1600+Pennsylvania+Avenue+NW+Washington+DC+USA'

# METHODS

## new

    $geo_coder = Geo::Coder::Free->new();

Takes one optional parameter, openaddr, which is the base directory of
the OpenAddresses data downloaded from [http://results.openaddresses.io](http://results.openaddresses.io).

The database also will include data from Who's On First [https://whosonfirst.org](https://whosonfirst.org).

Takes one optional parameter, directory,
which tells the library where to find the MaxMind and GeoNames files admin1db, admin2.db and cities.\[sql|csv.gz\].
If that parameter isn't given, the module will attempt to find the databases, but that can't be guaranteed.

## geocode

    $location = $geo_coder->geocode(location => $location);

    print 'Latitude: ', $location->{'latitude'}, "\n";
    print 'Longitude: ', $location->{'longitude'}, "\n";

    # TODO:
    # @locations = $geo_coder->geocode('Portland, USA');
    # diag 'There are Portlands in ', join (', ', map { $_->{'state'} } @locations);

    my @matches = $geo_coder->geocode(scantext => 'arbitrary text', region => 'US');

## reverse\_geocode

    $location = $geocoder->reverse_geocode(latlng => '37.778907,-122.39732');

To be done.

## ua

Does nothing, here for compatibility with other Geo-Coders

## run

You can also run this module from the command line:

    perl lib/Geo/Coder/Free.pm 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC

# AUTHOR

Nigel Horne <njh@bandsman.co.uk>

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.

# MORE INFORMATION

I've written a few Perl related Genealogy programs including gedcom ([https://github.com/nigelhorne/gedcom](https://github.com/nigelhorne/gedcom))
and ged2site ([https://github.com/nigelhorne/ged2site](https://github.com/nigelhorne/ged2site)).
One of the things that these do is to check the validity of your family tree, and one of those tasks is to verify place-names.
Of course places do change names and spelling becomes more consistent over the years, but the vast majority remain the same.
Enough of a majority to computerise the verification.
Unfortunately all of the on-line services have one problem or another - most either charge for large number of access, or throttle the number of look-ups.
Even my modest tree, just over 2000 people, reaches those limits.

There are, however, a number of free databases that can be used, including MaxMind, GeoNames, OpenAddresses and WhosOnFirst.
The objective of Geo::Coder::Free ([https://github.com/nigelhorne/Geo-Coder-Free](https://github.com/nigelhorne/Geo-Coder-Free))
is to create a database of those databases and to create a search engine either through a local copy of the database or through an on-line website.
Both are in their early days, but I have examples which do surprisingly well.

The local copy of the database is built using the createdatabase.PL script which is bundled with G:C:F.
That script creates a single SQLite file from downloaded copies of the databases listed above.
Running 'make' will download GeoNames and Maxmind, but OpenAddresses and WhosOnFirst need to be downloaded manually if you decide to use them - they are treated as optional by G:C:.F.

There is a sample website at [https://geocode.nigelhorne.com/](https://geocode.nigelhorne.com/).  The source code for that site is included in the G:C:F distribution.

# BUGS

Lots of lookups fail at the moment.

The openaddresses.io code has yet to be completed.
There are die()s where the code path has yet to be written.

The MaxMind data only contains cities.
The openaddresses data doesn't cover the globe.

Can't parse and handle "London, England".

See [Geo::Coder::Free::OpenAddresses](https://metacpan.org/pod/Geo::Coder::Free::OpenAddresses) for instructions creating its SQLite database from
[http://results.openaddresses.io/](http://results.openaddresses.io/).

# SEE ALSO

VWF, openaddresses, MaxMind and geonames.

# LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2017-2018 Nigel Horne.

The program code is released under the following licence: GPL for personal use on a single computer.
All other users (including Commercial, Charity, Educational, Government)
must apply in writing for a licence for use from Nigel Horne at \`&lt;njh at nigelhorne.com>\`.

This product includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from
[https://www.maxmind.com/en/home](https://www.maxmind.com/en/home).

This product includes data from Who's on First.
See [https://github.com/whosonfirst-data/whosonfirst-data/blob/master/LICENSE.md](https://github.com/whosonfirst-data/whosonfirst-data/blob/master/LICENSE.md) for licensing information.