What is it?
TinyGeocoder is a simple script and database which wraps around APIs like
Google, Yahoo, and other geocoding services. The point of this application is
to simply create latitude/longitude coordinates from an address, or in the case
of reverse geocoding, to give the closest address from the given coordinates.
When you run out of free queries by one provider for a day, it'll automatically
move to the next one, and then the next one until you're completely out of
free geocoding queries at all the providers implemented the script.
Requirements
TinyGeocoder is currently a PHP script which runs on SQLite. Thus:
- PHP 5.3+
- SQLite drivers
- cURL
It has only been tested on a Linux/Apache configuration, but if someone
tests it and finds that it works on other servers, please let us know and
we will revise this README.
Installation
With the requirements installed, simply drop the script in a box with access
to the outside (ie, Google, Yahoo, etc). It does not have to be a publicly
known or accessible server, but it does need access to the internet to be able
to use the publicly accessible APIs for geocoding.
Once all the files are added, just visit the index.php page in a browser to
complete your setup with API information if you want to use the services
which request your usage of one (optional).
It's probably a good idea to make your db/tinygeo.sqlite database
read/write-able. Also, make the db folder writeable.
Copy includes/config.sample.php to includes/config.php and make it writeable.
Usage
Once it's installed and configured, you have a few options for usage. To
test, just go to the root (ie, index.php) file in a browser and use the form
by submitting an address or location. You should receive back a latitude
and longitude coordinate. If you don't, you may have missed a step, have file
permissions issues, or perhaps the server does not have access to the public
web.
Alternatively, to being using it as a service programmatically, you can start
using /create-api.php instead.
Here's an example using the previously public tinygeocoder.com service.
For traditional geocoding, use the "q" param:
- Go to http://[your ip or domain]/create-api.php?q-Perris,CA
- The response should be something like: 33.790348,-117.226085
For reverse geocoding, use the "g" param:
- Go to http://[your ip or domain]/create-api.php?g=33.790348,-117.226085
- The response should be something like: 498 N Perris Blvd, Perris, CA
92570, USA
For JSONP and JavaScript callback functions (which works with both
traditional and reverse geocoding):
- Go to http://[your ip or domain]/create-api.php?q=San+Diego&callback=myFunc
- The response should be: myFunc([32.718834,-117.163841]);
Please note that the db/tinygeo.sqlite database holds all unique queries so
you don't have to go out and waste another hit to the providers for a query
that you've already run. I suggest perhaps creating a cron job or otherwise
dumping old (over a year) data since geocoding datasets are updated every
now and then.
Known Issues
Yes, there are some extraneous files we don't need to have here. I just
haven't bothered to remove them yet.
Licensing
TBD for this script, but yea, you do have to abide by the TOS the actual
data providers have.
Credits and Acknowledgements
Nate Ritter - Original author (loves receiving monetary "thank you" gifts)
http://perfectspace.com
nate@perfectspace.com
Abbas Ali - Modifying original code to use SQLite instead of MySQL
David Evans - Assisting with the JSONP and JavaScript callback functionality