Custom Google GeoCoder using Talend

Last month I wrote about how to get geocode information for an address based on zip code using Talend but this approach does not give you the precise address level geocode. You can obtain that using Google's GeoCode API.(keep in mind the usage limits)

I developed a Talend workflow that uses tFileInputJSON to connect to the API when you pass the concatenated address.

All you need is a input source, tFlowToIterate, tFileInputJSON and ofcourse your output. I wrote it to a buffer so that the result of the iterate flow can be aggregated. In the URL field of the tFileInputJSON component use the following:

"http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q="+((String)globalMap.get("Out.ConcatenatedAddress")) +"&output=json&oe=utf8&sensor=false&key=YourGoogleAPIKey"

Geocoding Customer Data using Talend

Geocoding customer data based on their zip or street address can add value to your data in many ways. For example you can do proximity searches using Solr on your customer data and show them relevant content every time they login to your site.

Talend makes it real easy and fast to achieve this. You can download a list of US Zip codes and a lat/long mapping at GeoNames.org. They have geocodes for other countries as well.

You can then create a basic job in Talend with a two csv input files and a tMap and see the results.

You can use the Google Map API to get more accurate Lat/Long results when you supply the address. The only problem is that there is a limit of 2500 per day. Talend has a connector called tGoogleGeoCoder that does precisely that.