Geocoding of addresses

[waldoj]

I'm not aware of any open, unencumbered, accurate tool for geocoding addresses. (e.g., Google's geocoder may only be used to plot points on a Google Map, as per their terms of service.) Here's a great list of available tools, with a bit of information about each one. The best option is an API-based service run by TAMU, which is much better than any other tools, but it's API-based, rather than being an open stack or a downloadable database.

[spara]

Include Data Science Tool Kit, you can use the online version or download a VM if you want to run it locally. Runs via API (also drop-in replacement for Google Style Geocoder) or batch. Also, there are a number of other interesting geo tools included.

Here's an example of using the the DSTK geocoder in an app

[paulfitz]

Missing on the TAMU list is @petewarden's datasciencetoolkit, it has a handy drop-in google-style geocoder. Can't speak to its accuracy other than a "works for me". Documentation says it "uses data from the US Census and OpenStreetMap." VMs available. Oh, I see @spara beat me to it :-)

[waldoj]

Y'all just blew my mind.

[waldoj]

Man, this whole thing is just excellent, well beyond geocoding. I can't believe I didn't know about this.

[feomike]

nice one @spara i didn't know about that one either. can you tell me more about the origin?

[spara]

Pete Warden took the geocoder that Schuyler Earle wrote for Fortius/GeoCommons and wrapped a bunch of tools with it. It was sort of an in between project when he was between leaving Apple, playing with big data, and starting JetPac. I think he's added British post codes as well. Pete still maintains it from time to time but he's been focused on JetPac for the past couple of years. I used it in production when I was doing stuff for InfoChimps in 2011 and it seemed pretty stable back them. Just for the sake of disclosure, I do consulting work for JetPac.

[spara]

The grand daddy of online TIGER based geocoders, geocoder.us is still available and has been updated (in 2013). I think Rich Gibson has also added a couple features such as including census information from a geocoding request. I do know that this is currently maintained.

[feomike]

👍

[spara]

PostGIS 2.x includes a TIGER based geocoder. It also includes address normalization and the option to offset address points from the street centerline.

[petewarden]

Thanks for the kind words, and USODI looks awesome! The background to the DSTK was my need for a turnkey geocoding solution that included data. There's other amazing open source geocoders out there, I'd call out Nominatim too in addition to the previous ones mentioned, the tricky part is usually populating them.

[waldoj]

The U.S. Census now provides a geocoder. In terms of API UX, it's really quite nice—no auth, it's fast, the results are clean and straightforward. I'm using it at this moment to geocode several hundred thousand business addresses. Unfortunately, it is of course based on TIGER data, so the accuracy isn't great, it does poorly in rural areas, etc. Still, they're doing something great with the data that they have.

[hampelm]

Here's a search of all the ArcGIS online locator services -- aka geocoders -- and a link to the docs via @ajturner

[waldoj]

Here's New York (state's) geocoder, which they promote as publicly available.

[waldoj]

Utah has a geocoder, complete with sample Python. Unfortunately, it requires registration. I don't see any reason to think that registration is limited to any particular group (e.g., state employees).