GeoLocation Plug-in Minimum Data Required

3 posts by 2 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder: Plugins & Add-ons
Last Post: May 25, 2011   (RSS)

By InHouse - May 24, 2011

Can anyone tell me what the minimum data requirements are for the geolocation to work in Canada?

My early questions:
- Must records have a postal code?
- Can it work with a street number + City + Province combination?
- What field names are looked for as sources of input? The example cites a 'zip' field. Do I have to rename our Postal Code field to 'zip'? etc...

I'm having no luck so far using the GeoCode Tables plug-in for about 500 Candian records. They are missing postal codes so that may be showstopper.

It's been a while since I did my GIS undergrad but I suspect my issues are just in understanding how this particular tool wants to work.

Re: [InHouse] GeoLocation Plug-in Minimum Data Required

By Jason - May 25, 2011

Hi,

If you open up the geocoder plugin, you'll see this code:

$GLOBALS['GEOCODER_ADDRESS_FIELD_COMBOS'] = array( // values should be ", " separated. alternates should be "/" separated.
'address, city, province/state, postcode/zipcode/zip',
'street_address, city, province/state, postcode/zipcode/zip',
'city, province/state, postcode/zipcode/zip',
'province/state, postcode/zipcode/zip',
'address, city, province/state, country',
'address, city, province/state',
'address/postcode/zipcode/zip',
);


This is where you can define the different fields that the geocoder should use to attempt to geocode your record. Each type of field is separated by a comma, alternate fields are separated by slashes (/)

For example, say in 1 section you have these fields:
-address
-city
-province

And in another section, you have:
-address
-city
-state

You can set us your field line like this:
'address, city, province/state',

Obviously, the more specific you can be (ie, the more fields you have available) the more accurate your geocoding will be.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Hope this helps
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Jason Sauchuk - Project Manager
interactivetools.com

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Re: [Jason] GeoLocation Plug-in Minimum Data Required

By InHouse - May 25, 2011

Many thanks Jason! That's exactly the hint I needed. Should have guessed that the collective at Interactive Tools would have a way to control such things.

J.