Is it possible to get the distance between two postal codes for free? I tried to google the answer but all I found is Google Maps API key which requires contacting sales or things like that.
Its feel a bit overkill to make billing accounts to Google just for getting the distance between two postal codes.
I'm building a SaaS app and I would like to show the estimated distance between place A and place B. This feature isn't essential but would be cool under some circumstances.
Is it possible to achieve this for free?
Related
I have map of my office room. I am trying to implement indoor mapping inside the office room for iOS. I watched the video from the WWDC2014 on Corelocation and indoor mapping. I also have the sample code from them. I am not sure what exactly they mean by "floor plan pixel". I have an image of the office and how can I use the following image to use as the floor plan pixel? I will really appreciate if somebody can guide me how to do or let me know if there are githubs or other resources are doing indoor mapping and tracking in iOS.
Thank you
You will need to apply for your venue to be mapped on Apple's Map Connect Website. You will have to declare that you are the manager for the venue, then instructions will follow. This will involve you providing blueprints for the venue to Apple, locations of Wi-Fi base stations and (possibly) iBeacons. You will have to use Apple's specific app (that you find in the Appstore) to map the venue. When all the process is done, you will be online: you should be able to see your venue in Apple maps and do whatever your need to do.
Having said that, Apple seems, still, focussed on venues that have at least one million visitors per year. If your venue is smaller you are stuck with iBeacons and your own implementation of a positioning / proximity algorithm. Take a look at Open Tagger, as an example in Swift, it will give you an idea of the task and hopefully a very good starting point.
https://github.com/PaoloLongato/open-tagger/tree/github-master
I'm working on an iOS app that pulls events from Google Calendar and subsequently generates pins on a map for each event (based on what the event creator fills in for "Location"). The user can select a date range (today, this week, this month, etc.) and see all the events taking place near them over that period.
Problem 1: The app is for my local university, so a majority of the locations will be buildings on campus. These buildings have inconsistent addresses that are often difficult to find, so it would be good if the location "Foo Hall" would result in a pin on that building. Google Maps is capable of doing this, however Apple Maps has no knowledge of the buildings on my school campus.
Problem 2: In an ideal situation, thousands of students would be using this app. Each time they open the app, they could be viewing dozens of pins. Therefore, I'm worried that I may be pushing the limits imposed by Google's geocoding API (definitely the 2500 request limit, and maybe even the 100,000 request limit for the Business API).
So my question is... what would be the best solution for these two problems? Should I create a local database for building names and map them to coordinates? Or is there a way I can overcome the limitations of Google's Geocoding API? Is there a better solution I'm not thinking of?
Thanks for any help!
I would use latitude and longitude coordinates for the buildings and allow for people to add locations to the database if they are meeting somewhere that you have not added already. This way, the pins will drop in the center of the building if you want them to, because you are not relying on an address or on looking up a building name. You simply know that "Foo Hall" is at X latt. and Y long. And if someone selects "Foo Hall" or sees an event at "Foo Hall" there is a perfectly placed pin right in the middle of it on the map. I don't think you need to worry as much about the geocoding API if you are using hardcoded locations for the buildings either, because you won't have to be polling Google to get the building locations.
I would also use some sort of server to store the building locations so they can be updated or added to, either by you or by the users.
That's how I would handle it, good luck!
I'm writing an iOS application and it would be very handy to know the way to find a nearest business name (and especially business type, such as restaurant/hotel/store etc.) by a GPS coordinate, or at least by an address.
So just curious, is there such API/Web service out there?
Yes
Bing
Google Places
Yahoo Geo Technologies
I'm sure there are loads more to be found with a quick google
OK, it seems like I have to answer my own question. I didn't try it out in code, but the answer is here:
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/places/
Unfortunately there seems to be a cap on how many times Google places API can be called (for free), i.e. 1000 times per day (for the same API_key.)
My need is simple and commonly implemented in any location based app today, display to a user a list of all "things" in his/her area (or by a zip code / address)
Using Google Maps API (especially the new "store locator library") sounds like the safest bet, but if I would like to develop something on my own, is there a "standard" way to do so? what are the options? Yahoo geo-location API (and reverse lookup)? (Google Maps API require to use their map, not just API) purchace ZIP code files? other 3rd party services? online? offline? what is the secret?
Hmm. Zip codes can be handled a number of ways, and it helps to get a general background on how they work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_code
I'd purchase a USPS database with GPS coordinates, and work from there. A simple SELECT SQL query, with a LIMIT or TOP 10 (or however many search results you'd like) when calculating the magnitude of the vector should work here.
It's been a while, but the algorithm for vector calculation is fairly simple, and should be easy to implemented in SQL: http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~jenolive/vect5.html
Is there a Bing API for finding nearby cities given a city name or lat/long combination?
I don't know if Bing provides this, but you build your own from the data available from geonames.org
They provide an API to get places near a given lat/lng: http://api.geonames.org/findNearby?lat=47.3&lng=9&username=demo
Or you can also go all out and implement a solution for your own needs using their data, as per this answer: Given the lat/long coordinates, how can we find out the city/country?
I think this is what you're looking for: Bing Maps API Sample
The short answer is no, there is no Bing API for finding nearby cities.
That said, it would be possible to 'cook your own' using the existing APIs. However, one thing that would need clarification is what 'nearby' means. I presume you mean within a specific radius of a given point (determined by a city name or lat/long combination).
Using the Bing Api it would be fairly trivial to implement an algorithm to reverse geocode a location and then test for places within x distance.
Failing that, you could use something like geoPlugin, it is free and you can put it on your sever - thus avoiding 3rd party up-time issues.
http://www.geoplugin.com/webservices/php#php_class
Take a look at the nearby places features, this does exactly what you want.
http://www.geoplugin.com/webservices/extras
No, there isn't. However, it's relatively simple to get the bounding box for a given coordinate and then use the Bing Maps API with that. I'm doing this and used this solution to get what I needed...
https://stackoverflow.com/a/14314146/73680