Problems geocoding addresses with "#" for Apartment Number

[efg...@gmail.com]

Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the documentation.

 

Using the online geocoding example, I added "Apt 23" to the address:

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway+Apt+23,+Mountain+View,+CA&sensor=false

 

This geocodes OK, but replaces "Apt" with # in the formatted address:

"formatted_address": "1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy #23, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA"

 

But if I attempt to geocode the address with the # for Apt.

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway+#23,+Mountain+View,+CA&sensor=false

 

that results in an error:

 

{
  "status": "REQUEST_DENIED",
  "results": [ ]
}      

 

Is there some rule I don't understand about "#" here?  Are there other special characters that should be avoided?

 

Thanks for any insight about this.

[Michael Geary]

The # character has special meaning in a URL. Anything after the # is never sent to the server at all!

You need to run your address through encodeURIComponent() before putting it into the URL. For example:

var address = '1600 Amphitheatre Parkway #23, Mountain View, CA';

var url = 'http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?sensor=false&address=' + encodeURIComponent(address);

The resulting URL is now:

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?sensor=false&address=1600%20Amphitheatre%20Parkway%20%2323%2C%20Mountain%20View%2C%20CA

and that should work fine.

-Mike

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[JKurtock]

There's another, more subtle issue. If you on rely location_type as a
measure of "quality" of the result, I found that it returns
"approximate" with the apartment number, when it would return
"rooftop" without the apartment number.
http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-js-api-v3/browse_thread/thread/982173188110debb/32d4815a009896bc?lnk=gst&q=JKurtock+geocoder#32d4815a009896bc
In my use, I strip off the apartment number before sending it the
Geocoder (so that a location_type of "rooftop" or "approximate" is
meaningful).

If haven't tested this in a few months, Google often changes subtle
parts of the API, so running a test would be a good idea.

On Jan 22, 12:48 pm, efgl...@gmail.com wrote:
> Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the documentation.
>

> Using the online geocoding example, I added "Apt 23" to the address:http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphith...

>
> This geocodes OK, but replaces "Apt" with # in the formatted address:
> "formatted_address": "1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy #23, Mountain View, CA 94043,
> USA"
>

> But if I attempt to geocode the address with the # for Apt.http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphith...