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README.md

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  • README.md 35.80 KiB

    Geocoder

    Geocoder is a complete geocoding solution for Ruby. With Rails it adds geocoding (by street or IP address), reverse geocoding (find street address based on given coordinates), and distance queries. It's as simple as calling geocode on your objects, and then using a scope like Venue.near("Billings, MT").

    Compatibility

    • Supports multiple Ruby versions: Ruby 1.8.7, 1.9.2, 1.9.3, 2.0.0, and JRuby.
    • Supports multiple databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and MongoDB (1.7.0 and higher).
    • Supports Rails 3 and 4. If you need to use it with Rails 2 please see the rails2 branch (no longer maintained, limited feature set).
    • Works very well outside of Rails, you just need to install either the json (for MRI) or json_pure (for JRuby) gem.

    Installation

    Install Geocoder like any other Ruby gem:

    gem install geocoder

    Or, if you're using Rails/Bundler, add this to your Gemfile:

    gem "geocoder"

    and run at the command prompt:

    bundle install

    Object Geocoding

    ActiveRecord

    Your model must have two attributes (database columns) for storing latitude and longitude coordinates. By default they should be called latitude and longitude but this can be changed (see "Model Configuration" below):

    rails generate migration AddLatitudeAndLongitudeToModel latitude:float longitude:float
    rake db:migrate

    For reverse geocoding your model must provide a method that returns an address. This can be a single attribute, but it can also be a method that returns a string assembled from different attributes (eg: city, state, and country).

    Next, your model must tell Geocoder which method returns your object's geocodable address:

    geocoded_by :full_street_address   # can also be an IP address
    after_validation :geocode          # auto-fetch coordinates

    For reverse geocoding, tell Geocoder which attributes store latitude and longitude:

    reverse_geocoded_by :latitude, :longitude
    after_validation :reverse_geocode  # auto-fetch address

    Mongoid

    First, your model must have an array field for storing coordinates:

    field :coordinates, :type => Array

    You may also want an address field, like this:

    field :address

    but if you store address components (city, state, country, etc) in separate fields you can instead define a method called address that combines them into a single string which will be used to query the geocoding service.

    Once your fields are defined, include the Geocoder::Model::Mongoid module and then call geocoded_by:

    include Geocoder::Model::Mongoid
    geocoded_by :address               # can also be an IP address
    after_validation :geocode          # auto-fetch coordinates

    Reverse geocoding is similar:

    include Geocoder::Model::Mongoid
    reverse_geocoded_by :coordinates
    after_validation :reverse_geocode  # auto-fetch address

    Once you've set up your model you'll need to create the necessary spatial indices in your database:

    rake db:mongoid:create_indexes

    Be sure to read Latitude/Longitude Order in the Notes on MongoDB section below on how to properly retrieve latitude/longitude coordinates from your objects.

    MongoMapper

    MongoMapper is very similar to Mongoid, just be sure to include Geocoder::Model::MongoMapper.

    Mongo Indices

    By default, the methods geocoded_by and reverse_geocoded_by create a geospatial index. You can avoid index creation with the :skip_index option, for example:

    include Geocoder::Model::Mongoid
    geocoded_by :address, :skip_index => true

    Bulk Geocoding

    If you have just added geocoding to an existing application with a lot of objects you can use this Rake task to geocode them all:

    rake geocode:all CLASS=YourModel

    Geocoder will print warnings if you exceed the rate limit for your geocoding service. Some services — Google notably — enforce a per-second limit in addition to a per-day limit. To avoid exceeding the per-second limit, you can add a sleep option to the rake task, like so:

    rake geocode:all CLASS=YourModel sleep=0.25

    Request Geocoding by IP Address

    Geocoder adds a location method to the standard Rack::Request object so you can easily look up the location of any HTTP request by IP address. For example, in a Rails controller or a Sinatra app:

    # returns Geocoder::Result object
    result = request.location

    Note that this will usually return nil in your test and development environments because things like "localhost" and "0.0.0.0" are not an Internet IP addresses.

    See Advanced Geocoding below for more information about Geocoder::Result objects.

    Location-Aware Database Queries

    To find objects by location, use the following scopes:

    Venue.near('Omaha, NE, US', 20)    # venues within 20 miles of Omaha
    Venue.near([40.71, 100.23], 20)    # venues within 20 miles of a point
    Venue.near([40.71, 100.23], 20, :units => :km)
                                       # venues within 20 kilometres of a point
    Venue.geocoded                     # venues with coordinates
    Venue.not_geocoded                 # venues without coordinates

    With geocoded objects you can do things like this:

    if obj.geocoded?
      obj.nearbys(30)                      # other objects within 30 miles
      obj.distance_from([40.714,-100.234]) # distance from arbitrary point to object
      obj.bearing_to("Paris, France")      # direction from object to arbitrary point
    end

    Some utility methods are also available:

    # look up coordinates of some location (like searching Google Maps)
    Geocoder.coordinates("25 Main St, Cooperstown, NY")
     => [42.700149, -74.922767]
    
    # distance (in miles) between Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building
    Geocoder::Calculations.distance_between([47.858205,2.294359], [40.748433,-73.985655])
     => 3619.77359999382
    
    # find the geographic center (aka center of gravity) of objects or points
    Geocoder::Calculations.geographic_center([city1, city2, [40.22,-73.99], city4])
     => [35.14968, -90.048929]

    Please see the code for more methods and detailed information about arguments (eg, working with kilometers).

    Distance and Bearing

    When you run a location-aware query the returned objects have two attributes added to them (only w/ ActiveRecord):

    • obj.distance - number of miles from the search point to this object
    • obj.bearing - direction from the search point to this object

    Results are automatically sorted by distance from the search point, closest to farthest. Bearing is given as a number of clockwise degrees from due north, for example: