README.rdoc

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 calculations for ActiveRecord objects. It’s as simple as calling geocode on your objects, and then using a scope like Venue.near("Billings, MT"). Since it does not rely on proprietary database functions finding geocoded objects in a given area works with out-of-the-box PostgreSQL, MySQL, and even SQLite.

Compatibility¶ ↑

Geocoder has been successfully tested with Ruby (MRI) 1.8.7, 1.9.2, and JRuby 1.5.3.

Geocoder is compatible with Rails 3. If you need to use it with Rails 2 please see the rails2 branch (no longer maintained, limited feature set).

Geocoder also works outside of Rails but you’ll need to install either the json (for MRI) or json_pure (for JRuby) gem.

Install¶ ↑

As a Gem¶ ↑

Add to your Gemfile:

gem "geocoder"

and run at the command prompt:

bundle install

Or As a Plugin¶ ↑

At the command prompt:

rails plugin install git://github.com/alexreisner/geocoder.git

Configure Object Geocoding¶ ↑

Required Attributes¶ ↑

ActiveRecord: Your object 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 “More on 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).