Geocoding with Google Geocoding API

geocode_sample.py

# Keep in mind, google has some strict policy on usage (2,500 per day from any IP address)

# Python 3

# Also see the API docs:
#  https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/

import urllib.request
import urllib.parse

import json

url = r"http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?"
record = {"address": "1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500"}  # White House

params = urllib.parse.urlencode(record)

url_params = url + params

req = urllib.request.Request(url_params)
resp = urllib.request.urlopen(req)

text = resp.read().decode("ascii", "ignore")

result = json.loads(text)

print(text)
print("Latitude: " + str(result["results"][0]["geometry"]["location"]["lat"]))
print("Longitude: " + str(result["results"][0]["geometry"]["location"]["lng"]))

"""
# The resutls for the White House data:

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "1600",
               "short_name" : "1600",
               "types" : [ "street_number" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "President's Park",
               "short_name" : "President's Park",
               "types" : [ "establishment" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest",
               "short_name" : "Pennsylvania Ave NW",
               "types" : [ "route" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Washington",
               "short_name" : "Washington",
               "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "District of Columbia",
               "short_name" : "DC",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "United States",
               "short_name" : "US",
               "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "20500",
               "short_name" : "20500",
               "types" : [ "postal_code" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, President's Park, Washington, DC 20500, USA",
         "geometry" : {
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 38.8978378,
               "lng" : -77.0365123
            },
            "location_type" : "ROOFTOP",
            "viewport" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 38.89918678029149,
                  "lng" : -77.03516331970849
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 38.89648881970849,
                  "lng" : -77.03786128029151
               }
            }
         },
         "types" : [ "street_address" ]
      }
   ],
   "status" : "OK"
}

Latitude: 38.8978378
Longitude: -77.0365123

"""