Geocode a list of cities (or localities) using google's public geocoder. This includes a proper timeout mechanism for sane request intervals. Runs in NodeJS

CitylistToLocation.js

var request = require('request');

var citylist = require('./data/citylist').citylist; // the array of city names
var i;

var cityDataStore = {};

for (i = 0; i < citylist.length; i++) {
  if (i < citylist.length) {
    url = 'http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=' + citylist[i] + '&sensor=false'; // Max 2500 free requests per IP per Day
    var currentCity = citylist[i];
    (function (city, url, i) {
      setTimeout(function () {
        getLocation(city, url, i);
      }, i * 500);// Calling the function in intervals of 500ms to ensure the server responds correctly
    })(currentCity, url, i);
  }
}

var getLocation = function (currentCity, url, index) {
  request(url, function (error, response, body) {
    body = JSON.parse(body || {});
    var result = body.results && body.results[0]; // Zero'th result is most probable 

    if (result) {
      console.log('Storing data for -', currentCity);
      // Write results to a JSON object store, referenced by currentCity
      cityDataStore[currentCity] = result; // Or choose to write to a file or DB
    }
  });
};