Procedure GeoFindCoordinates(address, latitude, longitude, email, url)

GeoFindCoordinates

The procedure GeoFindCoordinates can be used to find the latitude/longitude coordinates for a given address. The procedure uses the free OpenStreetMap (OSM) geocoding service. You are advised to carefully read the OSM geocoder usage policy before using this procedure in your application.

GeoFindCoordinates(
     address,             ! (input) scalar string expression
     latitude,            ! (output) scalar numerical parameter
     longitude,           ! (output) scalar numerical parameter
     email,               ! (optional) scalar string parameter
     url                  ! (optional) scalar string parameter
     )

Arguments

address

A string representing the address for which the latitude and longitude coordinates have to be found.

latitude

A scalar numerical parameter that will contain the latitude coordinate of the specified address upon success.

longitude

A scalar numerical parameter that will contain the longitude coordinate of the specified address upon success.

email

An optional string representing the email address that the OSM organization will use to contact you in the event of problems (as mentioned in their usage policy).

url

An optional string representing the url of an alternative (e.g. your own) OSM geocoder server. If not specified, the public OSM geocoder server is being used.

Return Value

The procedure returns 1 on success, and 0 if the specified address could not be found. On failure, the pre-defined identifier CurrentErrorMessage will contain a proper error message.

Example

The following calls to the procedure GeoFindCoordinates return valid latitude and longitude coordinates

GeoFindCoordinates("Netherlands", Latitude, Longitude, "me@mycompany.com");
GeoFindCoordinates("Haarlem, Netherlands", Latitude, Longitude);
GeoFindCoordinates("2034 Haarlem, Netherlands", Latitude, Longitude);
GeoFindCoordinates("Schipholweg, Haarlem, Netherlands", Latitude, Longitude);

GeoFindCoordinates("US", Latitude, Longitude);
GeoFindCoordinates("Kirkland, WA, US", Latitude, Longitude);
GeoFindCoordinates("Lake Washington Boulevard NE, Kirkland, US", Latitude, Longitude);
GeoFindCoordinates("5400 Carillon Point, Kirkland, US", Latitude, Longitude);

GeoFindCoordinates("Singapore", Latitude, Longitude);
GeoFindCoordinates("Chulia Street, Singapore", Latitude, Longitude);

GeoFindCoordinates("Shanghai, China", Latitude, Longitude);
GeoFindCoordinates("Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai, China", Latitude, Longitude);

assumed that Latitude and Longitude are declared as numerical parameters in your model.

Note

• With the introduction of AIMMS 3.9.5 and AIMMS 3.10 PR, this procedure has been disabled because Microsoft discontinued support to the Virtual Earth geocoder service that was used to locate the address. In AIMMS 3.11 FR2, the GeoFindCoordinates procedure was enabled again by using the OSM geocoding service instead.

• ‘One of the hard things about geocoding is parsing addresses into something intelligible’ (see the OpenStreetMap wiki for details on address formats). As a result, you may need to slightly play around with the address format in order for the geocoder to correctly parse your address.

• To discourage ‘bulk geocoding’ (see the OSM usage policy for more details), AIMMS inserts a small delay in case the time between two consecutive geocoding requests is smaller than a second.