How do I Geocode 20 addresses without receiving an OVER_QUERY_LIMIT response?

Solution 1:

No, there is not really any other way : if you have many locations and want to display them on a map, the best solution is to :

• fetch the latitude+longitude, using the geocoder, when a location is created
• store those in your database, alongside the address
• and use those stored latitude+longitude when you want to display the map.

This is, of course, considering that you have a lot less creation/modification of locations than you have consultations of locations.

Yes, it means you'll have to do a bit more work when saving the locations -- but it also means :

• You'll be able to search by geographical coordinates
  • i.e. "I want a list of points that are near where I'm now"
• Displaying the map will be a lot faster
  • Even with more than 20 locations on it
• Oh, and, also (last but not least) : this will work ;-)
  • You will less likely hit the limit of X geocoder calls in N seconds.
  • And you will less likely hit the limit of Y geocoder calls per day.

Solution 2:

You actually do not have to wait a full second for each request. I found that if I wait 200 miliseconds between each request I am able to avoid the OVER_QUERY_LIMIT response and the user experience is passable. With this solution you can load 20 items in 4 seconds.

$(items).each(function(i, item){

  setTimeout(function(){

    geoLocate("my address", function(myLatlng){
      ...
    });

  }, 200 * i);

}

Solution 3:

Unfortunately this is a restriction of the Google maps service.

I am currently working on an application using the geocoding feature, and I'm saving each unique address on a per-user basis. I generate the address information (city, street, state, etc) based on the information returned by Google maps, and then save the lat/long information in the database as well. This prevents you from having to re-code things, and gives you nicely formatted addresses.

Another reason you want to do this is because there is a daily limit on the number of addresses that can be geocoded from a particular IP address. You don't want your application to fail for a person for that reason.

Solution 4:

I'm facing the same problem trying to geocode 140 addresses.

My workaround was adding usleep(100000) for each loop of next geocoding request. If status of the request is OVER_QUERY_LIMIT, the usleep is increased by 50000 and request is repeated, and so on.

And of cause all received data (lat/long) are stored in XML file not to run request every time the page is loading.