Google Maps JS API - Find name of place given location (latitude/longitude)

Question

Given a latitude/longitude, how can I get the name of the place at that location using Google Map's JS API?

The Geocoder.geocode(..) seems to be the way to go, but am not sure what's the best way to get the exact location name out of the API results.

Solution 1

Use the Geocoding API for mapping locations to addresses and addresses to locations. http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/services.html#Geocoding

Geocoder.geocode( { 'latLng': latLngObject }, callback);

The callback receives results and status.

The results are pretty accurate, but you'll have to rely on approximations nevertheless, as the user location can rarely be measured exactly.

Solution 2

Reverse geocode is the term you are looking for:

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/geocoding-reverse.html

Example:

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/services.html#ReverseGeocoding

Solution 3

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=40.714224,-73.961452&sensor=true

is the API call. MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS NO SPACE IN THE latlng PARAMETER

Comments

[Tomas]

Jorgen, nice avatar. Is it made automatically from your photo? Which tool did you use?

[Jørgen]

Yeah, it's pretty cool :) The company I work for order them from an artist. I'm afraid I don't know about how she makes them.

[Tomas]

Yeah, that's really cool. I hoped they not drawn by hand, but generated but that's not the case unfortunatelly. Thank you for info :-)