Eircode and Google Maps Working

swampgas

I wonder if there are any other countries where the postcode uniquely identifies an address? If not, then the existing algorithms in Google's codebase are probably designed to translate a postcode into a defined area on the map, rather than a specific point or address. Integrating Eircodes may require additional features (and maybe new API calls) that were not required before.

sondagefaux

ukoda wrote: »

Deedsie wrote: »

Well is it not still in testing? Its not working for apartments yet so they will presumably wait until it is functioning perfectly?

I'd say so. If it was me, I wouldn't announce anything until it was 99% to avoid any media backlash

I'd wait until it was 100% given the crap that has been thrown at Eircodes.

As far as I can see, the last remaining issues are:

1. Eircode 'clusters' (e.g. apartment buildings) not working

2. Odd addresses - Google using its own addresses (?), not the same as either the geographic or postal addresses shown in Eircode Finder

Issue 2 is minor enough, but the clusters issue affects thousands of addresses, residential and non-residential, and should be sorted.

sondagefaux

swampgas wrote: »

I wonder if there are any other countries where the postcode uniquely identifies an address? If not, then the existing algorithms in Google's codebase are probably designed to translate a postcode into a defined area on the map, rather than a specific point or address. Integrating Eircodes may require additional features (and maybe new API calls) that were not required before.

A couple of other countries have postcodes that identify unique addresses, although not in all cases. I don't know if Google Maps cater for these or not.

ukoda

swampgas wrote: »

I wonder if there are any other countries where the postcode uniquely identifies an address? If not, then the existing algorithms in Google's codebase are probably designed to translate a postcode into a defined area on the map, rather than a specific point or address. Integrating Eircodes may require additional features (and maybe new API calls) that were not required before.

I wouldn't think so, it's a database look up to get the geo's and that's what Google use to drop the pin I'd imagine

BailMeOut

one thing nobody has talked about and that how they will match business markers that are manually placed when setup to the official Eircode marker. In most cases you would imagine that the markers will be off unless the business happened to place exactly where the eircode is. Not a huge issue but you will end up with the eircode marker not matching the business. The fix would be to get all business to edit their listings to include their eircode on their address.

sondagefaux

MBSnr wrote: »

Padster90s wrote: »

Routing key and the space issues are resolved for me, have been for a week now. Clusters or addresses are still an issue, not a big one though.

Not quite. Seems to be that the space issue is resolved on mobile Google Maps.

On my phone, D01 N971 (with space) works in Google Maps from my location in Galway - it centres on Dublin correctly. (This D01 postcode just came up in the thread as one near the GPO).

If I type D01 N971 (with space) into Google Maps on a desktop, the map centres on the closest matching last 4 digits - in this case H65 N971.

If I type D01N971 (no space) it works with Google Maps on a desktop.

This problem seems to be unique to you now. It was a problem for me, but it isn't any longer.

MBSnr

sondagefaux wrote: »

This problem seems to be unique to you now. It was a problem for me, but it isn't any longer.

So if you centre on Galway by typing in Galway then type in D01 N971 it works?

I get
We could not find d01 n971
Make sure your search is spelled correctly. Try adding a city, state, or zip code.

If I just let it use my location as Galway - I get the previous issue I described.

sondagefaux

MBSnr wrote: »

sondagefaux wrote: »

This problem seems to be unique to you now. It was a problem for me, but it isn't any longer.

So if you centre on Galway by typing in Galway then type in D01 N971 it works?

I get
We could not find d01 n971
Make sure your search is spelled correctly. Try adding a city, state, or zip code.

If I just let it use my location as Galway - I get the previous issue I described.

Yes, it works. I've just used google.ie/maps, zoomed into Galway by clicking + until I get tohttps://www.google.ie/maps/@53.2709069,-9.0629051,15z, then typed in D01 N971 and ended up with the screen showing a red pin at Henry Street, Dublin, near the GPO.

I've also gone to https://www.google.ie/maps, typed in the word Galway, got this url (https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Galway/@53.2839844,-9.1187938,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x485b93955a2d5bff:0x32b1b440a495281!8m2!3d53.270668!4d-9.0567905), then entered D01 N971.

It works that way too.

It works whether I type in D01 N971 fully, or just partly and choose D01 N971 from the suggested list.

It also works when I type in D01N971.

Upper or lower case letters don't make a difference either way.

MBSnr

Very odd. If I use Chrome or IE, Google Maps will centre on Galway.

IE - gives
We could not find d01 n971
Make sure your search is spelled correctly. Try adding a city, state, or zip code.

Chrome (which is aware of my exact location) gives
H65 N971

oscarBravo

swampgas wrote: »

I wonder if there are any other countries where the postcode uniquely identifies an address?

The postcode TW16 6SU identifies a single office building in Sunbury. It seems to work fine.

Ben D Bus

I've only just seen this thread so I excitedly entered my Eircode.

Not found

So still not perfect?

larchill

They'd better not make any announcements yet so! They'd only have even more thrown at them

plodder

swampgas wrote: »

I wonder if there are any other countries where the postcode uniquely identifies an address?

I don't believe so. In a lot of countries, large public buildings may have their own code, but those countries' postcodes don't generally uniquely identify buildings.

If not, then the existing algorithms in Google's codebase are probably designed to translate a postcode into a defined area on the map, rather than a specific point or address. Integrating Eircodes may require additional features (and maybe new API calls) that were not required before.

That's what I thought initially, but from what I can see, places in google maps are identified uniquely by a placeid which is a long random string. So, it should be possible to have multiple "places" with different Eircodes and different placeids, at the same location. But, there could be other hidden constraints. Maybe the system assumes that different places are at different physical locations. That would be a problem if true, though there would be ways around it.

sennah

BailMeOut wrote: »

one thing nobody has talked about and that how they will match business markers that are manually placed when setup to the official Eircode marker. In most cases you would imagine that the markers will be off unless the business happened to place exactly where the eircode is. Not a huge issue but you will end up with the eircode marker not matching the business. The fix would be to get all business to edit their listings to include their eircode on their address.

Google have been requesting Eircodes this past number of months when submitting business listings. Unfortunately, it looks like they've ignored them as many of the businesses I manage are not matching their Eircode location despite it being included when they were setup. That's not to say they won't come back when it's setup and re-align any business listings that had an Eircode included with their correct geo

plodder wrote: »

...That's what I thought initially, but from what I can see, places in google maps are identified uniquely by a placeid which is a long random string. So, it should be possible to have multiple "places" with different Eircodes and different placeids, at the same location. But, there could be other hidden constraints. Maybe the system assumes that different places are at different physical locations. That would be a problem if true, though there would be ways around it.

Google use a unique Customer ID or CID for business listings and a Place ID for other objects. The Eircode for the GPO (D01 F5P2) returns a place ID of "ChIJneisa4QOZ0gRiFjzPdksgFk". Doing a reverse lookup on this Place ID does not return the Eircode however... not yet anyway

Based on this, I can't understand why they would be having difficulty with multiple Eircodes sharing the same geo-coordinates as each Eircode would be a unique Place ID. If you look at some of the business listings that Google create themselves, the source data they import is so poor that you usually end up with 10-20 of these listings sitting right atop either on the map... much the same as multi-eircode dwellings would be. However, other than a bit of messing with their API's, I don't know all that much about how they structure their map data so there's probably a lot more to it

ukoda

Newstalk have picked up the story. It's gaining traction on twitter now, surprisingly no complaints about "my codes not working" yet.

MBSnr

ukoda wrote: »

Newstalk have picked up the story. It's gaining traction on twitter now, surprisingly no complaints about "my codes not working" yet.

Gotta love Newstalk - article dated 21/9/16
http://www.newstalk.com/You-can-now-use-Eircode-to-find-places-on-Google-Maps

"Reddit user scannderdarkley revealed last night that the latest Google Maps update for Android included the helpful feature,.. "

scannderdarkley (as spelt by them) isn't a reddit username...

*cough* My post #1... 2/9/16 :rolleyes:

MBSnr

I just tried D01 N971 on my phone in Galway after the latest Android Maps update. If I don't click the auto filled suggestion (just enter the Eircode as shown and click search) I now get a prompt above the map saying,

"Did you mean"

H54 N971

H65 N971

with an EDIT and CLEAR option.

So certainly progress. Desktop Google Maps still takes me to H65 N971 with my location as Galway.

Padster90s

The postcode is now appearing on at address of some places when you google them. Department of Education and National Rehab Hospital being the ones I seen. New feature, wasn't showing this up to Wednesday. Not all addresses are showing the Eircode.

Ben D Bus

Ben D Bus wrote: »

I've only just seen this thread so I excitedly entered my Eircode.

Not found

So still not perfect?

Tried again today and now it's taking the last 4 characters but putting me in Bray instead of Dublin 20. I guess I just need to be patient.

MBSnr

Ben D Bus wrote: »

Tried again today and now it's taking the last 4 characters but putting me in Bray instead of Dublin 20. I guess I just need to be patient.

Yeah been a month now, since I first noticed this, and apartment Eircodes still don't resolve. Kinda thought they'd have it up and running now but then I remembered that it was 'Eircode' and everything related to them tends to happen slowly...

BailMeOut

MBSnr wrote: »

Kinda thought they'd have it up and running now but then I remembered that it was 'Eircode' and everything related to them tends to happen slowly...

Eircode resolves and maps apartments just fine. This is a google issue, nothing to do with Eircode.

lawred2

worked first time

MBSnr

BailMeOut wrote: »

Eircode resolves and maps apartments just fine. This is a google issue, nothing to do with Eircode.

Didn't say otherwise... Just that things don't happen very quickly when the word Eircode is involved..

Sam Russell

Put an address into Eircode finder and got the Eircode - Dublin 8.

Put the Eircode I got into Google and it identified the house correctly but the address it gave was Merchants Quay Dublin 8 - complete *****.

So they have a problem reading the address corectly from the Eircode file.

mrsdewinter

It can't be live yet - I just inputted my own apartment address (in D15 ) and it returned a large house over in D4.

plodder

mrsdewinter wrote: »

It can't be live yet - I just inputted my own apartment address (in D15 ) and it returned a large house over in D4.

I doesn't work for apartments yet, maybe because it expects all postcodes to have different locations, which would be the case for all other countries' postcodes.

Whether it's live, alpha or beta - certainly alpha quality, but it is running on their live system. So, who knows?

plodder

Deedsie wrote: »

Every unbiased person knows it is not live yet.

It's running today on their live system. Fact. This idea that they are just tweaking it as a "beta" is obvious spin. Unique eircodes for apartments is a major feature of Eircode and it doesn't work on google maps yet. I've already outlined ways they can possibly fix it, so that's not in dispute. But alpha quality is a fair summary of the situation.

There will obviously be an announcement when it is officially launched.

"Obviously". Show me where google have announced anything like this before, or where they have said this is only a beta version. I've learned to take every claim coming out of this project with a pinch of salt, ever since google maps "yeah, it's only a few weeks away", or "95% of people know their Eircode".

You lot are your own worst enemies, pouncing on anything that looks like the mildest of criticism and conceding nothing.

PDVerse

plodder wrote: »

It's running today on their live system. Fact. This idea that they are just tweaking it as a "beta" is obvious spin. Unique eircodes for apartments is a major feature of Eircode and it doesn't work on google maps yet. I've already outlined ways they can possibly fix it, so that's not in dispute. But alpha quality is a fair summary of the situation.

"Obviously". Show me where google have announced anything like this before, or where they have said this is only a beta version. I've learned to take every claim coming out of this project with a pinch of salt, ever since google maps "yeah, it's only a few weeks away", or "95% of people know their Eircode".

You lot are your own worst enemies, pouncing on anything that looks like the mildest of criticism and conceding nothing.

Let's just wait until Google has implemented Eircode fully, until then irrelevant speculation just demonstrates the bias of each poster.

ukoda

plodder wrote: »

It's running today on their live system. Fact. This idea that they are just tweaking it as a "beta" is obvious spin. Unique eircodes for apartments is a major feature of Eircode and it doesn't work on google maps yet. I've already outlined ways they can possibly fix it, so that's not in dispute. But alpha quality is a fair summary of the situation.

"Obviously". Show me where google have announced anything like this before, or where they have said this is only a beta version. I've learned to take every claim coming out of this project with a pinch of salt, ever since google maps "yeah, it's only a few weeks away", or "95% of people know their Eircode".

You lot are your own worst enemies, pouncing on anything that looks like the mildest of criticism and conceding nothing.

Google are probably using the Agile approach, I.e. throw it live at 80/90% and fix it on the fly using real user feedback. Something Google are well known for. If you work in IT you know this is a very well respected and often used methodology that literally is a "tweak it when it's live" approach. I wouldn't call it "spin" just a project management approach adapted by a lot of multinationals and start ups.

I don't think anyone claimed it would be *google* who would announce anything, my expectation is that capita / dcenr would announce it, maybe we'll get another Ad

sondagefaux

Looks like you were right:
[font=Arial, sans-serif]dccae.gov.ie [ltr]@Dept_CCAE[/ltr] Oct 17[/font]
[font=Arial, sans-serif]#Eircodes are now searchable on @googlemaps. Just type in your 7 digit Eircode and let Google maps do the rest.

[/font]