If you started to read this post, chances are you also have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of postal addresses to process. So you already have an idea of the difficulties and expenses of your task.

In this post, we would like to provide you a solution on how to geocode tons of addresses efficiently and at an affordable price with Geoapify's Batch Geocoding API.

Batch Geocoding API endpoint

We, at Geoapify, created a Batch Geocoding endpoint to simplify and streamline the geocoding process of a large number of addresses. And since it works via HTTP Post, you can access it from any programming language or platform.

And here is how it's different from a Geocoding API call:

• Batch Geocoding accepts a list of addresses as an input while Geocoding processes only a single address;
• Batch Geocoding has no rate limits, while even the most expensive plans of Geocoding API limit you by the number of requests you can send in one second;
• Batch Geocoding helps the provider to optimize server load and idle time better. So you can get better prices and conditions. For example, you get a 50% discount on address search with Geoapify Batch Geocoding.

Call Batch Geocoder

All you need to do to create a geocoding job is send an HTTP Post request with addresses to the URL:

https://api.geoapify.com/v1/batch/geocode/search?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY

The addresses are accepted as a JSON array in the request body:

var data = [
    "668 Cedar St, San Carlos, CA 94070, United States of America",
    "545 Southwest Taylor Street, Portland, OR 97204, United States of America",
    "200 East 13th Street, Vancouver, WA 98660, United States of America",
];

// Get an API Key on https://myprojects.geoapify.com
var url = "https://api.geoapify.com/v1/batch/geocode/search?apiKey=YOU_API_KEY";

fetch(url, {
    method: 'post',
    headers: {
      'Accept': 'application/json',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(data)
  })
  .then(getBodyAndStatus)
  .then((result) => {
    if (result.status !== 202) {
      return Promise.reject(result)
    } else {
      console.log("Job ID: " + result.body.id);
      console.log("Job URL: " + result.body.url)
    }
  })
  .catch(err => console.log(err));

function getBodyAndStatus(response) {
  return response.json().then(responceBody => {
    return {
      status: response.status,
      body: responceBody
    }
  });
}

You will get a job ID and URL for results as the response. Here is an example:

{
    "id": "65d9596895e5467f89584308b09bcf2b",
    "status": "pending",
    "url": "https://api.geoapify.com/v1/batch/geocode/search?id=65d9596895e5467f89584308b09bcf2b&apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY"
}

A batch geocoding job is scheduled on Geoapify's servers. Simply send an HTTP GET request on the results URL to pick up results.

Get Geocoding Results

Of course, you can pick up results programmatically. You will need to implement an asynchronous call that checks if the job is completed and return results.

Here is a code sample to do that:

function getAsyncResult(url, timeout, maxAttempt) {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    setTimeout(() => {
      repeatUntilSuccess(resolve, reject, 0)
    }, timeout);
  });

  function repeatUntilSuccess(resolve, reject, attempt) {
    console.log("Attempt: " + attempt);
    fetch(url)
      .then(getBodyAndStatus)
      .then(result => {
        if (result.status === 200) {
          resolve(result.body);
        } else if (attempt >= maxAttempt) {
          reject("Max amount of attempt achived");
        } else if (result.status === 202) {
          // Check again after timeout
          setTimeout(() => {
            repeatUntilSuccess(resolve, reject, attempt + 1)
          }, timeout);
        } else {
          // Something went wrong
          reject(result.body)
        }
      })
      .catch(err => reject(err));
  };
}

So now you can create a job and get the geocoding results:

fetch(url, {
    method: 'post',
    headers: {
      'Accept': 'application/json',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(data)
  })
  .then(getBodyAndStatus)
  .then((result) => {
    if (result.status !== 202) {
      return Promise.reject(result)
    } else {
      return getAsyncResult(result.body.url, 1000, 100).then(queryResult => {
        console.log(queryResult);
        return queryResult;
      });
    }
  })
  .catch(err => console.log(err));

We’ve developed a JSFiddle with the code samples provided. So you can test it and try the API by yourself.

Please note that the getAsyncResult() method has timeout parameters that define how often the API should check if the job is completed.

The processing time depends on the number of addresses. As the geocoding results are accessible within 24 hours after the job is completed, it doesn't make sense to set a small value when you geocode a large number of addresses. Roughly you can estimate the timeout as numberOfAddresses/5.

Geocode Addresses with No Code

The API works via an easy-to-use HTTP protocol, so you can call it with no coding. For example, you can use Postman to call the API.

Moreover, with the format=csv parameter you can get results in CSV format which can be inserted directly into an Excel or OpenOffice spreadsheet.

Here is a tutorial video demonstrating how to call the batch geocoder with an API testing platform:

Conclusion

Batch Geocoding is the way to go when you need to geocode a lot of addresses. It will save you time and money by processing all the addresses with a single job.

Sign up and try Geoapify's Batch Geocoding API! We offer developers-friendly APIs and prices affordable for any business size. For example, with Geoapify's Batch Geocoder, you can lookup up to 6000 addresses/day for FREE!