Geocoding is translating a street address to a latitude and longitude pair.
In order to translate a street address to a latitude and longitude pair -- geocoding -- you need a good map.
In recent years, both public and private organizations have digitized maps, including the U.S. Census Bureau and Google. More than just a picture on your computer screen, there is an enormous amount of data behind these maps.
You can take advantage of the data compiled by these organizations to geocode your customer address book. With those latitude and longitude pairs, you can create territories for your sales force or analyze trends by geographic region, regardless of political boundaries.
Instructions
1. Read the documentation provided by Google for its Google Map Javascript API V3. It includes sample code and important information.
2. Write your application to begin by accessing the first address you want to geocode. Depending on whether you are collecting "live" addresses or translating an existing database of them, Google's applications allow you to dynamically access a user's address, or you can develop your own method for feeding this data to the geocoding engine.
3. Translate the address to a latitude and longitude pair. This is where you need that rich source of data describing streets, towns, cities and countries compiled and updated by Google.
4. Store the latitude and longitude pair, and repeat the first two steps until you have all the pairs you need.
5. Use the data. What you will use it for is up to you. For example, you can compare the number of automobile accidents per square mile in the Midwest to the Northeast of any country and set insurance rates from that data, using it accurately charge customers based on their exact home address.
Tags: latitude longitude, latitude longitude pair, longitude pair, address latitude, address latitude longitude, street address
