Geocoding using google api

Question

I'm having problems getting consistent behavior from CiviCRM's Address Geocoder scheduled job. Yesterday I was able to geocode a handful (~1700) records but today I am getting an over quota message in the log.

Parameters raw (from db settings): geocoding=1 start=47000 throttle=5

Parameters parsed (and passed to API method): a:4:{s:7:"version";i:3;s:9:"geocoding";s:1:"1";s:5:"start";s:5:"47000";s:8:"throttle";s:1:"5";}

Full message: Finished execution of Address geocoder with result: Failure, Error message: A fatal error was triggered: Aborting batch geocoding. Hit the over query limit on geocoder.

Using the same parameters yesterday (with the exception of a different CID for the start parameter) I had some success.

Parameters raw (from db settings): geocoding=1 start=47877 throttle=5

Parameters parsed (and passed to API method): a:4:{s:7:"version";i:3;s:9:"geocoding";s:1:"1";s:5:"start";s:5:"47877";s:8:"throttle";s:2:"10";}

Full message: Finished execution of Address geocoder with result: Success (Addresses Evaluated: 1094 Addresses Geocoded: 1094 )

I'm running CiviCRM 4.4.19 and using Google as my mapping and geocoding provider. I've tried with and without an API key. The job is being executed manually from the UI. Does anyone have any thoughts on what is going on or any ideas how I can troubleshoot this further?

Thanks.

Answer 1

While the Google API has an unauthenticated limit of 2,500 requests per day per IP, using an API key currently gives free a quota of 100,000 requests per day, with additional requests by payment.

You'll need a recent-ish (4.7.9, 4.6.23 or greater) version of CiviCRM to use the API key for geocoding: CRM-18830: Google Geocoding - use SSL, restore API key.

With this you should be able to geocode a larger number of addresses.

Your API key should be configured with the following permissions:

• Google Maps Geocoding API (for geocoding)
• Google Maps JavaScript API (for displaying / mapping)

Answer 2

Google has a limit on encoding per day (2500) records, https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/usage-limits I suspect you've hit that limit. You can enable billing to increase your limits, $0.50 USD / 1000 additional requests, up to 100,000 daily.

Answer 3

You may also want to give the Open Street Map Extension a shot - find some information on our website as well as the repository.

Answer 4

OpenStreetMaps extension by Systopia is better! https://civicrm.org/extensions/openstreetmap-geocoding/version-11