IssueTracker

My issue is not about the exact location/coordinates returned.  It is about
the totally *irrelevant* responses that geocoder returns.  Why does the
Maps application understand that Camden is a township in Kent county, but
the geocoder gives me CAMDEN, DELAWARE, USA!  When I look for similar
locations in Michigan I always get a meaningful response.  It does not
throw in a location with a similar name in FRANCE!

I am not fussy about the exact location/coordinates returned as long as it
is in the vicinity.  If you choose to ignore leading parts that you do not
understand until you find something in your database that is meaningful,
fine by me.  Why, when I have supplied both a valid township and county
name do you sometimes return only the County as a response.  And sometimes
when I ask about a location in Canada the very first result is the STATE OF
CALIFORNIA!

The Google geocoder handles urban addresses, but not rural addresses.

Rural properties in both Canada and the United States are generally
identified by lot, concession, and township, like this example.  In the
case of Mosa township street names and numeric addresses were only added
about 20 years ago in order to facilitate fire department service, because
these locations are serviced by the Canadian equivalent of RFD.  1st Range
North of Longwoods Road in Mosa township
<https://www.jamescobban.net/FamilyTree/Location.php?id=114708> in
Middlesex county, Ontario is such a concession.  I have provided a link to
the record in my database that describes that concession.  I believe that
you are entitled by the contract that I have for the use of your API to
copy any location and boundary information that I have added for a
location.  I have even provided an alternative interface by which you can
obtain this information as a JSON document
https://www.jamescobban.net/getRecordJson.php?location=^1RN,%20Mosa.  This
tool is documented at
https://github.com/jcobban/Genealogy/wiki/TopLevel-getRecordJSON.php.  For
example to get all locations in my database that contain the string '1RN,
Mosa' ask for
https://www.jamescobban.net/getRecordJson.php?location=1RN,%20Mosa.

I am not expecting you to return a perfect response.  For example if
geocoder had returned your record for all of Mosa township, I would have
been happy.  But instead in most cases with this sort of location I get
either the whole county, or the province of Ontario, or the STATE OF
CALIFORNIA!

The ideal response to my request for the specific location is
https://www.jamescobban.net/getRecordJSON.php?location=Lot%2019%201RN,%20Mosa,%20Middlesex,%20ON,%20CA
.

As I indicated I understand that you are entitled to copy any additional
information that I have accumulated using your geocoder and Maps
interfaces.  It is fine with me if others benefit.  There are almost 30,000
locations in my database.

On Mon, 18 Dec 2023 at 01:30, <buganizer-system@google.com> wrote:

--
James Cobban   jamesalancobban@gmail.com
911-500 Springbank Dr,
London, ON, CANADA
N6J 4G6
1-226-504-7603

I found a similar problem trying to find the village of Bornish on the
island of South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides, which is administered as part
of the county of Invernessshire in Scotland.  No matter what I entered into
geocoder it kept returning the the ENTIRE COUNTY OF INVERNESSSHIRE.  This
is not a helpful response.  I was forced to waste time looking up Bornish
south uist on Google Maps and then copy and paste the coordinates from the
URL.  Please fix this!

On Mon, 18 Dec 2023 at 01:30, <buganizer-system@google.com> wrote:

--
James Cobban   jamesalancobban@gmail.com
911-500 Springbank Dr,
London, ON, CANADA
N6J 4G6
1-226-504-7603

Please understand that the Places API *did not exist* when I wrote my
code.  My code worked fine with the geocoder v3.4 interface.  It always
gave me a useful answer.  You then started WHINING that I was accessing an
obsolete interface and demanded that I upgrade to the current interface.
You then *BROKE* the geocoder interface, from my point of view explicitly
to force me to rewrite all of my code to some NEW service which you are
springing on me!  I do not appreciate your laying the blame for this
problem on your customers!  Why should I have to *rewrite* all of my code
just because you invented a new product?

Please fix your geocoder interface rather than force me to rewrite all of
my code!

I demand an apology and an assurance that you are not going to avoid
treating your customers in this shady manner.

On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 at 02:00, <buganizer-system@google.com> wrote:

--
James Cobban   jamesalancobban@gmail.com
911-500 Springbank Dr,
London, ON, CANADA
N6J 4G6
1-226-504-7603

I have tried changing the Javascript code so it uses the Places API:

        let url             = "
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/autocomplete/json" +
                             `?input=${locn}` +
                             `&types=(regions)` +
                             `&key=${googleKey}`;
        let options             = {};                // are there other
headers I should be sending?
        options.errorHandler    = function() {alert('script Google Places
Autocomplete not found')};  // this alert always pops
        HTTP.get(url,             // this is the AJAX library from
"Javascript: the Definitive Guide" by David Flanagan
                 gotLocs,
                 options);

but this is rejected by my Firefox browser as a "Cross-Origin Request
Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/autocomplete/json?input=Abbey%20Dawn%20Hill,%20Pittsburgh,%20Frontenac,%20ON,%20CA&types=(regions)&key=
<https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/autocomplete/json?input=Abbey%20Dawn%20Hill,%20Pittsburgh,%20Frontenac,%20ON,%20CA&types=(regions)&key=AIzaSyCpSvn6_xeFTdVMue8hwxWpdYmoUCKXebc>******.
(Reason: CORS header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' missing). Status code:
200."

I do not understand all of the description of this error, but it seems for
me to send a request to googleapis.com I need to receive a
'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header from your site.  I am using the same
client key that I use for geocoder from My Project 64975.  What do I have
to do to get you to send that header?

I have enabled the Places API in Google.  Still doesn't work and contrary
to the explanation I do not see the Places API in my dashboard.

This would seem to me to be a very common error but I cannot find ANY WEB
SITE that even mentions it.

On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 at 02:00, <buganizer-system@google.com> wrote:

--
James Cobban   jamesalancobban@gmail.com
911-500 Springbank Dr,
London, ON, CANADA
N6J 4G6
1-226-504-7603

I observe that I can make a Places request directly from my browser and get
a JSON response, but that JSON response is useless if I cannot process it
in my Javascript code.  I have to be able to make requests from my
JavaScript code, which is running on my web server at 23.111.69.250.  I DO
NOT WANT YOUR PLACES LIBRARY.  Is there some configuration tool to
authorize these requests?  I have read through the Identity and Access
Management API and I am completely baffled as to whether it will permit me
to include an authentication token in my requests.

On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 at 02:00, <buganizer-system@google.com> wrote:

--
James Cobban   jamesalancobban@gmail.com
911-500 Springbank Dr,
London, ON, CANADA
N6J 4G6
1-226-504-7603