Free Geocoding is Finally Here!

A few months ago I set out on a school project, HashtagMapper, where I wanted to be able to map tweets that we're collected through the Twitter API. Unfortunately I couldn't find a geocoding service that would take values such as "Santa Barbara" and convert them to latitude longitude format for me, so I built it myself!

Hosted

If you want a free, hosted geocoding service, here it is: Geocode For Free.

Build it yourself!

If you need intensive, pocket-sized geocoding for the on-the-go data mapper, here are instructions on how to make your very own build of Geocode For Free.

Geocode within the U.S. and Canada completely free of charge.

Setup

Note that you have the option to use the hosted version of this project, at geocodeforfree.com, however if you want to host the project yourself here are the instructions.

Get a copy

git clone git@github.com:bwheeler96/Geocode-For-Free.git
cd Geocode-For-Free

Bundle

bundle install

Setup the database

rake db:migrate
cat cities.sql | sqlite3 db/geocode.sqlite3

Starting the server

ruby config.ru

Happy coding!