Google maps finds locations that its API doesn'

Question

The following URL fails:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Wisdom+Hospice+High+Bank+Rochester+Kent+England&key=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE

As a result this program fails:

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Geo::Coder::Google;
use Data::Dumper;

my $gcg = Geo::Coder::Google->new(apiver => 3);

my @l = $gcg->geocode(location => 'Wisdom Hospice, High Bank, Rochester, Kent, England');

print Data::Dumper->new([@l])->Dump();

And yet, if I search for "wisdom hospice high bank rochester kent england" at google maps it works giving this:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wisdom+Hospice/@51.3725664,0.5071468,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d8cce4198bb5ed:0xcc28f53d7161955d!8m2!3d51.3725631!4d0.5093408

Thoughts?

Answer 1

You should be aware that Geocoding API works only with street addresses, any business results are out of the scope.

In your example 'Wisdom Hospice' is the business place. In such situation Places API is the right API to use.

You can execute the following Places API request to get this place:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/textsearch/json?query=wisdom%20hospice%20high%20bank%20rochester%20kent%20england&key=YOUR_API_KEY