Disambiguate location information using Yahoo! Placemaker component
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This component uses Yahoo Placemaker service to disambiguate location information and return the best match with a geo marker.
e.g. input: big apple => output: [locationType]=town,[name] =>New York, NY [latitude] => 40.7146 [longitude] => -74.0071
e.g. input: big apple => output: [locationType]=town,[name] =>New York, NY [latitude] => 40.7146 [longitude] => -74.0071
While building web applications, many times we come across a feature where we have to take location information from user to search a database or query a webservice. e.g. the ‘Locate Store’ feature on many retailer web sites. While building this feature normally we ask the user to either enter a city name and state name OR enter a zip code. But using the placemaker component you can just ask the users to enter the location information in a free form (like for New York City, user can enter ‘NYC’ or ‘Big Apple’). This component will disambiguate the user input and provide you the best match with a geo marker (latitude and longitude).
More information about Yahoo Placemaker service can be found at http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/placemaker/
once you put this component in your app/controllers/components directory (as placemaker.php). Use following steps to use it in your controller.
You can get the Yahoo App Id at https://developer.apps.yahoo.com/wsregapp/.
The variable locInfo will be an array which will be of following format
If no locations are found element 'error' will be 1 with appropriate error message.
If the place info is found then element 'locationDetails' will have detail information about the location
[h3]Examples[h3] [h4]input: NYC[h4]
[h4]input: 71203[h4]
[h4]input: Monroe, LA[h4]
If multiple locations are found it will return all the possibilities
e.g.
[h4]input: Monroe[h4]
More information about Yahoo Placemaker service can be found at http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/placemaker/
The Component
<?php
/**
* This is the Yahoo Placemaker Component Class to disambiguate the place name
* and returns the best matches with a geomarker
*
* Requires PHP5 (simple xml) and the cURL library
*
* @author Prashant Patil
* @version 1.0
* @link http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/placemaker/
* @category Components
*/
class PlacemakerComponent extends Object {
/**
* Yahoo Place Make WebService
*/
protected $ypHost = 'http://wherein.yahooapis.com/v1/document';
/**
* Yahoo Application ID for Yahoo Developer Network
* @link https://developer.apps.yahoo.com/wsregapp/
*/
protected $ypAppId = '';
/**
* Variable to store the error generated during the operation
*/
protected $lastError = '';
/**
* the suffix is used to get the location info within United States
*/
protected $suffixUsed = ', US';
//called before Controller::beforeFilter()
function initialize(&$controller, $settings = array()) {
// saving the controller reference for later use
$this->controller =& $controller;
if(isset($settings['appid']))
{
$this->ypAppId = $settings['appid'];
}
}
//called after Controller::beforeFilter()
function startup(&$controller) {
}
/**
* Method to get the locationinfo for a place
*
* @param string $locationName
* @return array Location info or error
*/
public function getLocationInfo($locationName)
{
$stateArray = array();
$townArray = array();
$suburbArray = array();
$zipArray = array();
$locationType = '';
$returnData = array('error'=>0,
'errorMessage'=>'',
'locationDetails'=>array());
$locationName = strip_tags(trim($locationName));
$tmpLocations = array();
try
{
if($ypResponse = $this->_ypCall($locationName))
{
if($simpleXml = simplexml_load_string($ypResponse))
{
if($simpleXml instanceof SimpleXMLElement)
{
if(isset($simpleXml->document->placeDetails))
{
foreach ($simpleXml->document->placeDetails as $place)
{
$data['name']= str_replace($this->suffixUsed,'',trim((string)$place->place->name));
$data['latitude']= (string)$place->place->centroid->latitude;
$data['longitude']= (string)$place->place->centroid->longitude;
// To avoid the duplicate data
// for location Monroe, LA Yahoo Placemaker returns two locations with same name
if(!in_array($data['name'],$tmpLocations))
{
$tmpLocations[]=$data['name'];
switch (strtolower((string)$place->place->type))
{
case 'state':
$stateArray[]=$data;
break; // End foreach Loop also since we found a state
case 'town':
$townArray[]=$data;
break;
case 'zip':
$zipArray[]=$data;
break;
case 'suburb':
$suburbArray[]=$data;
break;
}
}
}
//If State is found just return the state info
if(sizeof($stateArray)>0)
{
$returnData['locationDetails']['locationType'] = 'state';
$returnData['locationDetails']['locations'] = $stateArray;
}
// if zip is found just return zip info
elseif(sizeof($zipArray)>0)
{
$returnData['locationDetails']['locationType'] = 'zip';
$returnData['locationDetails']['locations'] = $zipArray;
}
elseif(sizeof($townArray)>0)
{
$returnData['locationDetails']['locationType'] = 'town';
$returnData['locationDetails']['locations'] = $townArray;
}
}
else
{
//If placeDetails Element is not found
throw new Exception('Can not find place details');
}
}
else
{
// Not able to create simpleXmlElement object from Response XML
throw new Exception('Can not create the SimpleXMLElement object');
}
}
else
{
// Not a valid response from the Yahoo Placemaker service
throw new Exception('Not a valid XML Response');
}
}
else
{
// Not a valid response from the Yahoo Placemaker service
throw new Exception($this->lastError);
}
}
catch (Exception $e)
{
$returnData = array('error'=> 1,
'errorMessage'=> $e->getMessage(),
'locationDetails' => null);
}
return $returnData;
}
/**
* Method to get last error generated during the call
*/
public function getLastError()
{
return $this->lastError;
}
/**
* Method to send request and receive the response from Yahoo webservice
*
* @param string $locationName
* @return string
*/
protected function _ypCall($locationName)
{
$ch = curl_init();
$data = array(
'documentContent'=>$locationName.$this->suffixUsed,
'documentType'=>'text/plain',
'outputType'=>'xml',
'autoDisambiguate' => 'false',
//'focusWoeid'=>'23424977',
'appid'=>$this->ypAppId);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $this->ypHost);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT,10);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);
$output = curl_exec($ch);
if(curl_errno($ch))
{
$this->lastError = 'Curl error: ' . curl_error($ch);
$output = false;
}
else
{
$this->lastError = '';
}
curl_close($ch);
return $output;
}
}
?>
once you put this component in your app/controllers/components directory (as placemaker.php). Use following steps to use it in your controller.
<?php
class PagesController extends AppController {
var $components = array('placemaker'=>array('appid'=>'your Yahoo App id goes here'));
function index() {
$locInfo = $this->placemaker->getLocationInfo($this->data['searcj']['location']);
}
}
?>
You can get the Yahoo App Id at https://developer.apps.yahoo.com/wsregapp/.
The variable locInfo will be an array which will be of following format
Array
(
[error] => bit
[errorMessage] => string
[locationDetails] => Array
)
If no locations are found element 'error' will be 1 with appropriate error message.
If the place info is found then element 'locationDetails' will have detail information about the location
[h3]Examples[h3] [h4]input: NYC[h4]
Array
(
[error] => 0
[errorMessage] =>
[locationDetails] => Array
(
[locationType] => town
[locations] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => New York, NY
[latitude] => 40.7146
[longitude] => -74.0071
)
)
)
)
[h4]input: 71203[h4]
Array
(
[error] => 0
[errorMessage] =>
[locationDetails] => Array
(
[locationType] => zip
[locations] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => 71203, Monroe, LA
[latitude] => 32.5977
[longitude] => -92.0323
)
)
)
)
[h4]input: Monroe, LA[h4]
Array
(
[error] => 0
[errorMessage] =>
[locationDetails] => Array
(
[locationType] => town
[locations] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, LA
[latitude] => 32.815
[longitude] => -92.2056
)
)
)
)
If multiple locations are found it will return all the possibilities
e.g.
[h4]input: Monroe[h4]
Array
(
[error] => 0
[errorMessage] =>
[locationDetails] => Array
(
[locationType] => town
[locations] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => Lenox Center, OH
[latitude] => 41.6802
[longitude] => -80.763
)
[1] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, CT
[latitude] => 41.3342
[longitude] => -73.2061
)
[2] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, IN
[latitude] => 40.745
[longitude] => -84.937
)
[3] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, KY
[latitude] => 37.2333
[longitude] => -85.7014
)
[4] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, LA
[latitude] => 32.815
[longitude] => -92.2056
)
[5] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, ME
[latitude] => 44.6155
[longitude] => -69.0138
)
[6] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, MS
[latitude] => 31.474
[longitude] => -90.8287
)
[7] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, NE
[latitude] => 41.4751
[longitude] => -97.6005
)
[8] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, NH
[latitude] => 44.2607
[longitude] => -72.0544
)
[9] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, OH
[latitude] => 39.4418
[longitude] => -84.3624
)
[10] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, OK
[latitude] => 34.9946
[longitude] => -94.5189
)
[11] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, OR
[latitude] => 44.3154
[longitude] => -123.297
)
[12] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, PA
[latitude] => 41.1217
[longitude] => -79.433
)
[13] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, SD
[latitude] => 43.4881
[longitude] => -97.2129
)
[14] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, TN
[latitude] => 36.4399
[longitude] => -85.2519
)
[15] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, TX
[latitude] => 32.3361
[longitude] => -94.7363
)
[16] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, VA
[latitude] => 37.4991
[longitude] => -79.1247
)
[17] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, WA
[latitude] => 47.8524
[longitude] => -121.982
)
[18] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, NC
[latitude] => 34.9826
[longitude] => -80.5489
)
[19] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, WI
[latitude] => 42.603
[longitude] => -89.6451
)
[20] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, MI
[latitude] => 41.9079
[longitude] => -83.4431
)
[21] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, UT
[latitude] => 38.6311
[longitude] => -112.121
)
[22] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, GA
[latitude] => 33.7954
[longitude] => -83.7133
)
[23] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, IA
[latitude] => 41.522
[longitude] => -93.1059
)
[24] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, NY
[latitude] => 41.3281
[longitude] => -74.1871
)
[25] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe Bridge, MA
[latitude] => 42.722
[longitude] => -72.9418
)
[26] => Array
(
[name] => Monroe, NJ
[latitude] => 40.3303
[longitude] => -74.4392
)
)
)
)
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