Question

I am trying to parse out some information from Google’s geocoding API but I am having a little trouble with efficiently getting the data out of the xml. See link for example

All I really care about is getting the short_name from address_component where the type is administrative_area_level_1 and the long_name from administrative_area_level_2
However with my test program my XPath query returns no results for both queries.

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    using(WebClient webclient = new WebClient())
    {
        webclient.Proxy = null;
        string locationXml = webclient.DownloadString("http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/xml?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA&sensor=false");
        using(var reader = new StringReader(locationXml))
        {
            var doc = new XPathDocument(reader);
            var nav = doc.CreateNavigator();
            Console.WriteLine(nav.SelectSingleNode("/GeocodeResponse/result/address_component[type=administrative_area_level_1]/short_name").InnerXml);
            Console.WriteLine(nav.SelectSingleNode("/GeocodeResponse/result/address_component[type=administrative_area_level_2]/long_name").InnerXml);

        }
    }
}

Can anyone help me find what I am doing wrong, or recommending a better way?

Answer 1

You need to put the value of the node you’re looking for in quotes:

".../address_component[type='administrative_area_level_1']/short_name"
                            ↑                           ↑