Question

Is there any way, using MapKit in iOS, to search a place on Google Maps or whatever, and then determine if such a place exists? For example, if I type “New York city,” will the search return anything that I can use to determine whether or not “New York city” actually exists? (as opposed to searching “York City New” or something)

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

There is a Google geocoder API that you can use for this. I think the iOS geocoder uses the same service, but I could be mistaken. It’s quite easy to use.

I use the google geocoder, and it returns a lot of useful information, and when there is more than one location that might match your query, it returns an array of choices.

Also, try some of the sources mentioned in this SO question.

UPDATE

There is a built in geocoder class called CLGeocoder. It is available in iOS 5 and deprecates MKReverseGeocoder. (Reverse geocoding doesn’t do what you want, but CLGeocoder does forward and reverse.) These apparently use the Google API and you must adhere to the Google user agreement.