GPS Visualizer's Address Locator

Convert multiple addresses to GPS coordinates

Input:

Type of data: Source:
Add a color: Field separator in output:

Results as text:

format:

Labels on map

[more map options]

To use this free utility, simply enter addresses in the box to the left, one per line, and click "Start geocoding" to find their latitude and longitude. If your data is in a tabular format with a descriptive header at the top of each column, choose "tabular" for type of data (and make sure the headers make sense!). If you have a raw jumble of address data, that's okay too; choose "raw list mode," but be aware that everything should at least look like an address, and any non-address data such as names, descriptions, or other fields might confuse things.

You can choose from two sources of coordinates: Yahoo! or Google. Neither service is guaranteed to be 100% correct -- use them at your own risk!

(To see detailed information, including precision data, for a single address, try the Quick Geocoder. For general info, see the Free Geocoding Utilities page.)

How this page works

Google and Yahoo each provide a geocoding "API" -- a way for other programs to quickly and easily access their services. But they only allow a certain number of queries per day, based on your IP address. This form uses JavaScript-On-Demand (JSON) code that causes your Web browser to be the one making the request (rather than gpsvisualizer.com), which means your queries don't count against my server's limit. (And thanks are due to the developers of the batch geocoder at BatchGeocode.com for the Yahoo JSON info.)

Verifying strange results

Sometimes the geocoder returns coordinates that don't seem right. Unfortunately, there's no way to get Yahoo's precision information using this form -- but you can see Yahoo's precision estimate for individual addresses if you run them through the Quick Geocoder.

One common source of errors (aside from missing, misspelled, or poorly-aligned header rows) is non-street addresses that look like addresses, like P.O. Boxes or named buildings. For example, "200 Jackson Building, 333 2nd Street" might be interpreted as "200 Jackson Street" by Yahoo. There's really no way to get around this, other than ensuring that your "address" column contains actual street addresses.