Android Geocoding to Get Latitude Longitude for an Address

Last modified on December 4th, 2014 by Joe.

In this Android tutorial you will learn about Geocoding and how to find latitude/longitude for a give address location. In a previous tutorial we learnt about reverse geocoding to find address for a latitude/longitude. This tutorial is a reverse of that.

Android-Geocoding

If you are looking for tutorial to find the current location then refer the get location using fused provider tutorial. In this tutorial we will get input address from the user and use Geocoder API to get the Latitude and Longitude

AndroidGeocoding

Geocoding

Geocoding is converting the physical location address to latitude and longitude. Reverse geocoding is finding the location address based on the latitude and longitude. In this Android tutorial, we will be doing Geocoding to find the Latitude and Longitude of a given address location.

Android Geocoding Example Application

Step1: Define Permissions

We need location access permissions. Following lines should be added to the AndroidManifest.xml.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

The complete AndroidManifest.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.javapapers.androidgeocoding" >
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name=".GeocodingActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Get User Input Address

Get user input for address location. Let us have an EditText and get address input. Following is the activity file named activity_geocoding.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context=".GeocodingActivity">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Enter Address"
        android:id="@+id/addressTV"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/addressET"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/addressTV"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:text="1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington DC 20502" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Show Lat/Long"
        android:id="@+id/addressButton"
        android:layout_below="@+id/addressTV"
        android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/addressTV"
        android:layout_marginTop="50dp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge"
        android:text=""
        android:id="@+id/latLongTV"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/addressTV" />

</RelativeLayout>

Step 3: Android Geocoding Activity UI

Following is the Android Activity class GeocodingActivity

package com.javapapers.androidgeocoding;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Handler;
import android.os.Message;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.TextView;


public class GeocodingActivity extends Activity {
    Button addressButton;
    TextView addressTV;
    TextView latLongTV;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_geocoding);


        addressTV = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.addressTV);
        latLongTV = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.latLongTV);

        addressButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.addressButton);
        addressButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View arg0) {

                EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.addressET);
                String address = editText.getText().toString();

                GeocodingLocation locationAddress = new GeocodingLocation();
                locationAddress.getAddressFromLocation(address,
                        getApplicationContext(), new GeocoderHandler());
            }
        });

    }

    private class GeocoderHandler extends Handler {
        @Override
        public void handleMessage(Message message) {
            String locationAddress;
            switch (message.what) {
                case 1:
                    Bundle bundle = message.getData();
                    locationAddress = bundle.getString("address");
                    break;
                default:
                    locationAddress = null;
            }
            latLongTV.setText(locationAddress);
        }
    }
}

Step 4: Geocoder API and Geocoding

We should run the external API access in a separate thread in order not to disturb the UI activity. We should instantiate the Geocoder class and use the method getFromLocationName to get the complete address which includes the latitude and longitude.

package com.javapapers.androidgeocoding;

import android.content.Context;
import android.location.Address;
import android.location.Geocoder;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Handler;
import android.os.Message;
import android.util.Log;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Locale;

public class GeocodingLocation {

    private static final String TAG = "GeocodingLocation";

    public static void getAddressFromLocation(final String locationAddress,
                                              final Context context, final Handler handler) {
        Thread thread = new Thread() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                Geocoder geocoder = new Geocoder(context, Locale.getDefault());
                String result = null;
                try {
                    List addressList = geocoder.getFromLocationName(locationAddress, 1);
                    if (addressList != null && addressList.size() > 0) {
                        Address address = addressList.get(0);
                        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
                        sb.append(address.getLatitude()).append("\n");
                        sb.append(address.getLongitude()).append("\n");
                        result = sb.toString();
                    }
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    Log.e(TAG, "Unable to connect to Geocoder", e);
                } finally {
                    Message message = Message.obtain();
                    message.setTarget(handler);
                    if (result != null) {
                        message.what = 1;
                        Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
                        result = "Address: " + locationAddress +
                                "\n\nLatitude and Longitude :\n" + result;
                        bundle.putString("address", result);
                        message.setData(bundle);
                    } else {
                        message.what = 1;
                        Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
                        result = "Address: " + locationAddress +
                                "\n Unable to get Latitude and Longitude for this address location.";
                        bundle.putString("address", result);
                        message.setData(bundle);
                    }
                    message.sendToTarget();
                }
            }
        };
        thread.start();
    }
}

Example Geo coordinates Latitude and Longitude with respective location address:

Latitude, Longitude: 38.898748, -77.037684
Location Address:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW 
Washington DC 20502

Latitude, Longitude: 34.101509, -118.32691
Location Address:
Hollywood Blvd & Vine St 
Los Angeles CA 90028

Download the Android Geocoding Application