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BatchGeoCode – Convert Addresses into Placemarks for Google Earth

February 1, 2006

BatchGeoCode in Google EarthBatchGeoCode,com is an easy-to-use free web-based application for converting a file of addresses (and other information) into either a Yahoo Map, and now also into a Google Earth KML file. The program does a lookup for the addresses you provide and converts them into latitude/longitudes (it currently only works for addresses in the USA or Canada). With the GE capability, it generates placemarks with the converted data. You can then zoom into the satellite/aerial photos and see how close the converted address appears to the actual building. You will probably see some discrepencies (just like when you put an address into the GE search form). Most postal addresses do not convert to the actual building’s location.
BatchGeoCode could be a useful tool for many things including business applications. The built-in example file is for a list of Apple Stores in New York. Here is the resulting KML file for the built-in example. The web interface is simple to use and it shows how you can even put details in your descriptions, including photos, in your batch file.
Google Earth Plus and Pro have similar capabilities built-in (with limitations to the number of entries you can import at a time). BatchGeoCode has no apparent limit, and works with the free GE. Thanks to the author Phillip Holmstrad for bringing this to my attention. He says he plans to do a Google Maps version as well. Good work Phillip! You can also look up a single address.

About Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.

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PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Comments

  1. savaged says

    February 1, 2006 at 9:48 am

    I visited the site. It’s a bit techy for your average Google Earth user. And what is more disturbing is that it’s very USA centric. They should remember that it’s Google Earth not Google USA.
    The world outside America is really out there and not just on Fox news.

  2. Frank Taylor says

    February 1, 2006 at 11:06 am

    The site is using an API for doing address lookups from Yahoo which only works for the USA and Canada. BatchGeoCode has nothing to do with Google except it outputs to the Google Earth program.

  3. Phillip says

    February 1, 2006 at 11:42 am

    savaged –
    This is the site creator Phillip here. Frank addressed the geocoding issue, like he said its not something I can help the limitation on the U.S. Hopefully Yahoo expands their geocoding service to the rest of the world.
    As to being too techy, I am a bit disappointed at that assessment as I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible by breaking everything into steps. What really makes or breaks the tool is if you have access to a spreadsheet program like Excel. If you have Excel it will work much easier for you.
    Certainly it should be easier to use than compiling an entire KML by hand!
    Anyway, let me know if there is anything inparticular that would be a good change for making it less “techy.”
    -Phillip

  4. Julie Bradley says

    August 10, 2006 at 12:00 pm

    Thank you, thank you, thank you to Phillip Holmstrad!!!!!! You must be brilliant, kind-hearted and clearly have a fantastic vision for what you batch program can do. Thank you SOOOO much for making this tool available for us!!!

  5. earthfriend says

    November 16, 2007 at 4:12 pm

    Thank you Philip, it is a wonderful initiative that I’m sure many people will find useful. I am from Australia and I’m trying to make a street-level mashup map in Melbourne, Vic – does anyone know if there has there been any Australian equivalent made? eg. by Melways?

    • Rohan says

      March 10, 2016 at 9:04 pm

      Hi Earthfriend, five years later, I’ve just finished making something similar for Australia (less focus on maps and more on simple geocoding). The govt only recently released it’s address data to the public, so until now it’s been only giant corporations who’ve had access to it. It’s alive at mappify.io/

  6. Kristin says

    April 8, 2008 at 12:53 pm

    Philip… You are heaven sent. I am no techy either, but these capabilities have changed my life – literally – in my profession. I cannot thank you enough.
    Now.. how can I go about taking addresses that I have plotted in Google earth, and ‘reverse batchcode’ them, so to speak, into an Excel documnent, so that I can sort them by addresses, zip, etc.?
    I need to take individual places within my kml file and import them into one xml file.
    Thank you AGAIN AND AGAIN!

  7. Pierre says

    May 27, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    Hi Phillip,
    wonder if you could help me with following. I’m looking for a converter from Google Earth (proper gps codes) into Google Maps. There’s a difference in lat,long. Can you put me on the right track? I’ve seen GPS Visualiser, who change the actual maps themselves. I just want to convert my gps in lat/long for maps.
    Regards,

  8. Zhu Zhu Xiao says

    July 8, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    I just used the batchgeocode website and I love it. Sadly, I’ve found that there is a limitation of 500 entries.
    I would appreciated it if someone could point me to some explaination on how the encoding is done.
    Thank you and happy mapping.

  9. Mark says

    March 20, 2009 at 1:02 am

    Hi! I’ve been trying to get an Excel file to convert, but keep coming up with 24 of 463 rows which will not give me lat/long. I’ve looked over the data and nothing seems amiss. If I run these 24 rows alone they work, but not within the entire sheet of data. Rows 364 to 387 refuse to convert.Any ideas why? Thanks

  10. Idaho Joe says

    August 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm

    Help
    I want to send a batch file of address’s (excel, CSV…)and then get that list back with the LAT & LON attached and ultimately convert back to excel. Before I spend the money on Google Earth Pro, I want to find out

  11. Kate says

    November 17, 2009 at 12:21 am

    I’ve been trying for about a week and the website is down. Anyone else having a problem or is it on my end?
    Thanks.

  12. Bruce says

    November 8, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    You may be interested in this. It shows how to geocode uing each of ovi, yahoo, google and bing directly from excel, and also has examples of mapping and visualising on both google earth and google maps also straight out of excel.
    http://ramblings.mcpher.com/Home/excelquirks/getmaps

  13. stu says

    September 6, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    Phillip
    thanks so much, i was able to paste my data quickly and then map. My question is does the site let you save the KML file to then import into Google Maps.
    I have a large (maybe not) customer file, I’m looking to convert to KML so I can use in MAPS.



PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

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