[R-sig-Geo] package to query Google for latitude and longitude for a given ZIP code

[Dan Putler]

Read the terms of service agreement. You can use the service for the 
purposes of displaying information on a Google map, but not store the 
information or use it for non-display purposes. To use it in R, you will 
be using it for non-display purposes and you will likely store it. This 
topic has been discussed on this list before.

You could use the city, and take advantage of the U.S. Board on 
Geographic Names (public domain) data. See http://geonames.usgs.gov

On 03/08/2011 09:23 AM, Andrew Yee wrote:
> Thanks.  That's interesting, with respect to Google's terms of
> service, since I thought this kind of information was available
> through the Google Geocoding API.
>
> The reason why I'm pushing for the P.O. box ZIP code is that some
> geographic information is better than none.
>
> Thanks,
> Andrew
>
> On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Dan Putler<dan.putler at sauder.ubc.ca>  wrote:
>> Andrew,
>>
>> What you are proposing (a) violates Google's terms of service and (b) is
>> pretty meaningless since a PO Box zip code will be located at a post office
>> location, not the household's or firm's location, which I'm pretty certain
>> is not the location that will matter conceptually for any model you develop
>> based on this information.
>>
>> Dan
>>
>> On 03/08/2011 09:03 AM, Andrew Yee wrote:
>>> Hi, I was wondering if someone could direct me to a package that would
>>> allow you to query Google (or any other resource) for the latitude and
>>> longitude of a ZIP code.
>>>
>>> While I'm aware of the zipcode package, there are certain ZIP codes
>>> that are not in the database (e.g. areas that are serviced by PO
>>> boxes, e.g. 03861).
>>>
>>> I was thinking that Google could be helpful for retrieving this kind
>>> of information and was hoping that there's a package that handles
>>> these kinds of queries.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Andrew
>>>
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