Eircode and Google Maps Working

OldMrBrennan83 · 18-11-2016 09:32AM

This post has been deleted.

PDVerse · 15-12-2016 03:47PM

It appears that Google Maps have resolved their issue with Apartment buildings etc. that have multiple Eircodes. All appear to be available now in Google Maps (including offline mode)

Ben D Bus · 15-12-2016 04:31PM

PDVerse wrote: »

It appears that Google Maps have resolved their issue with Apartment buildings etc. that have multiple Eircodes. All appear to be available now in Google Maps (including offline mode)

At Last!! Yes, it's working for my apartment now anyway!

MBSnr · 01-01-2017 04:17PM

PDVerse wrote: »

It appears that Google Maps have resolved their issue with Apartment buildings etc. that have multiple Eircodes. All appear to be available now in Google Maps (including offline mode)

I wonder if the offline download contains older data? Can you try D07 NH48 (drinkstore.ie)? Didn't resolve offline (new map downloaded) for me. Only one result D07 NH42. It does resolve online.

Impetus · 01-01-2017 06:48PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

I can't implement Eircodes on my Christmas card list because I do not know anyone's Eircode. Most of the people I send cards to live in rural Ireland and have a non-unique address. I could try looking then up, but that does not work because I do not recognise their house on the OS map, and I do not have a phone number for them.

So how can anyone else implement Eircode for sending cards to people they only send cards to - like old friends who have moved a few times since last visited?

Got it in one. You must have an address - ie road name and building number, postcode and town. As is universal in mainland Europe, if you want to make logistics work properly.

Irish jokes melted during the 'celtic tiger' era. The idea that one can take a country, where half the buildings have no road name and building number, and give each building / sub-unit (eg apartment) a code, and it will be useful to the average person brought back the Irish joke big time. A country 'run' by overpaid, over-pentioned, idiots.

They just added randomization of the last four characters to really prove how dumb the system is. While the idea of putting alpha characters in a postcode is dumb (all intelligently administered countries have all numeric postcodes), Cork is T and P, while Navan is C.

It would be hard to devise a more stupid 'system'. Basically Ireland does not have a postcode. The Eircode is a coding overlay for cso.ie and other government departments - but it is useless to business, logistics companies, and for social purposes. Nobody uses it - not DHL, UPS or Fedex. Even An Post doesn't use it (if I use my eircode and leave out one of the multiple line items in my urban address - from time to time someone in An Post has hand written what they perceive is the missing bit. I provide the street name, house number, eircode and city. The fact that somebody feels the need to add other rubbish shows how stupid and ill-conceived eircode is. )

Eircode.ie is useless for finding eircodes unless you know where the premises is in a rural area. In urban areas - eg a Dublin 2 address, eircode.ie gives the address as

Dublin 2
D02 XXXX

which is tautological.

The norm in most countries of the world is for the postcode to prefix the city or town name on the same line. This makes a mailing address more machine friendly for sorting purposes. The address format in eircode.ie puts the eircode after the town name - which is comparable with the British system. Britain has one of the worst postal services in the world in terms of speed of delivery.

In GB address optical recognition scanners have difficulty finding the postcode - leading to delays in processing packages.

In France 3500 Route d'Antibes is 1km from 2500 Route d'Antibes. And 2501 is on the other side of the road. In a rural area if someone builds a new house along Route d'Antibes, the new house number is based on the number of metres between it and an existing house.

There is a disease to screw things up, in the Irish culture when it comes to organization. Ireland needs street addresses and house numbers for every building and a simple postcode. Leave the eircode for civil servants until they get bored with it. Like they did with the geodirectory. Thirty million here fifty million there, squirted down the toilet by an incompetent administration.

Ben D Bus · 01-01-2017 08:23PM

Impetus wrote: »

The Eircode is a coding overlay for cso.ie and other government departments - but it is useless to business, logistics companies, and for social purposes. Nobody uses it - not DHL, UPS or Fedex. Even An Post doesn't use it

This may seem like a trivial item, but until Eircode I was not able to order a pizza online from Four Star Pizza or Dominos as for some reason my address couldn't be found (it's an apartment). Now that they take Eircode on the order front page, I can. Neither company needed to introduce it, yet they did. Their business relies on deliveries. They must have seen value in it.

Sam Russell · 01-01-2017 09:19PM

The fact that some companies find Eircode useful is not a reason to say that it is a successful implementation. Until the non-unique address problem is sorted out, it will just be a PPS number for houses.

Until it becomes normal for people to paint their Eircode on the garden gate or driveway pillar, then how on earth are you to know you are at the right premises? It is even next to impossible to find premises by their address in Henry St Dublin 1 (just around the corner from the GPO) because there are no numbers on the any buildings, although they do indeed have numbers.

Eircode has put Shannon Airport into Limerick, which makes a joke of the whole exercise. (I know it was the Geodirectory that has this - but still). Why not have an official standard address format? It is not rocket science, just common sense.

ukoda · 01-01-2017 09:24PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

The fact that some companies find Eircode useful is not a reason to say that it is a successful implementation. Until the non-unique address problem is sorted out, it will just be a PPS number for houses.

Until it becomes normal for people to paint their Eircode on the garden gate or driveway pillar, then how on earth are you to know you are at the right premises? It is even next to impossible to find premises by their address in Henry St Dublin 1 (just around the corner from the GPO) because there are no numbers on the any buildings, although they do indeed have numbers.

Eircode has put Shannon Airport into Limerick, which makes a joke of the whole exercise. (I know it was the Geodirectory that has this - but still). Why not have an official standard address format? It is not rocket science, just common sense.

Eirocde could solve world hunger and people would still moan about it.

The things you complain about above would be an issue for most postcodes as it's out of their control. Eircode didn't "put" an airport anywhere, it just used its postal address as supplied by An Post.

ukoda · 01-01-2017 09:27PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

Until it becomes normal for people to paint their Eircode on the garden gate or driveway pillar, then how on earth are you to know you are at the right premises?

Maybe someday over 95% of the population will have a device that would fit in their pocket that would pinpoint a location for them.

We will have to sit tight and see if that ever happens.....

Sam Russell · 01-01-2017 09:29PM

ukoda wrote: »

Eirocde could solve world hunger and people would still moan about it.

The things you complain about above would be an issue for most postcodes as it's out of their control. Eircode didn't "put" an airport anywhere, it just used its postal address as supplied by An Post.

Look, Eircode did nothing for sorting out non-unique addresses. It still does nothing for them. It did however raise some hares, such as postal towns crossing county boundaries to the annoyance of many residents.

ukoda · 01-01-2017 09:32PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

Look, Eircode did nothing for sorting out non-unique addresses. .

Really? A unique identifier for every address did nothing for sorting out non-unique addresses?

Sam Russell · 01-01-2017 10:18PM

ukoda wrote: »

Really? A unique identifier for every address did nothing for sorting out non-unique addresses?

Depends on what you mean. It does not sort out my Christmas card problem. It does not sort out finding out people's Eircode. If you have the Eircode, fine - now that Google have ridden into the foray, but without an Eircode, navigation is impossible using just an address because it is impossible to discover an Eircode without a unique address.

Even with an Eircode, without a computer in your pocket with online connection to the internet, you still cannot identify the premises as people will not be putting their Eircode on the gatepost.

Unique addresses need to be eliminated, starting with new planning permissions, and small estates. A formal 'official' address needs to be implemented, leading to unique address for all.

oscarBravo · 01-01-2017 10:36PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

Eircode has put Shannon Airport into Limerick, which makes a joke of the whole exercise.

Not only was this never actually the case, it's not even apparently the case for people who are desperate to continue to find fault.

Sam Russell wrote: »

It does not sort out my Christmas card problem.

What's your Christmas card problem, and how did you expect Eircode to solve it for you?

As it happens, I put an Eircode on all but one of the Christmas cards I sent to Ireland this season.

Sam Russell · 02-01-2017 12:20AM

oscarBravo wrote: »

Not only was this never actually the case, it's not even apparently the case for people who are desperate to continue to find fault.

What's your Christmas card problem, and how did you expect Eircode to solve it for you?

As it happens, I put an Eircode on all but one of the Christmas cards I sent to Ireland this season.

See post #138.

That address for SNN has obviously 'corrected' since the launch of Eircode. The postal town for V14 is Limerick. The preferred address for post is to put the postal town in the address, but in this case, they put the county.

oscarBravo · 02-01-2017 03:27PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

See post #138.

Why is not knowing someone's Eircode a problem for you, in the context of sending them a Christmas card?

PDVerse · 02-01-2017 04:46PM

MBSnr wrote: »

I wonder if the offline download contains older data? Can you try D07 NH48 (drinkstore.ie)? Didn't resolve offline (new map downloaded) for me. Only one result D07 NH42. It does resolve online.

Looks like offline mode doesn't currently include buildings with multiple Eircodes, only works when online.

MBSnr · 02-01-2017 06:43PM

Overall I'm happy Google maps finally have Eircode support. It might help in being the driver that enables widespread use. I tried to tell a tradesman that was coming out to the house he could use his smartphone and find us using our Eircode. Fairly sure he thought I was mad! Needless to say, he rang for directions.... Oh well.

Interestingly Nightline rang the wife over Xmas to find out where the house was for a delivery. I was going to give out buckets on here about them not using the Eircode. Then I noticed that there was no Eircode on the package! Account was the wife's....So now the online address has been updated and we'll see what happens next time... Can't be sure that it's used though as the driver may recall the house from a previous visit.

McAlban · 04-01-2017 06:13PM

An Post are using Eircodes. Just not for their traditional Mail Business. For PostBox, AddressPal and Post Logistics Eircodes are mandatory.

Got about 6 Deliveries over Christmas using my Amazon and ebay a/c and some other online purchases. UPS were the only ones who called for delivery directions.

And the Issue with some Logistics Companies not using the Eircode is that their costing systems are all based either on Counties or an Arbitrary code Like Loc8 or one they've made up themselves. When these costing systems are upgraded they will more than likely use the Routing Key at least to identify addresses. or zones,

But it's a big Job, I'd hate to be updating my Client Database with eircodes manually.

sondagefaux · 01-02-2017 03:39PM

McAlban wrote: »

An Post are using Eircodes. Just not for their traditional Mail Business. For PostBox, AddressPal and Post Logistics Eircodes are mandatory.

Got about 6 Deliveries over Christmas using my Amazon and ebay a/c and some other online purchases. UPS were the only ones who called for delivery directions.

And the Issue with some Logistics Companies not using the Eircode is that their costing systems are all based either on Counties or an Arbitrary code Like Loc8 or one they've made up themselves. When these costing systems are upgraded they will more than likely use the Routing Key at least to identify addresses. or zones,

But it's a big Job, I'd hate to be updating my Client Database with eircodes manually.

No need to update them manually - lots of products out there that will automate this process. And good news that certain Eircode products are set to become 90% cheaper soon:

[font=Arial, sans-serif]Autoaddress ‏[ltr]@autoaddress[/ltr] Jan 25[/font]

More

[font=Arial, sans-serif]Upcoming blog on reducing #Eircode licensing costs by 90% by combining ECAF and Google Maps API for publicly accessible websites and apps.[/font]

sondagefaux · 01-02-2017 03:46PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

ukoda wrote: »

Eirocde could solve world hunger and people would still moan about it.

The things you complain about above would be an issue for most postcodes as it's out of their control. Eircode didn't "put" an airport anywhere, it just used its postal address as supplied by An Post.

Look, Eircode did nothing for sorting out non-unique addresses. It still does nothing for them. It did however raise some hares, such as postal towns crossing county boundaries to the annoyance of many residents.

An Eircode appended to an otherwise non-unique address creates a unique address. So your first claim is incorrect.
Your second claim is also incorrect. The postal address of many residential and non-residential addresses in Ireland, as used by An Post, has always included a significant number that don't relate to their geographical location. This has been the case since countrywide postal addressing was introduced into Ireland in the 19th century.
There are no official addresses in Ireland - people are free to use whatever address they like and An Post will deliver mail items as long as they can figure out where the address used is physically located. Using an Eircode as part of your address, no matter which form you use, makes it far easier for An Post and others to 'translate' a non-postal address.

sondagefaux · 01-02-2017 03:51PM

Sam Russell wrote: »

oscarBravo wrote: »

Not only was this never actually the case, it's not even apparently the case for people who are desperate to continue to find fault.

What's your Christmas card problem, and how did you expect Eircode to solve it for you?

As it happens, I put an Eircode on all but one of the Christmas cards I sent to Ireland this season.

See post #138.

That address for SNN has obviously 'corrected' since the launch of Eircode. The postal town for V14 is Limerick. The preferred address for post is to put the postal town in the address, but in this case, they put the county.

The great thing about Eircodes is that you can use whatever address you like and, so long as you include a correct Eircode, you can send it knowing that An Post will be able to 'translate' the Eircode into the correct location.
If I want to, I can send a card to

Mr. Happy,
GGAFdafdadf,
abagadfadfam,.njknajiodafsoajok,
Co.adfklafjdakldfakldkj;alk;fadaiojioijakldklfjajkl;jkl;adfsjkld
V14 KC92
and I know that anyone who looks up V14 KC92 in the Eircode Finder (or another up-to-date database) will be able to see that I want the card to go to Mr. Happy at Shannon Airport.
It's not that difficult really, is it?

sondagefaux · 06-02-2017 02:02AM

So Google Maps introduced Eircodes on a 'live test' basis in early September and it sorted out the apartments (and other locations with multiple Eircodes, eg. shopping centres) issue by mid-December?

And now it seems that because of Google Maps integrating Eircodes, there will be a reduction of 90% in Eircode licensing costs for publicly accessible websites and apps:

[font=Arial, sans-serif]Upcoming blog on reducing [/font][font=Arial, sans-serif]#Eircode[/font][font=Arial, sans-serif] licensing costs by 90% by combining ECAF and Google Maps API for publicly accessible websites and apps.[/font]

Seems like a pretty successful integration - it was obviously worth the wait to get the licensing arrangements right and to get the technical side of things right.

Note for mods: can't do anything about the font size or appearance of imported quoted text. That's just the way it appears when you use boards.ie with Chrome...
Note from Mod: there you go - not hard.

plodder · 06-02-2017 12:24PM

Never seen such a fanfare for an upcoming blog.

I just checked out some of the queries and as far as I can see, the JSON lookup is not using ECAD. The address returned is only approximate down to the neighborhood level. That was the case for the three examples I tried. Nevertheless, I'm sure it will be useful for some purposes, such as just finding the location by lat/long.

sondagefaux · 06-02-2017 06:49PM

sondagefaux wrote: »

So Google Maps introduced Eircodes on a 'live test' basis in early September and it sorted out the apartments (and other locations with multiple Eircodes, eg. shopping centres) issue by mid-December?

And now it seems that because of Google Maps integrating Eircodes, there will be a reduction of 90% in Eircode licensing costs for publicly accessible websites and apps:

[font=Arial, sans-serif]Upcoming blog on reducing [/font][font=Arial, sans-serif]#Eircode[/font][font=Arial, sans-serif] licensing costs by 90% by combining ECAF and Google Maps API for publicly accessible websites and apps.[/font]

Seems like a pretty successful integration - it was obviously worth the wait to get the licensing arrangements right and to get the technical side of things right.

Note for mods: can't do anything about the font size or appearance of imported quoted text. That's just the way it appears when you use boards.ie with Chrome...
Note from Mod: there you go - not hard.

Just my normal copy and past of quoted text from outside Boards. Doesn't normally work very well with Chrome for me...

More desperate nonsense from Loc8.

https://twitter.com/loc8code/status/826831159317372929

Are they banned from Boards? They could just as easily make their points in any of the Eircode threads here. Although perhaps they don't like people answering back...

This is my response:

A sharp-eyed Irish postman demonstrated his detective skills after tracking down a Co Donegal house with only the vaguest of instructions on a letter to go by.

The letter was sent from Belfast across the border into the Irish Republic to the home of a PHD student.

In full, the envelope contained the message on the front: “Your man Henderson, that boy with the glasses who is doing a PhD up here at Queen’s in Belfast. Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland.”

A friend sent the letter to Barry Henderson who is studying for a PhD in history at Queen’s University Belfast with the potentially confusing address at his home in Buncranca, which has a population of 7,000.

The local postman for the country’s An Post mail service knew who Henderson was and then passed it on to his wife Roisin who works for a local newspaper in the Co Donegal town.

Inside the envelope was a terse message written by Barry Henderson’s friend: “If this has arrived, you live in a village.”

Roisin Henderson posted the letter again this time on Twitter and wrote: “A guy Barry knows sent him this from Belfast, with that wee note included inside it.
“I think it’s brilliant. Only in Donegal”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/18/postman-turns-detective-to-deliver-letter-with-cryptic-address-in-ireland

I suppose An Post staff must not have got the memo about the High Court ruling...

PS: love the paranoid implication by loc8 that I must work for the Dept. of Communications or Autoaddress (their Twitter account said I was an 'Eircode insider'!).

This is me: www.cleanandlight.co.uk
Any customers from Ireland, please don't forget to include your Eircode!

sondagefaux · 06-02-2017 07:24PM

plodder wrote: »

Never seen such a fanfare for an upcoming blog. I just checked out some of the queries and as far as I can see, the JSON lookup is not using ECAD. The address returned is only approximate down to the neighborhood level. That was the case for the three examples I tried. Nevertheless, I'm sure it will be useful for some purposes, such as just finding the location by lat/long.

From the blog post:

[font=Cabin, sans-serif]The case I'm going to look at is a simple "find my nearest" function for a website, e.g. allowing a visitor to enter their address and display the nearest fast food, cinema, bank location, etc. But first let's look at Google Maps Licensing.
[/font]

Mod: Please do not post in large size text. Take this as a warning.

[font=Cabin, sans-serif]Is Google Maps Free?[/font]
[font=Cabin, sans-serif]For internal company use the answer is generally no, but there are cases where Google Maps API can be used for no cost or very little cost. Google have a Standard License and a Premium license. To qualify for the Standard License your application/website must be [/font][font=Cabin, sans-serif]publicly[/font][font=Cabin, sans-serif] accessible (anyone on the web can access it) and be [/font][font=Cabin, sans-serif]freely [/font][font=Cabin, sans-serif]available (you can't charge a subscription to access your application/website with the exception of paid mobile apps that are available on the Play Store). If your application doesn't meet both these criteria then you must purchase a Premium license, which starts at $10,000 a year. For more information on Google Maps pricing click [/font][font=Cabin, sans-serif]here[/font][font=Cabin, sans-serif].
[/font]
[font=Cabin, sans-serif]If your website/service meets these criteria then you can avail of the Standard License. The Standard licence allows up to 2,500 free credits per day, and if you need more than that it costs $1 per 2,000 requests up to a maximum of 100,000 requests per day (if you need more than that you need a Premium plan.)[/font]
[font=Cabin, sans-serif]...[/font]
[font=Cabin, sans-serif]If you have a form where you ask for an eircode you can easily create something like the following to display the nearest fast food, cinema, bank location, etc.[/font]

[font=Cabin, sans-serif]If you're going to do this less than 2,500 times a day on a publicly accessible website then it is completely free, no ECAF/ECAD license is required.[/font]

Very handy for small business, including smaller chains.
Anything that makes it easier for customers to find you is good, especially if it's free or very cheap!

Mod: Please do not post in large size text. Take this as a warning. In future, I will simply delete it.

PDVerse · 07-02-2017 09:28AM

plodder wrote: »

Never seen such a fanfare for an upcoming blog. I just checked out some of the queries and as far as I can see, the JSON lookup is not using ECAD. The address returned is only approximate down to the neighborhood level. That was the case for the three examples I tried. Nevertheless, I'm sure it will be useful for some purposes, such as just finding the location by lat/long.

The location is the exact coordinate of the building, Google use their own address structure (you would have to ask them why). One use, which I'm surprised you've forgotten, is the school catchment example you provided previously. Parents could enter an Eircode and you aggregate and display demand by Small Area (which is available as open data).

plodder · 07-02-2017 09:48AM

PDVerse wrote: »

The location is the exact coordinate of the building, Google use their own address structure (you would have to ask them why). One use, which I'm surprised you've forgotten, is the school catchment example you provided previously. Parents could enter an Eircode and you aggregate and display demand by Small Area (which is available as open data).

That's true. The exact coordinate is significant. And someone could produce a non-commercial webservice which converts Eircodes into small area codes, and that would be useful.

sondagefaux · 07-02-2017 11:27PM

sondagefaux wrote: »

Just my normal copy and past of quoted text from outside Boards. Doesn't normally work very well with Chrome for me...

More desperate nonsense from Loc8.

https://twitter.com/loc8code/status/826831159317372929

Are they banned from Boards? They could just as easily make their points in any of the Eircode threads here. Although perhaps they don't like people answering back...

This is my response:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/18/postman-turns-detective-to-deliver-letter-with-cryptic-address-in-ireland

I suppose An Post staff must not have got the memo about the High Court ruling...

PS: love the paranoid implication by loc8 that I must work for the Dept. of Communications or Autoaddress (their Twitter account said I was an 'Eircode insider'!).

This is me: www.cleanandlight.co.uk 
Any customers from Ireland, please don't forget to include your Eircode!

Another An Post employee doesn't seem to have got the memo about the High Court ruling (or maybe loc8 are just talking rubbish?):

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/discover/its-near-a-street-named-cul-de-sac--well-never-know-how-an-post-delivered-this-letter-776020.html

sondagefaux · 07-02-2017 11:41PM

More examples of An Post delivering mail without the postal address:

http://www.dailyedge.ie/an-post-2-3139758-Dec2016/

http://www.meversusanpost.com/

Sam Russell · 08-02-2017 11:51AM

Mod: @ Sondagefaux: This thread is about Eircode and Google maps.

Mis-addressed post has nothing to do with this thread. Do not post irrelevant matter here. If you need to post such things, please use a large envelope and put them in a large green box on the corner of your street, but make sure you apply the appropriate stamp.

You have already been warned. Bans will follow.

Eircode and Google Maps Working

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