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javageocodegeotools

how to geocode using GeoTools & Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing Line files

I am trying to develop a java application that can reverse geocode US addresses to latitude and longitude using the TIGER\Line shapefiles and geodatabase files with GeoTools (GeoTools The Open Source Java GIS Toolkit).

I can see that the ADDRFEAT shapefiles have street names etc, but how do i link these shapefiles to those with latitude and longitude?

Is this even possible?

Solution

  • Converting postal addresses to lat/lon values is the geocoding itself. "Reverse geocoding" refers to the process of finding a postal address for a given lat/lon location.

    The process of finding lat/lon location for a given postal address (i.e. geocoding) is actually quite complex. Here is an article I wrote on in in Dr. Dobbs.