Automating Geocoding

GeoCoding listings that do not contain lat/long coordinates

It is critical that you have already setup valid Map settings In Open-Realty's Site Config under the Listings tab before you attempt to run the geocoder. The Map Settings in Open-Realty are how TMAPS works-out what listing fields to use to assemble a complete street address to send to the geocoding service. The more accurate the full street address that can be sent, the more accurate the longitude and latitude coordinates returned will be.

The following geocoding command will attempt to add latitude and longitude coordinates to any listings that do not already have it. This is the command that you would want to setup via CRON to run once a day (or more often) to make sure all listings have geocoding coordinates.

The geocoding command can be triggered either via your web browser or via a CRON job on your server. The geocoding is run by issuing the Open-Realty action: addon_transparentmaps_geocode_all. For example: After logging into your Open-Realty administration area you can enter the following URL into your web browser's address bar to trigger the geocoder:

http://www.yourdomain.com/admin/index.php?action=addon_transparentmaps_geocode_all

The geocoder will then run, when completed it will report the results to your web browser, and your OR Site Log. You can also click on the Batch Geocode Listings menu item in your Open-Realty administration area which will perform the same task:

Batch Geocode

Listings

Using a CRON job to automate geocoding

CRON jobs are a method to trigger the loader on a defined schedule without having to manually log in to your Open-Realty site. Especially useful if you add listings regularly, or use an automated import add-on such as IDXManager or TransparentRETS. The shell command that you want your CRON job to execute would be similar to the example below that uses CURL. Make sure to replace ORADMINUSER with your Open-Realty admin user name, and ORADMINPASSWORD with its password, and replace yourdomain.com with your site's domain name including any additional path elements if you have OR installed in a subfolder. If you are importing listings as mentioned above, you will want to trigger geocoding at a time well after your last import of listings has completed.

php YOURPATH/admin/index.php "user_name=ORADMINUSER&user_pass=ORADMINPASSWORD" "action=addon_transparentmaps_geocode_all"

Note: The above CRON example uses ajax.php instead of index.php in the URL to limit the returned output to display only the results, instead of your OR administration template plus the results from TMAPS. This ability was added in v3.1.1

If you are unsure of how to create a CRON job with your hosting account control panel, you should contact your host for specific details and syntax as setting up CRON jobs can differ between different servers and control panels.

Refreshing the geocoding for ALL Listings

Re-geocoding all of your listings is performed by triggering the Open-Realty action: addon_transparentmaps_geocode_all_refresh. For example: after logging into your Open-Realty administration area you would enter the following into your browser:

http://www.yourdomain.com/admin/index.php?action=addon_transparentmaps_geocode_all_refresh

This geocoding command will add latitude and longitude data to all listings replacing any pre-existing longitude and latuitude coordinates. This command is useful if you update the address information for a large number of listings, or are experimenting with a listing import oe configuring your address fields and need to refresh all your geocode coordinate information to leverage your changes. It's a good idea to trigger this manually and not use it in a CRON job unless you have a very specific need to do that.