Forward Geocoding with Swift - swift

Question

I am looking to be able to have a user input an address, and be able to save that address, and convert it into latitude and longitudinal coordinates. I haven't been able to find much documentation on forward geocoding, and I am having trouble starting this code. Should I ask the user to input the address by (city, state, zip code)? Or would a single address suffice? Is there a function that can do what I need? Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

I have made a simple LocationManager helper on github in which you can get the thing what you want.
There is a function getReverseGeoCodedLocation in the library. Just input your address as a String and get the complete placemark and lat, longs.
Add the LocationManager.swift file in your project
How to use it:-
LocationManager.sharedInstance.getReverseGeoCodedLocation(address: yourAddress, completionHandler: { (location:CLLocation?, placemark:CLPlacemark?, error:NSError?) in
if error != nil {
print((error?.localizedDescription)!)
return
}
if placemark == nil {
print("Location can't be fetched")
return
}
print(placemark?.addressDictionary?.description ?? "")
print((placemark?.location?.coordinate.latitude)!)
print((placemark?.location?.coordinate.longitude)!)
})
Internally it uses the geocodeAddressString of CLGeocoder
Output
Note:- It is for Swift 3.0 and above

Answer 2

If you want to avoid the paid Google Maps API (for commercial purposes) and usage of CLLocation you can also take a look at NominatimSwift: https://github.com/caloon/NominatimSwift
It's probably the most lightweight solution if you just want to geocode.
(Disclaimer: I made it)
NominatimSwift uses the free Nominatim API for geocoding of OpenStreetMap data. You can also search for landmarks. It requires network connectivity.
Geocoding addresses and landmarks:
Nominatim.getLocation(fromAddress: "The Royal Palace of Stockholm", completion: {(error, location) -> Void in
print("Geolocation of the Royal Palace of Stockholm:")
print("lat = " + (location?.latitude)! + " lon = " + (location?.longitude)!)
})
Reverse geocoding:
Nominatim.getLocation(fromLatitude: "55.6867243", longitude: "12.5700724", completion: {(error, location) -> Void in
print("City for geolocation 55.6867243/12.5700724:")
print(location?.city)
})