Re: [tlug] Google maps and Japanese addresses

[Ian Barwick <barwick@example.com>]

2011/1/3 Dave M G <dave@example.com>:
(...)
> And here's where I hit a snag. Basically, if I put in an address without
> an apartment in it, it works. But if I have an apartment building name
> and room number, Google defaults to a map of North America (which is
> weird since my account is in Japanese... but that's another issue).
>
> So this format works:
> 〒100-0000
> 東京都渋谷谷区近所名1-1-1
>
> But this doesn't:
> 〒100-0000
> 東京都渋谷谷区近所名1-1-1
> アパートビル名＃100

I guess it's just a copy-and-paste error, but you have "渋谷谷区" in your
examples.

> This might be just a Google problem, but I thought I would ask here if
> this might be a problem with how I've formatted the address.

>From general experience Google Maps Japan works best with just the pure
address part (e.g. 〒100-0000東京都渋谷谷¥区近所名1-1-1 ); any additional
data such as building name often seems to confuse it and it will search for
any other locations which happen to match that name as well.

Dunno how you can get round that in the Android app.

More annoyingly, I find Google Maps Japan a bit hit-and-miss sometimes when
it comes to pinpointing addresses exactly; sometimes it will point to a location
within a block or two of where the address actually is, which given
the granularity
of street blocks and building density in Tokyo is not all that useful. It does
seem to have improved, but just last week I found myself taking an unnecessary
trip around a backstreet block because some website was using Google for
maps.

On the other hand (to drift slightly OT) I have always found Yahoo
Maps Japan very
reliable for pinpointing addresses exactly. It does cope with building
names, but
you need to need room numbers off.


Ian Barwick