Reverse Geocode Current Location

Question

Is it possible to reverse Geocode your current location on SDK 3.x? I need to simply get the zip code of the current location. The only examples I've seen use CoreLocation which I dont think was introduced until SDK 4.

Answer 1

You can use MKReverseGeocoder from 3.0 through 5.0. Since 5.0 MKReverseGeocoder is depreciated and usage of CLGeocoder is advised.

You should use CLGeocoder if available. In order to be able to extract address information you would have to include Address Book framework.

#import <AddressBookUI/AddressBookUI.h>
#import <CoreLocation/CLGeocoder.h>
#import <CoreLocation/CLPlacemark.h>

- (void)reverseGeocodeLocation:(CLLocation *)location
{ 
    CLGeocoder* reverseGeocoder = [[CLGeocoder alloc] init];
    if (reverseGeocoder) {
        [reverseGeocoder reverseGeocodeLocation:location completionHandler:^(NSArray *placemarks, NSError *error) {
            CLPlacemark* placemark = [placemarks firstObject];
            if (placemark) {
                //Using blocks, get zip code
                NSString* zipCode = [placemark.addressDictionary objectForKey:(NSString*)kABPersonAddressZIPKey];
            }
        }];
    }else{
        MKReverseGeocoder* rev = [[MKReverseGeocoder alloc] initWithCoordinate:location.coordinate];
        rev.delegate = self;//using delegate
        [rev start];
        //[rev release]; release when appropriate
    }
    //[reverseGeocoder release];release when appropriate
}

MKReverseGeocoder delegate method:

- (void)reverseGeocoder:(MKReverseGeocoder *)geocoder didFindPlacemark:(MKPlacemark *)placemark
{
    //Get zip code
    NSString* zipCode = [placemark.addressDictionary objectForKey:(NSString*)kABPersonAddressZIPKey];
}

MKReverseGeocoder and ABPersonAddressZIPKey were deprecated in iOS 9.0. Instead the postalcode property of the CLPlacemark can be used to get zip code:

NSString * zipCode = placemark.postalCode;

Answer 2

Have a look at http://www.geonames.org. It isn't built into any SDK.

Answer 3

In the Question there is some Sample Code on how to get the Latitude and Longitude. Getting Strange Output in Reverse Geo coder in iphone dev

Answer 4

CoreLocation was available in SDK 3 (since 2.0) but CLGeocoder (which provides reverse geocode) has been available since 5.0.
Fortunately MapKit framework has MKReverseGeocoder object. This object also provides reverse geocoding (but is obsolete in SDK 5).