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Geocode an address with Algolia

This example shows you how to use an autocomplete address smart field to update a PostreSQL geography point (lat, long).

Requirements

  • An admin backend running on forest-express-sequelize
  • An algolia account
  • algoliasearch npm package

How it works

Directory: /models

This directory contains the events.js file where the model is declared.
models/events.js
module.exports = (sequelize, DataTypes) => {
const Model = sequelize.define('events', {
name: {
type: DataTypes.STRING,
primaryKey: true,
},
locationGeo: {
type: DataTypes.GEOMETRY('POINT', 4326),
},
address: {
type: DataTypes.STRING,
},
}, {
tableName: 'events',
underscored: true,
timestamps: false,
schema: process.env.DATABASE_SCHEMA,
});
Model.removeAttribute('id');
Model.associate = () => {};
return Model;
};

Directory: /forest

This directory contains the events.js file where the Smart Field Location setteris declared. This smart field will be used to update the value of the addressand locationGeo fields.
/forest/events.js
const algoliasearch = require('algoliasearch');
const places = algoliasearch.initPlaces(process.env.PLACES_APP_ID, process.env.PLACES_API_KEY);
async function getLocationCoordinates(query) {
try {
const location = await places.search({ query, type: 'address' });
console.log('search location coordinates result', location.hits[0]._geoloc);
return location.hits[0]._geoloc;
} catch (err) {
console.log(err);
return null;
}
}
async function setEvent(event, query) {
const coordinates = await getLocationCoordinates(query);
event.address = query;
event.locationGeo = `{"type": "Point", "coordinates": [${coordinates.lat}, ${coordinates.lng}]}`;
console.log('new address', event.address);
console.log('new location', event.locationGeo);
return event;
}
collection('events', {
fields: [{
field: 'Location setter',
type: 'String',
// Get the data to be displayed.
get: (event) => event.address,
// Update using Algolia.
set: (event, query) => setEvent(event, query),
}],
});
The field Location setter should use the address edit widget to enable address autocomplete.