Geocode an address with Algolia

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.

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