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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Last updated 7 months ago