Restore support for exporting the geographic coordinates in KML exports

[GoogleCodeExporter]

KML exports from FusionTables used to include the geographic coordinates for 
addresses that had been geocoded.  That was removed.

Please restore support for exporting the geographic coordinates in KML exports

Original issue reported on code.google.com by geocodezip on 15 Apr 2011 at 8:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Exporting coordinates serves us in several ways, including various distance 
calculations (distances between geocoded objects and ZIP Codes, or other 
objects), and in de-duplicating multiple objects that may have the same address.

Original comment by davidjos...@gmail.com on 15 Apr 2011 at 9:51

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This change makes the generated KML useless for clients that don't have 
built-in geocoding (which is most of them).  It's not a big deal for me to work 
around for my data (I'll just pre-geocode and upload as lat/lon or KML), but it 
makes the KML export pretty useless for many applications.

If this is because of concerns about people using this to bypass geocoding API 
call limits from the Maps API, please find a way of enforcing the same limits 
for FT (and allowing us to pay for extra geocodes).  If there are legal 
concerns for areas where you're not using Google-owned map data for geocoding, 
then find a way of preventing only these record from being exported, and 
warning the user when they geocode.

Original comment by ja...@jasonbirch.com on 15 Apr 2011 at 10:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This was an important feature in my workflow.  I geocoded the addresses in 
fusion tables, exported the kml, reformatted it, and then imported it into 
Google Maps.  I haven't been able to figure out how to use the <address> tag in 
Google Maps, and trust me, I've tried.

Original comment by maplewoo...@gmail.com on 18 Apr 2011 at 2:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I have over 7000 addresses which I need to convert to lat/long for use in 
Google Maps. Google Fusion allowed me to import my addresses, geocode them, and 
then export them in KML, which I could then convert to CSV.  Ultimately I need 
to store the lat/long coordinates with my property records so that I can 
display the properties on Google Maps in search results.

Original comment by freds...@gmail.com on 6 May 2011 at 2:03

[GoogleCodeExporter]

freds...@:  Is there some reason why you couldn't use the spatial search 
capabilities from the Fusion Table, and show the resulting properties on the 
map using the FusionTablesLayer in the Google Maps API? 

- Rebecca

Original comment by rshap...@google.com on 9 May 2011 at 10:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I agree with others who have commented that this is an important feature for my 
work. I create KML from a SQL database which I then import into Google Maps, 
and Fusion is a great way for me to test my data and do minor edits before 
making big changes. I have a large chunk of data that I need to geocode and 
enter the lat/lon coordinate for into my SQL database, and I'd love to be able 
to do this in Fusion. There are obviously ways to work around it, but all are 
more cumbersome than if it were possible to export lat/lon through Fusion. An 
explanation of why this feature is no longer available would be great. 

Original comment by EmmaJean...@gmail.com on 10 May 2011 at 6:43

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I've been using fusiontables and kml export to convert addresses to lat/long 
without needing to do any scripting or coding, then importing the lat/long into 
mysql table which was called from googlemaps api. this change shuts down that 
possibility.  Thanks for your help.

Original comment by jonev...@gmail.com on 11 May 2011 at 10:51

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue 489 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by rshap...@google.com on 12 May 2011 at 1:03

[GoogleCodeExporter]

@EmmaJean:  Please see the background thread: 
https://groups.google.com/group/fusion-tables-users-group/browse_thread/thread/e
f28c912d8797eaa/b73d17a6e34c9d51

Best, 

-Rebecca

Original comment by rshap...@google.com on 12 May 2011 at 1:09

• Changed state: Acknowledged

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I really need coordinates in KML exports!!!
I'm not a developer but a normal vegetarian!
My dream is to insert more than 1000 Taiwan vegetarian restaurants into Google 
map for everyone who will easily find a place to eat, especially vegetarians!

Of course, I wouldn't insert address one by one. Let's why I truly need fusion 
table! By importing Google Docs and export KML with longitude and latitude 
info, then import into Google map!

ps. I think fusion table suppose to give users conveniences! If still need 
scripting or coding.... it's just for developer, not for everyone. Does fusion 
table don't welcome general user?

Original comment by becca....@gmail.com on 12 May 2011 at 3:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I back up to Becca's comments. I am a vegan too and it is hard to find a 
up-to-date and good vegetarian restaurant info on the network. Please keep KML 
exports for the sake of minority. :-)

Original comment by Janette0...@gmail.com on 12 May 2011 at 3:58

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'll also vote for this request. I have been using Fusion Tables to do mashups 
for online and print use, in tandem, by exporting the KML and importing it into 
Illustrator (via the MAPublisher plugin). With the KML export excluding 
geocoded coordinates, I have to manually re-geocode what are sometimes hundreds 
or thousands of points for print use... even though they're already geocoded 
for online use.

+1

Original comment by wmelt...@gmail.com on 13 May 2011 at 3:30

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue 284 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by rshap...@google.com on 14 May 2011 at 2:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'm a student and failed to use API for geocoding my mysql base. With fusion 
tabels it took 5 min to geocode all my addresses for diploma and now I realize 
that can't export the lat\lng.
Really need that export feature.

Original comment by apats.m...@gmail.com on 25 May 2011 at 11:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ya! We really need "exporting the geographic coordinates in KML exports"!!!
Why just no reply and nobody care~

Original comment by becca....@gmail.com on 26 May 2011 at 2:51

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hello..... anyone there?
How many comments / users need to reference this matter before someone deigns 
to reply or advise?

Original comment by paul...@gmail.com on 20 Jun 2011 at 4:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Rebecca from the FusionTables team has answered a couple of times.

Seems to me there was some reason they couldn't do this the way they were (I 
suspect either legal or resource issues).  There was a request for example work 
flows that require this, did you provide one?

Original comment by geocodezip on 20 Jun 2011 at 2:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Found the background Thread where Rebecca explained:

< Unfortunately there are solid legal reasons why the change needed to be made, 
and I'm not hopeful that we'll be un-doing it soon. >

It was great while it lasted.

Original comment by paul...@gmail.com on 20 Jun 2011 at 10:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It's a big issue for me that it is not possible to be able to retrieve at least 
the latitude and longitude of addresses geocoded by Fusion Tables. I wanted to 
use FT for storing tens of thousands of addresses in secured tables and access 
them via geospatial searches. 
As FT doesn't offers the coordinates (which I need i.e. to calculate the 
distance from an entered address to an address from FT) this is a no-go for FT. 
I have to look for another solution (Bing, Yahoo?).
My wishes for a better FT: 
- Get back latitude and longitude for each geocoded address.
- Return distances in geospatial search results (using ST_INTERSECTS). 

Original comment by stef.la...@gmail.com on 1 Aug 2011 at 8:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by rshap...@google.com on 12 Aug 2011 at 11:30

• Added labels: Tag-Geo

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Using FT and not being able to export the coordinates in a kml file is plain 
dump decision. I will be keeping using alternatives like Bing and Yahoo since 
Google changes those dump policies!

Original comment by canoz...@gmail.com on 26 Aug 2011 at 1:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Would be great if Google Maps could successfully import a Google Fusion XML 
file.

Original comment by jderai...@gmail.com on 9 Sep 2011 at 8:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by rshap...@google.com on 12 Sep 2011 at 10:18

• Added labels: Component-Geo
• Removed labels: Tag-Geo

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Exporting the lat. and long. has been a key part of the workflow for one of the 
projects we are working on in our non profit.  Why is this function not 
available?

Original comment by uei.sust...@gmail.com on 23 Sep 2011 at 6:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I think FT is useless without the coordinates. is the most important part of 
cartography....

Original comment by nrt....@gmail.com on 28 Oct 2011 at 11:15

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am a new user of FT and I came here only because I assumed it has some kind 
of export. Too bad ...

Original comment by horia.an...@gmail.com on 1 Dec 2011 at 1:42

[GoogleCodeExporter]

this was a cool feature. plz bring it back even with some limits or restriction.
thanks

Original comment by kuze...@gmail.com on 26 Jan 2012 at 6:50

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I agree this really limits the usefulness for folks who can not do the 
geocoding programatically.

Original comment by jkoh...@ompay.com on 3 Feb 2012 at 10:29

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Kml exports without coordinates are pretty useless

Original comment by Malla...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2012 at 4:16

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Try to open the exported kml in Google Earth and then save it again from Google 
Earth. I can get the coordinates from most of the objects then, but missing the 
coordinates from about 5 - 10% of all objects. 

Original comment by ralf.wes...@gmail.com on 14 Feb 2012 at 9:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I've tried this workaround with unsatisfactory results; Google Earth has given 
the proper coordinates to the wrong objects. Visible points on the map are the 
same but the addresses, and then the associated objects are different. Lot of 
missing coordinates as well.

Original comment by Malla...@gmail.com on 15 Feb 2012 at 12:57

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I think my dataset was imported into Google Earth with reasonably OK results, 
but I had different placemarks in Fusion Tables (with criteria from a column in 
the dataset table), and in Google Earth all the placemarks are the same. Is 
there any way to retain the placemarks when exporting to KML from Fusion Tables?

Original comment by ketil.w....@gmail.com on 29 Feb 2012 at 7:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I think that to limit the export of coordinates it's a big error. I'm try to 
create a service with Android,  I need to geocode over 10000 record that I've 
to publicate on line.

Original comment by prova...@gmail.com on 29 Mar 2012 at 10:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I really really need the FusionTables KML export with geographic coordinates.

The World Bank is working on a thrilling project on mobility in São Paulo and 
the only way we found to geocode people's addresses which were given in CEP 
(Brazilian zip code) was through Fusion Tables. Even the Postal Service doesn't 
have a geocoded database of their own zip codes. 

This badly hits entrepeneurs and NGOs from developing countries where these 
kind of databases have not yet been open up by the governments. 

Original comment by eurocana...@gmail.com on 11 May 2012 at 1:56

[GoogleCodeExporter]

just download geocoded kml from Fusion service. save it to your computer. and 
rename it with XML. and open MS Office 2007 or higher.. anmd map the column 
which contains Lat/Long value...

thnaks

Original comment by sanrajb...@gmail.com on 24 Aug 2012 at 5:36

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Before that u must have to open downloaded kml again in google Earth save it. 
then rename to XML.

Original comment by sanrajb...@gmail.com on 24 Aug 2012 at 5:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Be aware that by doing the Google Earth thing you loose several coordinates in 
between the process.

Original comment by dcanales...@gmail.com on 24 Aug 2012 at 1:50

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue 1208 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by rshap...@google.com on 26 Nov 2012 at 11:54

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue 1243 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by rmcch...@google.com on 7 Feb 2013 at 8:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks sanrajb

Original comment by steven.b...@gmail.com on 8 Apr 2013 at 9:05

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Don't be evil, Google people :) Why can't we, users or developers, download 
geocoded data from complete address given? You make us work harder to obtain it 
:(

Original comment by kokb...@gmail.com on 29 Jul 2013 at 8:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Please allow for geocodes to be exported, it would be a valuable feature!  

Original comment by de.br...@gmail.com on 26 Mar 2014 at 1:17

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Downloading the coordinate data would be extremely useful.  I guess that's why 
they've disabled it.  What is even more disappointing is you still have to 
"geocode" when you provide the lat-lon in the table!  Its making playing around 
with this and trying to use the FT fairly useless.  The limits are hit too 
soon, and the geocoding takes too long anyway.  I can straight geocode with 
another service and upload to google before it even comes close to finishing.  
We normally have only between 1000 and 2000 datapoints, which doesn't seem like 
many, but the limits in place mean that even one screw-up or change means you 
can't work again until tomorrow.  

At this rate it seems like a demo, not really a feature intended to be used.  
Seriously, if you are worried about us "abusing" the geocoding then why fck 
around and not let us upload pre-geocoded data, or download it, and avoid 
"abusing" the system with requests.  

Original comment by awbac...@gmail.com on 13 Aug 2014 at 5:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Please note geocoding, by definition, is not necessary when you provide the 
lat/lng coordinates in the table data. It is the process of finding coordinates 
from other geographic data, such as street addresses and postal codes.

Original comment by kad...@google.com on 13 Aug 2014 at 3:09

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Well, it was for me.  When I change either 2 columns "lat" and "lon" to 
location time, it starts geocoding.  When I provide a column in the format 
lat,lon it does the same.  When I provide it as a tuple "(lat, lon)", it does 
the same thing.  So how exactly do you use a column as the type "location" 
without it starting geocoding.  It says "10 of 1000, 0% ambiguous".  Is it not 
actually geocoding as defined by FT?  

Original comment by awbac...@gmail.com on 14 Aug 2014 at 3:13

[GoogleCodeExporter]

@awbacker, let's take this offline. Send the details of your situation to 
googletables-feedback@google.com and we can take a look.

Original comment by kad...@google.com on 14 Aug 2014 at 1:10

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Is there any perspective of when the lat/lon export feature will be available 
again?

Original comment by joao.aug...@gmail.com on 4 Sep 2014 at 8:00

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It is not likely to ever be available because it's a terms-of-service issue. If 
you want the coordinates your best bet is to do your own geocoding with any 
service you find useful.

Original comment by rmcch...@google.com on 4 Sep 2014 at 8:29

[avdata99]

+1