address-validator

Validate street addresses in nodejs using google geocoding api.

From an input address the lib will return to you a valid address with correct spelling and lat/lon coords, and/or a set of inexact matches that can be used to drive a 'did you mean?' widget.

Currently geared towards North American Addresses but works with all languages.

Install

npm install address-validator

Getting an API key

Google has changed its API since I wrote this code, and now they require you to have a project with a billing account and the Geocoding API enabled.
See: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/start

This means that this library will not function without an API key!

Usage

var addressValidator = require('address-validator');
var Address = addressValidator.Address;
var _ = require('underscore');

addressValidator.setOptions({
  key: 'your Google maps API key with a billing account and geocoding API enabled',
  // See: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/start
});

//any of the props in this object are optional, also spelling does not have to be exact.
var address = new Address({
    street: '100 North Washington St',
    city: 'Bostont',
    state: 'Mass',
    country: 'US'
});

//the passed in address does not need to be an address object it can be a string. (address objects will give you a better likelihood of finding an exact match)
address = '100 North Washington St, Boston, MA, US';

//`addressValidator.match.streetAddress` -> tells the validator that you think the input should be a street address. This data makes the validator more accurate.
// But, sometimes you dont know.. in that cause you should use `addressValidator.match.unknown`
addressValidator.validate(address, addressValidator.match.streetAddress, function(err, exact, inexact){
    console.log('input: ', address.toString())
    console.log('match: ', _.map(exact, function(a) {
      return a.toString();
    }));
    console.log('did you mean: ', _.map(inexact, function(a) {
      return a.toString();
    }));

    //access some props on the exact match
    var first = exact[0];
    console.log(first.streetNumber + ' '+ first.street);
});

Some example inputs/outputs from above:

input:  12 proctor rd, Massachussetts, US
exact:  []
did you mean:  [ '12 Proctor Road, Chelmsford, MA, US',
  '12 Proctor Road, Townsend, MA, US',
  '12 Proctor Road, Braintree, MA, US',
  '12 Proctor Road, Everett, MA, US',
  '12 Proctor Road, Falmouth, MA, US' ]


input:  100 North Washington St, Boston, MA, US
exact:  [ '100 North Washington Street, Boston, MA, US' ]
did you mean:  []


input:  1 Main St, San Diego, US
address:  []
did you mean:  [ '1 Main Street, San Diego, CA, US' ]

API

addressValidator = require('address-validator');

addressValidator.validate(inputAddr, [addressType, ] cb)

validate an input address.

`inputAddr` - validator.Address object or map with 'street', 'city', 'state', 'country' keys, or string address
`addressType` - validator.match.[key] where key is: streetAddress, route, city, state, country, unknown
        This tells the validator the type of an address you are expecting to validate. default is `validator.match.streetAddress` (you may omit this arg).
`cb`: `function(err, validAddresses, inexactMatches, geocodingResponse)`
    `err` - something went wrong calling the google api
    `validAddresses` - list of Address objects. These are exact matches to your input, and will have proper spelling, caps etc. Its best that you use this instead of what you had
    `inexactMatches` - list of Address objects. Incomplete addresses or addresses that do not match your input address. useful for 'did you mean?' type UIs
    `geocodingResponse` - the json object that i got from google API

addressValidator.setOptions(options)

set address lookup options

`options`: an object containing:
    `countryBias`: more likely to find addresses in this country. Think of this as you where you are searching "from" to find results around you. (use ISO 3166-1 country code)
    `countryMatch`: match results in this country only. (ISO 3166-1 country code)
    `key`: optional google api key (if used will submit requests over https)
    `language`: optional locale to translate the results into, 'DE' for German, etc.
    `proxy`: optional proxy address to pass the request through (`http://<proxy_address>:<proxy_port>`)

proxy note: when used without a key (request via http), the url object submitted with the request adds the value provided to the url.proxy property.

however, when used with a key (request via https), the value is used to create a https-proxy-agent and then added to the url.agent property to properly implement the CONNECT HTTP method.

this is to overcome cases where requests made without a supplied agent are transformed to scramble the request as a security measure, or in configurations that only accept headers specified by RFC7230 (using the CONNECT method). note that using this method ensures the tunneling to work whether these proxy/firewall features are present or not.

addressValidator.Address class

Address object that provides useful methods. Create a new one by
  1. passing a map with these props: {street:'123 main st', city: 'boston', state: 'MA'|'massachussetts', country: 'US'|'United States'}
    None of the props are required, but chances are you wont have a valid address if you omit any of them (except for state)
  2. passing a string containing an address (the address class does not parse the string into parts)
  3. passing a result object from a google geocoding response. ie: geoResponse.results[0]


The validator.validate callback will return to you these objects, except they will have all or some of the following properties:
    streetNumber: '100'
    street: 'North Main St'
    streetAbbr: 'N Main St'
    city: 'Boston'
    state: 'Massachussetts'
    stateAbbr: 'MA'
    country: 'United States'
    countryAbbr: 'US'
    postalCode: 02114
    colloquialArea: '' // e.g. 'Silicon Valley'
    sublocality: '' // e.g. 'Brooklyn'
    location: {lat: 43.233332, lon: 23.2222243}

Methods:
    `toString(useCountryAbbr, useStateAbbr, useStreetAbbr)` - returns a string representing the address. currently geared towards North American addresses
        useCountryAbbr = [optional] default: true - the resulting address string should use country abbr, not the full country name
        useStateAbbr   = [optional] default: true - the resulting address string should use state abbr, not the full state name
        useStreetAbbr  = [optional] default: false - the resulting address string should use street name abbr, not the full street name
        Note: the abbriviated values will only be used if they are available. The Address objects returned to you from the validate callback may have these available.