Bing Maps REST Service

Question

I am sending a request to Bing Maps REST service to get the location information such as coordinates etc, I entered this request (http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations/query=rsa/gauteng/2001/johannesburg/melville?o=xml&key="mykey") in my web browser (as a test) and it returns the wrong location information. The returned xml suggests that I'm in the states somewhere in NY. Can anyone help me understand why this is?

I have read Microsoft's documentation on the web service and I'm following the proper structure to construct a request. I have Googled in a quest of getting a solution but no luck

Answer 1

You're not issuing the request correctly. Bing provides two methods: structured query and non-structured. You're mixing both.

Structured ("REST" like): http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations/CA/BC/V6G/Vancouver/Stanley%20Park%20Causeway?key=BingMapsKey

Non-structured (with query-string): http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations?locality=London&postalCode=SW1A&key=BingMapsKey

As specified on the reference page (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701714.aspx) a request similar to yours would need to be done like this:

http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations?countryRegion={country}&adminDistrict={district}&locality={locality}&key={key}

Also, you should use the 2-letter ISO code. Thus, South-Africa would be "ZA".

Your complete request will be:

http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations?countryRegion=za&adminDistrict=johannesburg&locality=melville&key=key

It returns something like this:

address: {
    adminDistrict: "Gauteng",
    adminDistrict2: "Johannesburg",
    countryRegion: "South Africa",
    formattedAddress: "Melville, South Africa",
    locality: "Melville"
},
confidence: "High",
entityType: "Neighborhood",
geocodePoints: [{
    type: "Point",
    coordinates: [
        -26.17535972595215,
        28.008920669555664
    ],
    calculationMethod: "Rooftop",
    usageTypes: ["Display"]
}]