Steven Zahm@ Andy
re: I have added over 350 directory entries on the site since I started using Connections and I can guarantee that something has recently changed.
If something has changed, then it is the Google maps and the expected required address info. Nothing has changed in Connections in regards to the Maps since September and the only change was to pass the Google Maps API key if one was added in the settings. Per haps Google Maps give different results now that they require a API key.
That said, I will take a look, but if it is Google that changed there may not much I can do about it.
re: I have tried several ways to enter addresses and the only way I can get a reliable result from Geocode is to enter the Zipcode only, click Geocode, and then enter the rest of the address. If I enter streetname and zipcode, Geocode is coming up with inaccurate results
I did look at several of the most recently added entries of which only a few had addresses so my sample size was really small, but the address info does not seem to be correct. At least to my limited understanding of UK addresses. It appears you are entering a place name in the street address line one. You need to put the street address in line one because that is what is being sent to Google. I suspect if you do that, even with leaving the postcode blank you’ll get more accurate results.
re: All-in-One Calendar map location has always worked differently than Connections in that it comes up with a prompted solution from a partial address which can be less than helpful. But with Trinity Centre (UK spelling of Center) entered as the Venue Name it works fine with the address I gave as the example.
I did play with that too. It seems you can enter any unrelated text as the venue name and it will not affect the results. I’m assuming this is because that info is not sent to Google. Which is why it works but does not when you try to include it in the address field.
All-in-One Calendar and Connections does function differently as you describe. This is because we’re using two different Google APIs. All-in-One Calendar uses the Places API and Connections uses the Maps API for geocoding.
I expect both APIs pull from the same dataset but the data the APIs expect have different requirements. As for functions, basically, the Places API tries to guess the place with a precoded lat/lng from an entered address where as the Maps API tries to geocode a lat/lng based on a supplied address. Anyway, I hope that is helpful to know how they function and how they differ.