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I have an Android App launched to market over 6 months, which uses geocoder.getFromLocation() to "translate" latitude and longitude to human readable addresses:

Geocoder geocoder = new Geocoder(this, Locale.getDefault());
List<Address> addresses = geocoder.getFromLocation(latitude, longitude, 1);

Everything were working fine until 7 hours ago (2016-01-15 04:00 UTC). Worked with Google Support and as per their suggestion, post the problem here to see if anyone have any idea to resolve this problem.

I've talked with the Maps API's Engineering Team, and it seems that the Android Geocoder uses a different backend than the Geocoding API, which we support, so there is not much we can do from our side right now.

In addition...

  • Is the issue happening in all Android devices? Yes
  • Can you access the following URL https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Barcelona From a device presenting the issue? Yes. We can access it via browser in those Android devices.
  • Which version of Android do the devices have? Android versions ranging from 4.4.4 to 5.1.1
Vivek Mishra
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GordonWORK
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    I'm having the exact same issue when trying to use the Geocoder and it also started this morning. I've plugged a proxy between my phone and the internet and was able to se a 502 error from Google servers with the message ""The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request. Please try again in 30 seconds. That’s all we know." when trying to fetch https://www.google.com/loc/m/api. Maybe you could send this information to them since you're already in touch with support? – Guedes Jan 15 '16 at 11:25
  • It started working once again for me. – Guedes Jan 15 '16 at 12:39
  • Still not working ... – Navjot Singh Bedi Jan 15 '16 at 12:49
  • We are facing this same issue approximately the same time you started facing it – Azeem Shaikh Jan 15 '16 at 14:35
  • Having the same issue. Even on older version - 4.2.2 – Heisenberg Jan 15 '16 at 14:41
  • Can confirm this. Started aprox 2-3h ago in Europe. N5 and N7 running Marshmallow. – Bogdan Zurac Jan 15 '16 at 16:20
  • Berlin here, same problem. N5, N7, N5X (Marshmallows), Galaxy Ace (4.4.2), Galaxy S3 (Lollipop) – Niccolò Passolunghi Jan 15 '16 at 16:23
  • MN, USA, same here. First noticed around 4am GMT. All my apps that use Android geocoder at failing with a timeout. – NovaJoe Jan 15 '16 at 18:07
  • It seems to be working again. At least here in Europe. – Bogdan Zurac Jan 15 '16 at 19:18
  • For me, it is not working as of today. – Eduardo Aug 06 '16 at 16:40
  • It's not working for us too. Created following bug with Geocoder team: [https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=9153](https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=9153) – Pranav Prakash Jan 15 '16 at 12:42

3 Answers3

5

Sorry for late update here. From the Google's response on 2016-01-15 09:41 PST...

...

After reviewing the information you provided, we believe that you may be affected by a known issue. Here are some details about the issue:

Description: At approximately 11PM PST on 2016-01-14, we began receiving reports that requests made via Android SDK's geocoder are timing. We have identified an outage in our backends which is responsible for the observed errors. Our Eng team is working to address the backend failures.

How to diagnose: Geocode requests using Android's getFromLocation() geocoder method (http://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Geocoder.html) may return a timeout exception.

Workaround: There's no workaround available at this time, but we'll let you know if we learn of one. ...

According to my records, the service has been backed between 2016-01-15 12:00 and 18:00 PST.

And, thanks for Google Support keep me updated before this official response.

GordonWORK
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  • It is still giving me timeout exception but only for first time when I request address from latlong – Vivek Mishra Jul 16 '16 at 07:34
  • I didn't find any fix rather than use http api directly like [http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=lat,lng&sensor=true](http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=lat,lng&sensor=true) – zkvarz May 29 '17 at 08:36
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Solution: Try setting your device's date and time to automatically get it from the network.

I think it's preventing the API from obtaining the security certificate due to incorrect date/time and the API fails. Let me know if it works.

jacefarm
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Munier Parker
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0

In Mexico, Geocoder working now with normality, check service in your app

Max Sandoval
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  • Android Geocoder is terribly unreliable. IMHO, the class should either be fixed or removed from the platform. After numerous hours researching Geocoder issues I decided to implement the web api for geocoding. It never fails unless you go over your api limit. Instructions here: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/intro?hl=en_US – user1608385 May 03 '18 at 23:54