Google Places API "types" issue - web-services

I was used to getting datas from google places web service. But, This week I realize that web service link: https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/search/json?location=41.025414,29.114866&radius=5000&types=gas_station&sensor=true&key=XXXXXXXXX is returning "ZERO_RESULTS". It was used to return 50 places and I did not change anything on code.
When I remove types=gas_stations, it is working well. So, do you have any idea why "types" is not working well like it used to be?

I don't think you would have ever received 50 results as the Places API can only return 20 establishments at a time.
I would suggest trying the parameter types=gas_station at a multiple locations to make sure that is not working correctly, after which if you are still not receiving any results I would suggest filing this issue on the Google Places API Issue Tracker.
A temporary solution would be to use the keyword=gas station parameter. This appears to return relevant results.

Related

Insufficient geocoding precision in Brazil

I've been working with a logistics company and using Here services for Geocoding, Routing, and Telematics. We've been facing a couple of issues regarding the precision of the geocoding API when compared to Google results.
Here are some examples:
1) Returning wrong address even though the information is complete
That's a use case from Florianopolis (capital of SC), in a very well-known street.
If I try to geocode the following address:
Rua João Pio Duarte Silva, 526
It's gonna return an address that is almost 500m far away from the original street number. It happens in the API, but also in the Here Maps, which led me to think the precision in Brazil is not trustable. That's just one scenario, but we've faced similar situations like that.
Here comes my first question, what's the expected precision of the Here Geocoding API in South Brazil?
2) Effect of trailing zeros in the address
Some of the services we use to grab the address return trailing zeros in the house number. We thought it wouldn't be an issue until we faced the following scenario:
The only thing that changed in the request is the number from 59 to 00059.
Here's the difference when displaying the coordinates returned by the Here Geocoding API for the cases above on Google Maps:
SUMMARY
I've been using the Here Geocoding API for a while and I feel it's not meeting our expectations, as we require a very precise service so our drivers can be more productive and less exposed to errors. Is there a known issue for Geocoding in Brazil, especially in the South? What's the relevance of the results compared to Google? Anything we could do to overcome those issues above (especially #1)?
Thanks in advance.
Can you please try by using mapview if you are specifically in Brazil. Attaching one example reference -
developer.here.com/documentation/examples/rest/geocoder/latitude-longitude-by-mapview-parameter
For coverage details, refer :
developer.here.com/documentation/geocoder/dev_guide/topics/coverage-geocoder.html
Thanks for reporting the discrepancy. The map however gets loaded with refresh data. Please use
1) Map creator (locate the poi and make the change, Here team will review and approve it)
2) Use Map Feedback API :
developer.here.com/documentation/map-feedback/dev_guide/topics/what-is.html

Advanced Segments returning unexpected results in Google Mobile App Analytics

I'm having a problem with Advanced segments in Google Mobile App Analytics.
A condition has been setup to include all screens that match regex "/01-12-2013/" - but it's also showing me screens which does not contain this string. For example I'm getting a screen name containing "/11-11-2013/" which I would have expected to be filtered out.
The segment seems to return different results based on which tab I'm in in Google Mobile App Analytics. If that helps at all.
In "Audience Overview" I's returning 48.02% of all Screen Views. In "Behavior Overview" it's returning 71.51% of all screen views.
Here are some screenshots to illustrate the problem.
This is going to sound a bit ridiculous but, when creating advanced segments, after you've created them, I'd give them an hour or two before relying on the data they provide. I still have yet to find a solid answer as to why this is, but across a wide range of sites over the past year or two I've found similar issues. I've noticed that when I create an advanced segment to filter specific pages, invariably the initial results still show irrelevant pages I specifically filtered out. The only thing I've been able to attribute this to is some sort of "lag", on Google's side, in updating the Analytics data/property/view/segment. In almost every case, I've simply waited an hour or two after creating an advanced segment, and the data that was filtered usually displays correctly by then.
An interesting thing I've also seen was that a third party reporting platform I use, that has a Google Analytics integration, actually displayed the correct advanced segmented data BEFORE it showed up properly in Analytics. Strange.

Workaround for - graph api bug

Can anyone provide a workaround for this bug
Our app is managing a lot pages with many posts, but since 5 days ago we've had huge problems with that bug.
90% of our posts gain the above described error, 10% are working well.
After many hours of testing we know it's something about the "link" parameter.
Without it, we can post without any errors.
We tried to only post our images without the link parameter but after a hour of posting correctly we got a new error.
(#368) The action attempted has been deemed abusive or is otherwise disallowed. Interesting that posting an image without a link parameter is abusive.
We tried to regenerate all user_tokens and page_tokens but no success, the error still exists.
We tried to pause the service for 24 hours and start it again, no effect.
Does anyone have an idea or a workaround for this bug?
It doesn't seem that it was patched on Tuesday. Because of that we need a solution, we can't hold the service down for one more week.
the workaround from "thefreeman" works for me also:
add more admin(s) to the pages
generate tokens for the new admin
juggle the tokens to stay below limit
Limit per account (for me) seems to be about 150 posts per day.
Limit seems to reset at a certain point in time. Midnight at facebook?
(i am managing 60 Pages and posting roughly 200 updates per day.)
certainly not a nice solution, but the bugs in the fb-bugtracker don't seem to get too much attention :(
sometimes i get a new error: "OAuthException (#1500) The url you supplied is invalid".
Trying again later with the same data works though...

Facebook Graph API Query Limit for places?

Can anyone explain to me what is happening in the following scenario?
I enter the following URL:
https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=United-States&type=place&access_token=MY_ACCESS_TOKEN&limit=1000
Facebook only returns 411 places and then when I execute the 'next' paging there are no places returned.
It seems like there is a limit or something stopping me from seeing more results. This is shown in both only showing 411 the first time and then the paging not working either. Has anyone encountered this and/or got a work around?
Thanks
From what it looks like to me, when I run this query, I only see places where I or a friend have liked that place.
In my experience, Facebook's location APIs are buggy at best.
If you're trying to find all the places, you're better off using a third-party service (I've been looking at Factual) to find this information, then query the Facebook API for the data you need about that info.

What would be a good Coldfusion-based bug tracking software?

What I am looking for is a tool that easily or automatically sends coldfusion error messages to their system.
Then I can use the web-based interface, to manage priorities, track who fixed what and so forth.
But I want to use this to help us deal with errors better, but also to show the importance of a bug tracking system to my fellow works.
System Requirements: Apache, Windows, Coldfusion 8 Standard, Sql Server 2005.
Financial Requirements: Free or Open Source
Goal Or Purpose: To encourage my fellow workers to want and use a bug tracking system.
Does this re-write make more sense?
Thanks
Craig
Wiki has a list of issue tracking software, maybe this list could help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_issue_tracking_systems
You may be able to find a hosted service and use either email or web services to create the ticket using onError. With that said, a simple issue tracking app could be created for your site using the same DB used to drive the content. 2 or 3 tables would take care of the data storage and you're already using CF so the application layer is already there.
HTH.
I have been heavily using this type of a setup for several years by email only, and the last 3 years with a Bug Tracking Software.
I must say, the bug tracking software has made my life so much more peaceful. Nothing is left, forgotten, or slips through the cracks. It's easy to find trends in errors, and remember "all the times" it happened.
Our setup is like this:
1) Coldfusion + Appropriate framework with error reporting - It doesn't matter what you use. I have used Fusebox extensively and am making the transition to ColdBox. Both are very capable, in addition to Mach-II, FW/1, Model-Glue, etc. The key part you have to find in them is their ability to catch "onError", usualy in the application CFC.
2) Custom OnError Script - Wherever an error occurs, you want to capture the maximum amount of information about that error and email it in. What we do is, when an error occurs, we log the user out with a message of "oops, log in again". Before logging them out, the application captures the error and emails it to Fogbugz. Along with it, at the top we include the CGI variables for the IP address, browser being used, etc. Over time you will find the things you need to add.
3) Routing in Fogbugz. A 2 user version of Fogbugz is free, and hosted online. There are two main ways to submit bugs. One is to email one in at a time. So if an error happens 2000 times, you get 2000 emails, and 2000 cases. Not always the best to link them together, etc. They have a feature called BugzScout, which is essentially an HTTP address that you do a form post to with cfform with all of the same information you would have put into the email. There's plenty of documentation on this and something I've always wanted to get around to. I had a scenario of 2000 emails for the first time happen a few weeks ago so I'll be switching over to this.
Hope that helps. Share what you ended up doing and why so we all can learn too!
I'm surprised no one mentioned LighthousePro (http://lighthousepro.riaforge.org). Open source - 100% free - and ColdFusion. As the author I'm a bit biased though. :)
Hard question to answer not knowing what kind of restrictions are there? Do you have any permissions to install anything? Also most bug-tracking systems require some kind of database support.
I have a suggestion. You can put in place a basic bug-tracking system, that just allows people to create tickets, and allows you/someone else to close it.
More Windows based tools are mentioned here
Good open-source bug tracking / issue tracking sofware for Windows
Any reason why coldfusion specifically?
I really like Fogbugz from the makers of Stack Overflow. For one user it's quite reasonably priced. I enter some bugs manually and have others emailed in.
A lot of bug tracking software will expose SOAP methods for entering data into them.
For example, we used Axosoft's OnTime and that exposed some WSDL pages that I consumed in my application. I was told that Jira did as well.
There are few in CF411 list: Bug Tracking/Defect Tracking/Trouble Ticket/Help Desk Tools Written in CFML
We use HopToad. There is another bug-tracking app called LightHouse that integrates with HopToad so you can easily create a [bug] ticket from an incoming exception. HopToad has an API of which there are many clients, you want the CF based one:
http://github.com/timblair/coldfusion-hoptoad-notifier
Even if you dont use HopToad and you end up using a different service or roll your own, if you needed to write your own API client you could leverage the code or pattern(s) of the above HopToad client.
A lot of good information from everyone, and I really do appreciate the efforts given. But not the answer i was looking for. Which maybe means, that what i want does not exist, yet.
So i may have to roll my own solution...Or maybe integrate with another existing app...
Thank You all.