Google maps city search - google-maps

Question

We have an autocomplete field using google maps api to automatically fill in city details fields
So using "(cities)" as type we get a list of cities matching the search fine however the data is not consistent and it's large Australian cities that are missing things like postal_code field. Lookup as below
this.autocomplete = new google.maps.places.Autocomplete((this.element), { types: ["(cities)"] , componentRestrictions: {country: ["au","nz"]}});
So when searching on city such as a suburb like "Richmond" you get the following response
/**/_xdc_._n1gyyx && _xdc_._n1gyyx( {
"html_attributions" : [],
"result" : {
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Richmond",
"short_name" : "Richmond",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Yarra City",
"short_name" : "Yarra",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Victoria",
"short_name" : "VIC",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Australia",
"short_name" : "AU",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "3121",
"short_name" : "3121",
"types" : [ "postal_code" ]
}
],
with "postal_code" and "locality", "political"
However searching on Melbourne you'd expect details with postcode 3000 however you only get
/**/_xdc_._ntt86i && _xdc_._ntt86i( {
"html_attributions" : [],
"result" : {
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Melbourne",
"short_name" : "Melbourne",
"types" : [ "colloquial_area", "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Victoria",
"short_name" : "VIC",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Australia",
"short_name" : "AU",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
So now name is stored in "colloquial_area", "locality", "political" and there's no "postal_code"
But when filtering on Melbourne in the autocomplete all you get is that Melbourne option or Melbourne airport of which neither is correct. If you then change types to "(regions) you can search on postcode which does return the correct Melbourne version.
Has anyone encountered this and worked out a way to force the filtered results to show only versions with a postcode?

Answer 1

This behavior is working as intended, because places like Melbourne have multiple postal code inside its area (e.g. 3977, 3156, 3806, 3978, etc.), therefore, results will not return postal code as it is not made to handle multiple postal codes and cannot return single postal code as it will affect the integrity of the information because it will not be applicable for the rest of the postal codes.
You may file a Feature Request in the Issue Tracker to request for this kind of capability in handling multiple postal codes.