Google maps web services/JavaScript API - problems with the bounding boxes - google-maps

Question

I need to get a decent bounding box for any given city. As of now, I know of no way to do it, but through the google maps API geocode function. However, there are problems.
For instance, consider Abu Dhabi.
Here is the code (using python googlemaps package):
>>> d = gmaps.geocode('Abu Dhabi, AE')
>>> pp.pprint(d)
{ u'Placemark': [ { u'AddressDetails': { u'Accuracy': 4,
u'Country': { u'AdministrativeArea': { u'AdministrativeAreaName': u'Abu Dhabi',
u'Locality': { u'LocalityName': u'Abu Dhabi'}},
u'CountryName': u'United Arab Emirates',
u'CountryNameCode': u'AE'}},
u'ExtendedData': { u'LatLonBox': { u'east': 54.8789043,
u'north': 24.7912388,
u'south': 24.1412558,
u'west': 53.8544291}},
u'Point': { u'coordinates': [54.3666667, 24.4666667, 0]},
u'address': u'Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates',
u'id': u'p1'}],
u'Status': { u'code': 200, u'request': u'geocode'},
u'name': u'Abu Dhabi, AE'}
The problem is that the returned LatLonBox is way too large - its diagonal is more than 126km long. With all due respect to Abu Dhabi, I do not think the city is that big.
Interestingly enough, the JavaScript API returns two boxes. Assuming results is the result of invoking google.maps.Geocoder.geocode on 'Abu Dhabi', we have two boxes:
results[0].geometry.bounds = ((24.1776, 54.30012), (24.5413, 54.7751))
results[0].geometry.viewport = ((24.1413, 53.8544), (24.7912, 54.8789))
Where the viewport is exactly the LatLonBox returned by the web services API. The bounds, on the other hand, looks much better both in terms of the size and the location - the below image depicts both boxes:
At first, I have suspected the python package to omit the bounds from the final result, but examining the json returned by the google maps web service reveals that no bounds box is returned by the web service - the python dictionary describing the result is an exact mirror of the returned json.
So, my question is how can I get a decent bounding box when using the web services API? Or is there an alternative API altogether? Does anyone have any experience with a non google maps API to get this kind of information?
Thanks.
EDIT
Another interesting twist. While some cities have huge bounding (or viewport) boxes, some have tiny ones. For instance, the diameter of one bounding Adelaide, AU is only 7km, which is, of course, too small:

Answer 1

You can use MySQL in the back-end and its Extensions for Spatial Data.
Envelope(g)
Returns the minimum bounding rectangle (MBR) for the geometry value g.
The result is returned as a Polygon value.
We used MySQL5.6 in a Geo search project and never looked back. Just make sure that you use MySQL 5.6 or higher for full Geo support.