java code for geohashes
=======================

An implementation of Geohashes in pure Java.
The produced hashes, when using character precision (multiples of 5 bits) are compatible
to the reference implementation geohash.org.

You can however also encode Geohashes down to the full available precision of a long i.e. 64 bits.


Building/Testing the code
-------------------------

The geohash-java code can be built using Apache Ant or Apache Maven.
Ant targets that are available:

    - clean     # wash dishes.
    - compile   # compile the main source code.
    - test      # (default) run the unit tests.
    - jar       # pack a jar archive with the compiled class files.
    - zip       # pack a zip archive with the compiled binaries, source code and all other files.

Maven targets are the usual suspects.
    
    - compile
    - test
    - package   # pack a versioned jar containing the compiled class files

TODO
----

Current development involves getting the following things to run:

-	a method to find the n closest hashes to any given point.


Last important changes
----------------------

Version 1.0.4
-------------

-   Added/fixed the methods toBinaryString() and Geohash.fromBinaryString() that can encode and decode a geohash into a simple String of 0s and 1s.
-   Also added test code for those methods.

Version 1.0.3
-------------

-   Classes containing data are now Serializable.

Version 1.0.2
-------------

-   Merged Kevins [ktcorby] code that yields all the geohashes in a bounding box, at a given resolution.
-   Merged Chris' [cchandler] code to encode and decode geohashes from a binary string.

Version 1.0.1
-------------

-   Fixed issue #2 from Github:
	- Neighbouring hashes can be calculated by using the getAdjacent() method, which yields a hashes 8 neighbors.
	- northern, eastern, western and southern neighbours can be determined using the respective methods.

-   Fixed issue #1 from Github:
	- A bug caused different hashes to be yielded sometimes.

	
License
-------

This code has been placed under the LGPL. See the LICENSE file for more information.
Please contribute improvements and bug fixes back via github.