CLGeocoder geocoding is hopelessly inaccurate

Question

I have an App that does forward geocoding (get coordinates given address) to display a bunch of pins on an MKMapView. The app was developed well before iOS supp

Answer 1

Well, it would appear that yes, Apple's CLGeocoder is nothing like as accurate for forward geocoding (address -> coordinates) as the Google Maps Geocoding API, particularly outside of the USA. Using an Address Dictionary with all the fields filled out as fully as possible works a lot better than a simple address string, but it's still no where near good enough. Where Google will (usually) give you coordinates within 5-10m of the street number, Apple will give you coordinates somewhere in the right street, if you're lucky.

EDIT: Found Apple Developer Technical Note TN2289 which details Supported Countries for CLGeocoder. It would appear that Portugal is in its list of Partially Supported Regions, which it describes as:

The following are territories are not fully supported, either because coverage is more limited or for other reasons. For example a location may only be able to be geocoded to road level as opposed to a specific address point on that road.

Which matches my results with CLGeocoder in Portugal. I guess I'll just have to wait for improved coverage.