Geocoder.getFromLocation throws IOException on Android emulator

You can use of Google Place API in following way

create a method that returns a JSONObject with the response of the HTTP Call like following

public static JSONObject getLocationInfo(String address) {
    StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    try {

    address = address.replaceAll(" ","%20");    

    HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost("http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=" + address + "&sensor=false");
    HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
    HttpResponse response;
    stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();


        response = client.execute(httppost);
        HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();
        InputStream stream = entity.getContent();
        int b;
        while ((b = stream.read()) != -1) {
            stringBuilder.append((char) b);
        }
    } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
    } catch (IOException e) {
    }

    JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
    try {
        jsonObject = new JSONObject(stringBuilder.toString());
    } catch (JSONException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    return jsonObject;
}

now pass that JSONObject to getLatLong() method like following

public static GeoPoint  getLatLong(JSONObject jsonObject) {

        Double lon = new Double(0);
        Double lat = new Double(0);

        try {

            lon = ((JSONArray)jsonObject.get("results")).getJSONObject(0)
                .getJSONObject("geometry").getJSONObject("location")
                .getDouble("lng");

            lat = ((JSONArray)jsonObject.get("results")).getJSONObject(0)
                .getJSONObject("geometry").getJSONObject("location")
                .getDouble("lat");

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();

        }

        return new GeoPoint((int) (lat * 1E6), (int) (lon * 1E6));
    }

this is worked and tested...on API level 8...hop this help..

I read the discussion thread mentioned by @ddewaele, someone said that reboot can solve the problem. It did. BTW, the Android version of my device is 4.1.

This is a know issue with the Emulator. It works fine on an actual device

On 2.2 API 8 you'll receive the following stacktrace

java.io.IOException: Service not Available
 at android.location.Geocoder.getFromLocation(Geocoder.java:117)

See here for more info (and a possible workaround) see the following URL :

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8816

If you're having issues using the GeoCoder on lower APIs you should check the stacktrace. From time to time I'm having the following :

java.io.IOException: Unable to parse response from server
 at android.location.Geocoder.getFromLocation(Geocoder.java:124) 

This can be anything from a server-side issue at Google, or an issue on the client (internet connection).

If the GeoCoder returns an empty list, you need to check if you have a proper GeoCoder implementation available on the device (emulator or real phone).

This can be done using the isPresent() method on the Geocoder object.

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/location/Geocoder.html

Also, when running on an emulator, make sure your AVD image is setup with the Google APIs.