Google Geocoder Lookup get postal code by country and city - google-maps-api-3

Question

i'm currently using Google Geocoder API to determine location data for my web service.
It's important for me to get the postal code for a given country and city, but it's look like that google is limiting the result.
Here's the API call:
http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=deutschland,+saarlouis&language=de&sensor=false
The result is like that:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Saarlouis",
"short_name" : "Saarlouis",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Landkreis Saarlouis",
"short_name" : "Landkreis Saarlouis",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_3", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Saarland",
"short_name" : "SL",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Deutschland",
"short_name" : "DE",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Saarlouis, Deutschland",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 49.36187570,
"lng" : 6.815549499999999
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 49.26046930,
"lng" : 6.67501510
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 49.31346060,
"lng" : 6.752286499999999
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 49.36187570,
"lng" : 6.815549499999999
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 49.26046930,
"lng" : 6.67501510
}
}
},
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
Thx for help.
Regards

Answer 1

Geocoding does not give postcode. Goenames has a database for Germany. Other countries are also available.

Answer 2

The reason you don't get the postal code is the query is too broad. If you would add a street name to the query the result will contain a postal code. A solution to your problem if you don't have a street name or don't want to use it is to split the geocoding into two parts:
Step 1: Use the city to get the GPS coordinates
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=amsterdam
Step 2: Use the the GPS coordidates to get the postal code
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=52.3182742,4.7288558
(Note: Double of same question posted here, answered by MidnightMotion. Adding to make easier to lookup.
https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/33966/google-geocoder-lookup-get-postal-code-by-country-and-city)