Greetings everyone! Sandbox Wizard Yoh Kawano has taken it upon himself to devise a geocoder for the public, as seen here:
http://sandbox.idre.ucla.edu/tools/geocoder/
The geocoder uses the nominatium API service that uses the OpenStreetMap database, which means all the information is opensource and free as well.
And on that note, feel FREE to leave us any comments or suggestions as well. We hope that this geocoder is a countervailing force against the privatization of geocoding that has taken ESRI and GoogleMaps by “storm”.