Getting [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] error when trying to run geocoder in geopy how can I verify the certificate to get needed output?

Question

I am working through a Udemy course in python and I am working with pandas. Currently, I am using geopy in order to attempt to return the coordinates for an input address. In particular, I am running the ArcGIS geocode but when I run it I am getting an SSL error saying it can't get the SSL certificate. I will include the code and error here:

This is the code I am trying to run along with the output I should get. Below this is the output I am actually getting:

In [1]: from geopy.geocoders import ArcGIS
...: nom = ArcGIS()
...: nom.geocode("3995 23rd St, San Francisco, CA 94114")
Out[1]: Location(3995 23rd St, San Francisco, California, 94114,      (37.75298458728149, -122.4317017142651, 0.0))

>>> import geopy
>>> from geopy import ArcGIS
>>> nom = ArcGIS()
>>> nom.geocode("3995 23rd St, San Francisco, CA 94114")

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/urllib/request.py", line 1317, in do_open encode_chunked=req.has_header('Transfer-encoding')) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/http/client.py", line 1229, in request self._send_request(method, url, body, headers, encode_chunked) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/http/client.py", line 1275, in _send_request self.endheaders(body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/http/client.py", line 1224, in endheaders self._send_output(message_body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/http/client.py", line 1016, in _send_output self.send(msg) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/http/client.py", line 956, in send self.connect() File "/Library/Frameworks/ Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/http/client.py", line 1392, in connect server_hostname=server_hostname) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/ssl.py", line 412, in wrap_socket session=session File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/ssl.py", line 853, in _create self.do_handshake() File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/ssl.py", line 1117, in do_handshake self._sslobj.do_handshake() ssl.SSLCertVerificationError: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1056)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/geopy/geocoders/base.py", line 344, in _call_geocoder page = requester(req, timeout=timeout, **kwargs) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/urllib/request.py", line 525, in open response = self._open(req, data) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/urllib/request.py", line 543, in _open '_open', req) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/urllib/request.py", line 503, in _call_chain result = func(*args) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/urllib/request.py", line 1360, in https_open context=self._context, check_hostname=self._check_hostname) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/urllib/request.py", line 1319, in do_open raise URLError(err) urllib.error.URLError:

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/geopy/geocoders/arcgis.py", line 195, in geocode response = self._call_geocoder(url, timeout=timeout) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/geopy/geocoders/base.py", line 375, in _call_geocoder raise GeocoderServiceError(message) geopy.exc.GeocoderServiceError: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1056)

Answer 1

Ok I have actually found a solution that seems to work for this. The following code gave me the ability to update and or install any needed SSL certificates that my system didn't seem to have or to be noticing. I will attach the code as well as to the Stack where I discovered the working solution and the Github where the source originated:

# install_certifi.py
#
# sample script to install or update a set of default Root Certificates
# for the ssl module.  Uses the certificates provided by the certifi package:
#       https://pypi.org/project/certifi/
import os
import os.path
import ssl
import stat
import subprocess
import sys
STAT_0o775 = ( stat.S_IRUSR | stat.S_IWUSR | stat.S_IXUSR
             | stat.S_IRGRP | stat.S_IWGRP | stat.S_IXGRP
             | stat.S_IROTH |                stat.S_IXOTH )
def main():
    openssl_dir, openssl_cafile = os.path.split(
        ssl.get_default_verify_paths().openssl_cafile)
    print(" -- pip install --upgrade certifi")
    subprocess.check_call([sys.executable,
        "-E", "-s", "-m", "pip", "install", "--upgrade", "certifi"])
    import certifi
    # change working directory to the default SSL directory
    os.chdir(openssl_dir)
    relpath_to_certifi_cafile = os.path.relpath(certifi.where())
    print(" -- removing any existing file or link")
    try:
        os.remove(openssl_cafile)
    except FileNotFoundError:
        pass
    print(" -- creating symlink to certifi certificate bundle")
    os.symlink(relpath_to_certifi_cafile, openssl_cafile)
    print(" -- setting permissions")
    os.chmod(openssl_cafile, STAT_0o775)
    print(" -- update complete")
if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Here is the Stack where I found the solution. Here is the Github where the source originated.

I personally copied this code into Sublime and saved it as a .py file and then ran the program in python3. Once running the program I then attempted to rerun my geopy program with ArcGIS and am now successfully receiveing the requested coordinates.

I hope this is helpful!

Answer 2

From the GeoPy documentation : you can to link GeoPy's geocoder to your custom TLS verification settings via certifi.

import ssl
import certifi
import geopy.geocoders
ctx = ssl.create_default_context(cafile=certifi.where())
geopy.geocoders.options.default_ssl_context = ctx