Request
A Geocoding API request takes the following form:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/outputFormat?parameters
where outputFormat
may be either of the following values:
json
(recommended) indicates output in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON); orxml
indicates output in XML
HTTPS is required.
Some parameters are required while some are optional. As is standard in URLs,
parameters are separated using the ampersand (&
) character.
The rest of this page describes geocoding and reverse geocoding separately, because different parameters are available for each type of request.
Geocoding (latitude/longitude lookup) parameters
Required parameters in a geocoding request:
address
— The street address or plus code that you want to geocode. Specify addresses in accordance with the format used by the national postal service of the country concerned. Additional address elements such as business names and unit, suite or floor numbers should be avoided. Street address elements should be delimited by spaces (shown here as url-escaped to%20
):address=24%20Sussex%20Drive%20Ottawa%20ON
Format plus codes as shown here (plus signs are url-escaped to%2B
and spaces are url-escaped to%20
):- global code is a 4 character area code and 6 character or longer
local code (849VCWC8+R9 is
849VCWC8%2BR9
). - compound code is a 6 character or longer local code with an
explicit location (CWC8+R9 Mountain View, CA, USA is
CWC8%2BR9%20Mountain%20View%20CA%20USA
).
--OR--
components
— A components filter with elements separated by a pipe (|
). The components filter is also accepted as an optional parameter if anaddress
is provided. Each element in the components filter consists of acomponent:value
pair, and fully restricts the results from the geocoder. See more information about component filtering below.- global code is a 4 character area code and 6 character or longer
local code (849VCWC8+R9 is
key
— Your application's API key. This key identifies your application for purposes of quota management. Learn how to get a key.
Please refer to the FAQ for additional guidance.
Optional parameters in a Geocoding request:
bounds
— The bounding box of the viewport within which to bias geocode results more prominently. This parameter will only influence, not fully restrict, results from the geocoder. (For more information see Viewport Biasing below.)language
— The language in which to return results.- See the list of supported languages. Google often updates the supported languages, so this list may not be exhaustive.
- If
language
is not supplied, the geocoder attempts to use the preferred language as specified in theAccept-Language
header, or the native language of the domain from which the request is sent. - The geocoder does its best to provide a street address that is readable for both the user and locals. To achieve that goal, it returns street addresses in the local language, transliterated to a script readable by the user if necessary, observing the preferred language. All other addresses are returned in the preferred language. Address components are all returned in the same language, which is chosen from the first component.
- If a name is not available in the preferred language, the geocoder uses the closest match.
- The preferred language has a small influence on the set of results that the API chooses to return, and the order in which they are returned. The geocoder interprets abbreviations differently depending on language, such as the abbreviations for street types, or synonyms that may be valid in one language but not in another. For example, utca and tér are synonyms for street and square respectively in Hungarian.
region
— The region code, specified as a ccTLD ("top-level domain") two-character value. This parameter will only influence, not fully restrict, results from the geocoder. (For more information see Region Biasing below.) The parameter can also affect results based on applicable law.components
— A components filter with elements separated by a pipe (|
). The components filter is required if the request doesn't include anaddress
. Each element in the components filter consists of acomponent:value
pair, and fully restricts the results from the geocoder. See more information about component filtering below.extra_computations
— Use this parameter to specify the following additional features in the response:ADDRESS_DESCRIPTORS
— See address descriptors for more details.BUILDING_AND_ENTRANCES
— See entrances and building outlines for more details.
extra_computations
parameter in the request for each feature, for example:extra_computations=ADDRESS_DESCRIPTORS&extra_computations=BUILDING_AND_ENTRANCES
Responses
Geocoding responses are returned in the format indicated by the output
flag
within the URL request, or in JSON format by default.
In this example, the Geocoding API requests a json
response for a query on the address "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View,
CA".
This request demonstrates using the JSON output
flag:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA&key=YOUR_API_KEY
This request demonstrates using the XML output
flag:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/xml?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Select the tabs below to see the sample JSON and XML responses.
JSON
{ "results": [ { "address_components": [ { "long_name": "1600", "short_name": "1600", "types": [ "street_number" ] }, { "long_name": "Amphitheatre Parkway", "short_name": "Amphitheatre Pkwy", "types": [ "route" ] }, { "long_name": "Mountain View", "short_name": "Mountain View", "types": [ "locality", "political" ] }, { "long_name": "Santa Clara County", "short_name": "Santa Clara County", "types": [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ] }, { "long_name": "California", "short_name": "CA", "types": [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ] }, { "long_name": "United States", "short_name": "US", "types": [ "country", "political" ] }, { "long_name": "94043", "short_name": "94043", "types": [ "postal_code" ] }, { "long_name": "1351", "short_name": "1351", "types": [ "postal_code_suffix" ] } ], "formatted_address": "1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA", "geometry": { "location": { "lat": 37.4222804, "lng": -122.0843428 }, "location_type": "ROOFTOP", "viewport": { "northeast": { "lat": 37.4237349802915, "lng": -122.083183169709 }, "southwest": { "lat": 37.4210370197085, "lng": -122.085881130292 } } }, "place_id": "ChIJRxcAvRO7j4AR6hm6tys8yA8", "plus_code": { "compound_code": "CWC8+W7 Mountain View, CA", "global_code": "849VCWC8+W7" }, "types": [ "street_address" ] } ], "status": "OK" }
Note that the JSON response contains two root elements:
"status"
contains metadata on the request. See Status codes below."results"
contains an array of geocoded address information and geometry information.
Generally, only one entry in the "results"
array is returned for
address lookups, though the geocoder may return several results when address
queries are ambiguous.
XML
<GeocodeResponse> <status>OK</status> <result> <type>street_address</type> <formatted_address>1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA</formatted_address> <address_component> <long_name>1600</long_name> <short_name>1600</short_name> <type>street_number</type> </address_component> <address_component> <long_name>Amphitheatre Parkway</long_name> <short_name>Amphitheatre Pkwy</short_name> <type>route</type> </address_component> <address_component> <long_name>Mountain View</long_name> <short_name>Mountain View</short_name> <type>locality</type> <type>political</type> </address_component> <address_component> <long_name>Santa Clara County</long_name> <short_name>Santa Clara County</short_name> <type>administrative_area_level_2</type> <type>political</type> </address_component> <address_component> <long_name>California</long_name> <short_name>CA</short_name> <type>administrative_area_level_1</type> <type>political</type> </address_component> <address_component> <long_name>United States</long_name> <short_name>US</short_name> <type>country</type> <type>political</type> </address_component> <address_component> <long_name>94043</long_name> <short_name>94043</short_name> <type>postal_code</type> </address_component> <geometry> <location> <lat>37.4224428</lat> <lng>-122.0842467</lng> </location> <location_type>ROOFTOP</location_type> <viewport> <southwest> <lat>37.4212648</lat> <lng>-122.0856069</lng> </southwest> <northeast> <lat>37.4239628</lat> <lng>-122.0829089</lng> </northeast> </viewport> </geometry> <place_id>ChIJeRpOeF67j4AR9ydy_PIzPuM</place_id> <plus_code> <global_code>849VCWC8+X8</global_code> <compound_code>CWC8+X8 Mountain View, CA</compound_code> </plus_code> </result> </GeocodeResponse>
Note that the XML response consists of a single
<GeocodeResponse>
and two top-level elements:
<status>
contains metadata on the request. See Status codes below.- Zero or more
<result>
elements, each containing a single set of geocoded address information and geometry information.
The XML response is considerably longer than the JSON response. For
that reason, we recommend that you use json
as the preferred
output flag unless your service requires xml
for some reason.
Additionally, processing XML trees requires some care, so that you reference
proper nodes and elements. See
Parsing XML with XPath for some recommended design patterns for output processing.
- XML results are wrapped in a root
<GeocodeResponse>
element. - JSON denotes entries with multiple elements by plural arrays (
types
), while XML denotes these using multiple singular elements (<type>
). - Blank elements are indicated through empty arrays in JSON, but by the absence of any
such element in XML. A response that generates no results will return an empty
results
array in JSON, but no<result>
elements in XML, for example.
Status codes
The "status"
field within the Geocoding response object contains the status
of the request, and may contain debugging information to help you track down why geocoding
is not working. The "status"
field may contain the following values:
"OK"
indicates that no errors occurred; the address was successfully parsed and at least one geocode was returned."ZERO_RESULTS"
indicates that the geocode was successful but returned no results. This may occur if the geocoder was passed a non-existentaddress
.OVER_DAILY_LIMIT
indicates any of the following:- The API key is missing or invalid.
- Billing has not been enabled on your account.
- A self-imposed usage cap has been exceeded.
- The provided method of payment is no longer valid (for example, a credit card has expired).
See the Maps FAQ to learn how to fix this.
"OVER_QUERY_LIMIT"
indicates that you are over your quota."REQUEST_DENIED"
indicates that your request was denied."INVALID_REQUEST"
generally indicates that the query (address
,components
orlatlng
) is missing."UNKNOWN_ERROR"
indicates that the request could not be processed due to a server error. The request may succeed if you try again.
Error messages
When the geocoder returns a status code other than OK
, there may be an additional
error_message
field within the Geocoding response object. This field contains more
detailed information about the reasons behind the given status code.
Results
When the geocoder returns results, it places them within a (JSON) results
array. Even if the geocoder returns no results (such as if the address doesn't exist) it still
returns an empty results
array. (XML responses consist of zero or more
<result>
elements.)
A typical result contains the following fields:
- The
types[]
array indicates the type of the returned result. This array contains a set of zero or more tags identifying the type of feature returned in the result. For example, a geocode of "Chicago" returns "locality" which indicates that "Chicago" is a city, and also returns "political" which indicates it is a political entity. Components might have an empty types array when there are no known types for that address component. The API might add new type values as needed. For more information, see Address types and address components. formatted_address
is a string containing the human-readable address of this location.Often this address is equivalent to the postal address. Note that some countries, such as the United Kingdom, do not allow distribution of true postal addresses due to licensing restrictions.
The formatted address is logically composed of one or more address components. For example, the address "111 8th Avenue, New York, NY" consists of the following components: "111" (the street number), "8th Avenue" (the route), "New York" (the city) and "NY" (the US state).
Do not parse the formatted address programmatically. Instead you should use the individual address components, which the API response includes in addition to the formatted address field.
address_components[]
is an array containing the separate components applicable to this address.Each address component typically contains the following fields:
types[]
is an array indicating the type of the address component. See the list of supported types.long_name
is the full text description or name of the address component as returned by the Geocoder.short_name
is an abbreviated textual name for the address component, if available. For example, an address component for the state of Alaska may have along_name
of "Alaska" and ashort_name
of "AK" using the 2-letter postal abbreviation.
Note the following facts about the
address_components[]
array:- The array of address components may contain more components than the
formatted_address
. - The array does not necessarily include all the political entities that
contain an address, apart from those included in the
formatted_address
. To retrieve all the political entities that contain a specific address, you should use reverse geocoding, passing the latitude/longitude of the address as a parameter to the request. - The format of the response is not guaranteed to remain the same between
requests. In particular, the number of
address_components
varies based on the address requested and can change over time for the same address. A component can change position in the array. The type of the component can change. A particular component may be missing in a later response.
To handle the array of components, you should parse the response and select appropriate values via expressions. See the guide to parsing a response.
postcode_localities[]
is an array denoting up to 100 localities contained in a postal code. This is only present when the result is a postal code that contains multiple localities.geometry
contains the following information:location
contains the geocoded latitude, longitude value. For normal address lookups, this field is typically the most important.location_type
stores additional data about the specified location. The following values are currently supported:"ROOFTOP"
indicates that the returned result is a precise geocode for which we have location information accurate down to street address precision."RANGE_INTERPOLATED"
indicates that the returned result reflects an approximation (usually on a road) interpolated between two precise points (such as intersections). Interpolated results are generally returned when rooftop geocodes are unavailable for a street address."GEOMETRIC_CENTER"
indicates that the returned result is the geometric center of a result such as a polyline (for example, a street) or polygon (region)."APPROXIMATE"
indicates that the returned result is approximate.
viewport
contains the recommended viewport for displaying the returned result, specified as two latitude,longitude values defining thesouthwest
andnortheast
corner of the viewport bounding box. Generally the viewport is used to frame a result when displaying it to a user.bounds
(optionally returned) stores the bounding box which can fully contain the returned result. Note that these bounds may not match the recommended viewport. (For example, San Francisco includes the Farallon islands, which are technically part of the city, but probably should not be returned in the viewport.)
-
plus_code
(see Open Location Code and plus codes) is an encoded location reference, derived from latitude and longitude coordinates, that represents an area: 1/8000th of a degree by 1/8000th of a degree (about 14m x 14m at the equator) or smaller. Plus codes can be used as a replacement for street addresses in places where addresses do not exist (where buildings are not numbered or streets are not named). The API does not always return plus codes.When the service does return a plus code, it is formatted as a global code and a compound code:
global_code
is a 4 character area code and 6 character or longer local code (849VCWC8+R9).compound_code
is a 6 character or longer local code with an explicit location (CWC8+R9, Mountain View, CA, USA). Do not programmatically parse this content.
-
partial_match
indicates that the geocoder did not return an exact match for the original request, though it was able to match part of the requested address. You may wish to examine the original request for misspellings and/or an incomplete address.Partial matches most often occur for street addresses that do not exist within the locality you pass in the request. Partial matches may also be returned when a request matches two or more locations in the same locality. For example, "Hillpar St, Bristol, UK" will return a partial match for both Henry Street and Henrietta Street. Note that if a request includes a misspelled address component, the geocoding service may suggest an alternative address. Suggestions triggered in this way will also be marked as a partial match.
place_id
is a unique identifier that can be used with other Google APIs. For example, you can use theplace_id
in a Places API request to get details of a local business, such as phone number, opening hours, user reviews, and more. See the place ID overview.
Address types and address component types
The types[]
array in the result indicates the
address type. Examples of address types include a street address, a
country, or a political entity. There is also a types[]
array in
the address_components[]
, indicating the type of each part of the
address. Examples include street number or country. (Below is a full list of
types.) Addresses may have multiple types. The types may be considered 'tags'.
For example, many cities are tagged with the political
and the
locality
type.
The following types are supported and returned by the geocoder in both the address type and address component type arrays:
street_address
indicates a precise street address.route
indicates a named route (such as "US 101").intersection
indicates a major intersection, usually of two major roads.political
indicates a political entity. Usually, this type indicates a polygon of some civil administration.country
indicates the national political entity, and is typically the highest order type returned by the Geocoder.administrative_area_level_1
indicates a first-order civil entity below the country level. Within the United States, these administrative levels are states. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels. In most cases, administrative_area_level_1 short names will closely match ISO 3166-2 subdivisions and other widely circulated lists; however this is not guaranteed as our geocoding results are based on a variety of signals and location data.administrative_area_level_2
indicates a second-order civil entity below the country level. Within the United States, these administrative levels are counties. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.administrative_area_level_3
indicates a third-order civil entity below the country level. This type indicates a minor civil division. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.administrative_area_level_4
indicates a fourth-order civil entity below the country level. This type indicates a minor civil division. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.administrative_area_level_5
indicates a fifth-order civil entity below the country level. This type indicates a minor civil division. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.administrative_area_level_6
indicates a sixth-order civil entity below the country level. This type indicates a minor civil division. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.administrative_area_level_7
indicates a seventh-order civil entity below the country level. This type indicates a minor civil division. Not all nations exhibit these administrative levels.colloquial_area
indicates a commonly-used alternative name for the entity.locality
indicates an incorporated city or town political entity.sublocality
indicates a first-order civil entity below a locality. For some locations may receive one of the additional types:sublocality_level_1
tosublocality_level_5
. Each sublocality level is a civil entity. Larger numbers indicate a smaller geographic area.neighborhood
indicates a named neighborhoodpremise
indicates a named location, usually a building or collection of buildings with a common namesubpremise
indicates a first-order entity below a named location, usually a singular building within a collection of buildings with a common nameplus_code
indicates an encoded location reference, derived from latitude and longitude. Plus codes can be used as a replacement for street addresses in places where they do not exist (where buildings are not numbered or streets are not named). See https://plus.codes for details.postal_code
indicates a postal code as used to address postal mail within the country.natural_feature
indicates a prominent natural feature.airport
indicates an airport.park
indicates a named park.point_of_interest
indicates a named point of interest. Typically, these "POI"s are prominent local entities that don't easily fit in another category, such as "Empire State Building" or "Eiffel Tower".
An empty list of types indicates there are no known types for the particular address component, for example, Lieu-dit in France.
In addition to the above, address components may include the types listed here. This list is not exhaustive, and is subject to change.
floor
indicates the floor of a building address.establishment
typically indicates a place that has not yet been categorized.landmark
indicates a nearby place that is used as a reference, to aid navigation.point_of_interest
indicates a named point of interest.parking
indicates a parking lot or parking structure.post_box
indicates a specific postal box.postal_town
indicates a grouping of geographic areas, such aslocality
andsublocality
, used for mailing addresses in some countries.room
indicates the room of a building address.street_number
indicates the precise street number.bus_station
,train_station
andtransit_station
indicate the location of a bus, train or public transit stop.
Viewport biasing
In a Geocoding request, you can instruct the Geocoding service to prefer
results within a given viewport (expressed as a bounding box). You do so
within the request URL by setting the bounds
parameter.
The bounds
parameter defines the latitude/longitude coordinates
of the southwest and northeast corners of this bounding box using a pipe
(|
) character to separate the coordinates.
For example, a geocode for "Washington" generally returns the U.S. state of Washington:
Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Washington&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Washington",
"short_name" : "WA",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "United States",
"short_name" : "US",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Washington, USA",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 49.0024442,
"lng" : -116.91558
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 45.543541,
"lng" : -124.8489739
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 47.7510741,
"lng" : -120.7401385
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 49.0024442,
"lng" : -116.91558
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 45.543541,
"lng" : -124.8489739
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJ-bDD5__lhVQRuvNfbGh4QpQ",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
However, adding a bounds
argument defining a bounding box around
the north-east part of the U.S. results in this geocode returning the city of
Washington, D.C.:
Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Washington&bounds=36.47,-84.72%7C43.39,-65.90&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Washington",
"short_name" : "Washington",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "District of Columbia",
"short_name" : "District of Columbia",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "District of Columbia",
"short_name" : "DC",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "United States",
"short_name" : "US",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Washington, DC, USA",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 38.9958641,
"lng" : -76.90939299999999
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 38.7916449,
"lng" : -77.119759
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 38.9071923,
"lng" : -77.03687069999999
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 38.9958641,
"lng" : -76.90939299999999
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 38.7916449,
"lng" : -77.119759
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJW-T2Wt7Gt4kRKl2I1CJFUsI",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
Region biasing
In a Geocoding request, you can instruct the Geocoding service to return
results biased to a particular region by using the region
parameter. This parameter takes a ccTLD (country code top-level
domain) argument specifying the region bias. Most ccTLD codes are identical to
ISO 3166-1 codes, with some notable exceptions. For example, the United
Kingdom's ccTLD is "uk" (.co.uk
) while its ISO 3166-1 code is "gb"
(technically for the entity of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland").
Geocoding results can be biased for every domain in which the main Google Maps application is officially launched. Note that biasing only prefers results for a specific domain; if more relevant results exist outside of this domain, they may be included.
For example, a geocode for "Toledo" returns this result, as the default domain for the Geocoding API is set to the United States. Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Toledo&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Toledo",
"short_name" : "Toledo",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Lucas County",
"short_name" : "Lucas County",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Ohio",
"short_name" : "OH",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "United States",
"short_name" : "US",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Toledo, OH, USA",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 41.732844,
"lng" : -83.454229
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 41.580266,
"lng" : -83.69423700000002
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 41.6639383,
"lng" : -83.55521200000001
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 41.732844,
"lng" : -83.454229
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 41.580266,
"lng" : -83.69423700000002
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJeU4e_C2HO4gRRcM6RZ_IPHw",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
A Geocoding request for "Toledo" with region=es
(Spain) will
return the Spanish city.
Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Toledo®ion=es&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Toledo",
"short_name" : "Toledo",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Toledo",
"short_name" : "TO",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Castile-La Mancha",
"short_name" : "CM",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Spain",
"short_name" : "ES",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Toledo, Spain",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 39.88605099999999,
"lng" : -3.9192423
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 39.8383676,
"lng" : -4.0796176
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 39.8628316,
"lng" : -4.027323099999999
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 39.88605099999999,
"lng" : -3.9192423
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 39.8383676,
"lng" : -4.0796176
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJ8f21C60Lag0R_q11auhbf8Y",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
Component filtering
In a Geocoding response, the Geocoding API can return address
results restricted to a specific area. You can specify the restriction using
the components
filter. A filter consists of a list of
component:value
pairs separated by a pipe (|
).
Filter values support the same methods of spelling correction and partial
matching as other Geocoding requests. If the geocoder finds a partial match for a
component filter, the response will contain a partial_match
field.
The components
that can be filtered include:
postal_code
matchespostal_code
andpostal_code_prefix
.country
matches a country name or a two letter ISO 3166-1 country code. The API follows the ISO standard for defining countries, and the filtering works best when using the corresponding ISO code of the country.
The following components
may be used to influence results, but will not be
enforced:
route
matches the long or short name of a route.locality
matches againstlocality
andsublocality
types.administrative_area
matches all theadministrative_area
levels.
Notes about component filtering:
- Do not repeat these component filters in requests, or the API will return
Invalid_request
:country
,postal_code
,route
- If the request contains repeated component filters, the API evaluates those filters as an AND, not an OR.
- Results are consistent with Google Maps, which occasionally yields
unexpected
ZERO_RESULTS
responses. Using Place Autocomplete may provide better results in some use cases. To learn more, see this FAQ. - For each address component, either specify it in the
address
parameter or in acomponents
filter, but not both. Specifying the same values in both may result inZERO_RESULTS
.
A geocode for "High St, Hastings" with components=country:GB
returns a result in Hastings, England rather than in Hastings-On-Hudson, USA.
Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=high+st+hasting&components=country:GB&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "High Street",
"short_name" : "High St",
"types" : [ "route" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Hastings",
"short_name" : "Hastings",
"types" : [ "postal_town" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "East Sussex",
"short_name" : "East Sussex",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "England",
"short_name" : "England",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "United Kingdom",
"short_name" : "GB",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "TN34 3EY",
"short_name" : "TN34 3EY",
"types" : [ "postal_code" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "High St, Hastings TN34 3EY, UK",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 50.8601041,
"lng" : 0.5957329
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 50.8559061,
"lng" : 0.5906163
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 50.85830319999999,
"lng" : 0.5924594
},
"location_type" : "GEOMETRIC_CENTER",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 50.8601041,
"lng" : 0.5957329
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 50.8559061,
"lng" : 0.5906163
}
}
},
"partial_match" : true,
"place_id" : "ChIJ-Ws929sa30cRKgsMNVkPyws",
"types" : [ "route" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
A geocode request for the locality of "Santa Cruz" with components=country:ES
returns Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Canary Islands, Spain.
Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?components=locality:santa+cruz|country:ES&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Santa Cruz de Tenerife",
"short_name" : "Santa Cruz de Tenerife",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Santa Cruz de Tenerife",
"short_name" : "TF",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Canary Islands",
"short_name" : "CN",
"types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Spain",
"short_name" : "ES",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 28.487616,
"lng" : -16.2356646
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 28.4280248,
"lng" : -16.3370045
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 28.4636296,
"lng" : -16.2518467
},
"location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 28.487616,
"lng" : -16.2356646
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 28.4280248,
"lng" : -16.3370045
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJcUElzOzMQQwRLuV30nMUEUM",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}
Component filtering returns a ZERO_RESULTS
response
only if you provide filters that exclude each other.
Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?components=administrative_area:TX|country:FR&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [],
"status" : "ZERO_RESULTS"
}
You can make valid queries without the address parameter, using the
components
filter. (When geocoding a full address,
the address
parameter is required if the request contains the
names and numbers of buildings.)
Request:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?components=route:Annankatu|administrative_area:Helsinki|country:Finland&key=YOUR_API_KEY
Response:
{
"results" : [
{
"address_components" : [
{
"long_name" : "Annankatu",
"short_name" : "Annankatu",
"types" : [ "route" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Helsinki",
"short_name" : "HKI",
"types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "Finland",
"short_name" : "FI",
"types" : [ "country", "political" ]
},
{
"long_name" : "00101",
"short_name" : "00101",
"types" : [ "postal_code" ]
}
],
"formatted_address" : "Annankatu, 00101 Helsinki, Finland",
"geometry" : {
"bounds" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 60.168997,
"lng" : 24.9433353
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 60.16226160000001,
"lng" : 24.9332897
}
},
"location" : {
"lat" : 60.1657808,
"lng" : 24.938451
},
"location_type" : "GEOMETRIC_CENTER",
"viewport" : {
"northeast" : {
"lat" : 60.168997,
"lng" : 24.9433353
},
"southwest" : {
"lat" : 60.16226160000001,
"lng" : 24.9332897
}
}
},
"place_id" : "ChIJARW7C8sLkkYRgl4je4-RPUM",
"types" : [ "route" ]
}
],
"status" : "OK"
}