Overview

What is geocoding?

Geocoding is the process of converting addresses (like "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA") into geographic coordinates (like latitude 37.423021 and longitude -122.083739), which you can use to place markers on a map, or position the map.

Reverse geocoding is the process of converting geographic coordinates into a human-readable address.

You can also use the Geocoding API to find the address for a given place ID.

The Geocoding API provides a direct way to access these services via an HTTP request. The following example uses the Geocoding service through the Maps JavaScript API to demonstrate the basic functionality.

View this example fullscreen to see additional functionality of the Geocoding API, such as more options available for tailoring the request (component filtering and viewport biasing) and more details about each result.

Before you begin

This document describes the Geocoding API web service. It is intended for website and mobile developers who want to use geocoding data within maps provided by one of the Google Maps Platform APIs.

Note: This service is generally designed for geocoding static (known in advance) addresses for placement of application content on a map; this service is not designed to respond in real time to user input. For dynamic geocoding (for example, within a user interface element), consult the documentation for the Maps JavaScript API client geocoder and/or the Google Play services Location APIs.

Before you start developing with the Geocoding API, review the authentication requirements (you need an API key) and the API usage and billing information (you need to enable billing on your project).

Geocoding API request format

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); or
• xml indicates output in XML

HTTPS is required for requests that use an API key.

Note: URLs must be properly encoded to be valid and are limited to 8192 characters for all web services. Be aware of this limit when constructing your URLs. Note that different browsers, proxies, and servers may have different URL character limits as well.

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)

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 an address is provided. Each element in the components filter consists of a component:value pair, and fully restricts the results from the geocoder. See more information about component filtering below.
• 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 the Accept-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.)
• components — A components filter with elements separated by a pipe (|). The components filter is required if the request doesn't include an address. Each element in the components filter consists of a component:value pair, and fully restricts the results from the geocoder. See more information about component filtering below.

Geocoding responses

Geocoding responses are returned in the format indicated by the output flag within the URL request's path.

In this example, the Geocoding API requests a json response for a query on "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

Click the tabs below to see the sample JSON and XML responses.

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "1600",
               "short_name" : "1600",
               "types" : [ "street_number" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Amphitheatre Pkwy",
               "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" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA",
         "geometry" : {
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 37.4224764,
               "lng" : -122.0842499
            },
            "location_type" : "ROOFTOP",
            "viewport" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 37.4238253802915,
                  "lng" : -122.0829009197085
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 37.4211274197085,
                  "lng" : -122.0855988802915
               }
            }
         },
         "place_id" : "ChIJ2eUgeAK6j4ARbn5u_wAGqWA",
         "plus_code": {
            "compound_code": "CWC8+W5 Mountain View, California, United States",
            "global_code": "849VCWC8+W5"
         },
         "types" : [ "street_address" ]
      }
   ],
   "status" : "OK"
}

<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 Pkwy</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>San Jose</long_name>
   <short_name>San Jose</short_name>
   <type>administrative_area_level_3</type>
   <type>political</type>
  </address_component>
  <address_component>
   <long_name>Santa Clara</long_name>
   <short_name>Santa Clara</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>37.4217550</lat>
    <lng>-122.0846330</lng>
   </location>
   <location_type>ROOFTOP</location_type>
   <viewport>
    <southwest>
     <lat>37.4188514</lat>
     <lng>-122.0874526</lng>
    </southwest>
    <northeast>
     <lat>37.4251466</lat>
     <lng>-122.0811574</lng>
    </northeast>
   </viewport>
  </geometry>
  <place_id>ChIJ2eUgeAK6j4ARbn5u_wAGqWA</place_id>
  >plus_code<
   >global_code<849VCWC8+W5>/global_code<
   >compound_code<CWC8+W5 Mountain View, California, United States>/compound_code<
 >/plus_code<
 </result>
</GeocodeResponse>

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-existent address.
• 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 or latlng) 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.
• 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 a long_name of "Alaska" and a short_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 all the 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 the southwest and northeast 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 they do not exist (where buildings are not numbered or streets are not named).

  The plus code 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).
  Typically, both the global code and compound code are returned. However, if the result is in a remote location (for example, an ocean or desert) only the global code may be returned.

• 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, "21 Henr 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 the place_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.
• 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 to sublocality_level_5. Each sublocality level is a civil entity. Larger numbers indicate a smaller geographic area.
• neighborhood indicates a named neighborhood
• premise indicates a named location, usually a building or collection of buildings with a common name
• subpremise indicates a first-order entity below a named location, usually a singular building within a collection of buildings with a common name
• plus_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 as locality and sublocality, 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 and transit_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. Note that biasing only prefers results within the bounds; if more relevant results exist outside of these bounds, they may be included.

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 "Winnetka" generally returns this suburb of Chicago:

Request:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Winnetka&key=YOUR_API_KEY

Response:

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "Winnetka",
               "short_name" : "Winnetka",
               "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "New Trier",
               "short_name" : "New Trier",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_3", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Cook County",
               "short_name" : "Cook County",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Illinois",
               "short_name" : "IL",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "United States",
               "short_name" : "US",
               "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "Winnetka, IL, USA",
         "geometry" : {
            "bounds" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 42.1282269,
                  "lng" : -87.7108162
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 42.0886089,
                  "lng" : -87.7708629
               }
            },
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 42.10808340000001,
               "lng" : -87.735895
            },
            "location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
            "viewport" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 42.1282269,
                  "lng" : -87.7108162
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 42.0886089,
                  "lng" : -87.7708629
               }
            }
         },
         "place_id" : "ChIJW8Va5TnED4gRY91Ng47qy3Q",
         "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
      }
   ],
   "status" : "OK"
}

However, adding a bounds argument defining a bounding box for the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles results in this geocode returning the neighborhood named "Winnetka" in that location:

Request:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Winnetka&bounds=34.172684,
-118.604794|34.236144,-118.500938&key=YOUR_API_KEY

Response:

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "Winnetka",
               "short_name" : "Winnetka",
               "types" : [ "neighborhood", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Los Angeles",
               "short_name" : "LA",
               "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Los Angeles County",
               "short_name" : "Los Angeles 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" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "Winnetka, Los Angeles, CA, USA",
         "geometry" : {
            "bounds" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 34.2355209,
                  "lng" : -118.5534191
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 34.1854649,
                  "lng" : -118.588536
               }
            },
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 34.2048586,
               "lng" : -118.5739621
            },
            "location_type" : "APPROXIMATE",
            "viewport" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 34.2355209,
                  "lng" : -118.5534191
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 34.1854649,
                  "lng" : -118.588536
               }
            }
         },
         "place_id" : "ChIJ0fd4S_KbwoAR2hRDrsr3HmQ",
         "types" : [ "neighborhood", "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&region=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 matches postal_code and postal_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 against locality and sublocality types.
• administrative_area matches all the administrative_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 a components filter, but not both. Specifying the same values in both may result in ZERO_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"
}

Reverse geocoding (address lookup)

The term geocoding generally refers to translating a human-readable address into a location on a map. The process of doing the opposite, translating a location on the map into a human-readable address, is known as reverse geocoding.

Required parameters in a reverse geocoding request:

• latlng — The latitude and longitude values specifying the location for which you wish to obtain the closest, human-readable address.
• key — Your application's API key. This key identifies your application for purposes of quota management. Learn how to get a key.

Optional parameters in a reverse geocoding request:

These are the optional parameters that you can include in a reverse Geocoding request:

• 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 the Accept-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.
• result_type — A filter of one or more address types, separated by a pipe (|). If the parameter contains multiple address types, the API returns all addresses that match any of the types. A note about processing: The result_type parameter does not restrict the search to the specified address type(s). Rather, the result_type acts as a post-search filter: the API fetches all results for the specified latlng, then discards those results that do not match the specified address type(s).The following values are supported:
  • 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.
  • 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 to sublocality_level_5. Each sublocality level is a civil entity. Larger numbers indicate a smaller geographic area.
  • neighborhood indicates a named neighborhood
  • premise indicates a named location, usually a building or collection of buildings with a common name
  • subpremise indicates a first-order entity below a named location, usually a singular building within a collection of buildings with a common name
  • plus_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".
• location_type — A filter of one or more location types, separated by a pipe (|). If the parameter contains multiple location types, the API returns all addresses that match any of the types. A note about processing: The location_type parameter does not restrict the search to the specified location type(s). Rather, the location_type acts as a post-search filter: the API fetches all results for the specified latlng, then discards those results that do not match the specified location type(s). The following values are supported:
  • "ROOFTOP" returns only the addresses for which Google has location information accurate down to street address precision.
  • "RANGE_INTERPOLATED" returns only the addresses that reflect an approximation (usually on a road) interpolated between two precise points (such as intersections). An interpolated range generally indicates that rooftop geocodes are unavailable for a street address.
  • "GEOMETRIC_CENTER" returns only geometric centers of a location such as a polyline (for example, a street) or polygon (region).
  • "APPROXIMATE" returns only the addresses that are characterized as approximate.

If both result_type and location_type filters are present then the API returns only those results that match both the result_type and the location_type values. If none of the filter values are acceptable, the API returns ZERO_RESULTS.

Example of reverse geocoding

The following query contains the latitude/longitude value for a location in Brooklyn:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=40.714224,-73.961452&key=YOUR_API_KEY

Note: Ensure that no space exists between the latitude and longitude values when passed in the latlng parameter.

The above query returns the following result:

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "277",
               "short_name" : "277",
               "types" : [ "street_number" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Bedford Avenue",
               "short_name" : "Bedford Ave",
               "types" : [ "route" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Williamsburg",
               "short_name" : "Williamsburg",
               "types" : [ "neighborhood", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Brooklyn",
               "short_name" : "Brooklyn",
               "types" : [ "sublocality", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Kings",
               "short_name" : "Kings",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "New York",
               "short_name" : "NY",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "United States",
               "short_name" : "US",
               "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "11211",
               "short_name" : "11211",
               "types" : [ "postal_code" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "277 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA",
         "geometry" : {
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 40.714232,
               "lng" : -73.9612889
            },
            "location_type" : "ROOFTOP",
            "viewport" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 40.7155809802915,
                  "lng" : -73.9599399197085
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 40.7128830197085,
                  "lng" : -73.96263788029151
               }
            }
         },
         "place_id" : "ChIJd8BlQ2BZwokRAFUEcm_qrcA",
         "types" : [ "street_address" ]
      },

  ... Additional results[] ...

Note that the reverse geocoder returned more than one result. The "formatted_address" results are not just postal addresses, but any way to geographically name a location. For example, when geocoding a point in the city of Chicago, the geocoded point may be denoted as a street address, as the city (Chicago), as its state (Illinois) or as a country (The United States). All are "addresses" to the geocoder. The reverse geocoder returns any of these types as valid results.

The reverse geocoder matches political entities (countries, provinces, cities and neighborhoods), street addresses, and postal codes.

The full list of formatted_address values returned by the previous query is shown below.

"formatted_address" : "277 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA",
"formatted_address" : "Grand St/Bedford Av, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA",
"formatted_address" : "Grand St/Bedford Av, Brooklyn, NY 11249, USA",
"formatted_address" : "Bedford Av/Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA",
"formatted_address" : "Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA",
"formatted_address" : "Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, USA",
"formatted_address" : "Brooklyn, NY, USA",
"formatted_address" : "New York, NY, USA",
"formatted_address" : "New York, USA",
"formatted_address" : "United States",

Generally, addresses are returned from most specific to least specific; the more exact address is the most prominent result, as it is in this case. Note that we return different types of addresses, from the most specific street address to less specific political entities such as neighborhoods, cities, counties, states, etc. If you wish to match a specific type of address, see the section below on restricting results by type.

Reverse geocoding filtered by type

The following example filters the addresses returned to include only those with a location type of ROOFTOP and an address type of street_address.

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=40.714224,-73.961452
&location;_type=ROOFTOP&result;_type=street_address&key=YOUR_API_KEY

Note: These filters are only valid for reverse geocoding.

Reverse geocoding responses

The format of the reverse geocoding response is the same as the Geocoding response. See Geocoding responses. Below are the status codes possible in a reverse geocoding response.

Reverse geocoding 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 reverse geocoding is not working. The "status" field may contain the following values:

• "OK" indicates that no errors occurred and at least one address was returned.
• "ZERO_RESULTS" indicates that the reverse geocoding was successful but returned no results. This may occur if the geocoder was passed a latlng in a remote location.
• "OVER_QUERY_LIMIT" indicates that you are over your quota.
• "REQUEST_DENIED" indicates that the request was denied. Possibly because the request includes a result_type or location_type parameter but does not include an API key.
• "INVALID_REQUEST" generally indicates one of the following:
  • The query (address, components or latlng) is missing.
  • An invalid result_type or location_type was given.
• "UNKNOWN_ERROR" indicates that the request could not be processed due to a server error. The request may succeed if you try again.

Reverse geocoding plus codes

The plus_code field within the Geocoding response object contains a plus code that best approximates the queried latitude and longitude. In addition the JSON results array will in most cases contain a full Geocoding result with a plus_code type and an address containing a plus code. The distance between the decoded plus code and the request point is guaranteed to be under 10 meters.

Retrieving an address for a Place ID

Required parameters:

• place_id — The place ID of the place for which you wish to obtain the human-readable address. The place ID is a unique identifier that can be used with other Google APIs. For example, you can use the placeID returned by the Roads API to get the address for a snapped point. For more information about place IDs, see the place ID overview..
• key — Your application's API key. This key identifies your application for purposes of quota management. Learn how to get a key.

The optional parameters are the same as those for reverse geocoding.

The following query contains the place ID of a place in Brooklyn:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?place_id=ChIJd8BlQ2BZwokRAFUEcm_qrcA
&key=YOUR_API_KEY

The above query returns the following result:

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "277",
               "short_name" : "277",
               "types" : [ "street_number" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Bedford Avenue",
               "short_name" : "Bedford Ave",
               "types" : [ "route" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Williamsburg",
               "short_name" : "Williamsburg",
               "types" : [ "neighborhood", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Brooklyn",
               "short_name" : "Brooklyn",
               "types" : [ "political", "sublocality", "sublocality_level_1" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "Kings County",
               "short_name" : "Kings County",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_2", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "New York",
               "short_name" : "NY",
               "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "United States",
               "short_name" : "US",
               "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
            },
            {
               "long_name" : "11211",
               "short_name" : "11211",
               "types" : [ "postal_code" ]
            }
         ],
         "formatted_address" : "277 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA",
         "geometry" : {
            "location" : {
               "lat" : 40.7142205,
               "lng" : -73.9612903
            },
            "location_type" : "ROOFTOP",
            "viewport" : {
               "northeast" : {
                  "lat" : 40.71556948029149,
                  "lng" : -73.95994131970849
               },
               "southwest" : {
                  "lat" : 40.7128715197085,
                  "lng" : -73.9626392802915
               }
            }
         },
         "place_id" : "ChIJd8BlQ2BZwokRAFUEcm_qrcA",
         "types" : [ "street_address" ]
      }
   ],
   "status" : "OK"
}

For a description of the fields in the response, see Geocoding responses.