Geocoding Service

Note: Server-side libraries

Overview

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 or position the map.

Reverse geocoding is the process of converting geographic coordinates into a human-readable address (see Reverse geocoding (Address Lookup)).

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

The Maps JavaScript API provides a Geocoder class for geocoding and reverse geocoding dynamically from user input. If instead you wish to geocode static, known addresses, see the Geocoding web service.

Getting started

Before using the Geocoding service in the Maps JavaScript API, first ensure that the Geocoding API is enabled in the Google Cloud Console, in the same project you set up for the Maps JavaScript API.

To view your list of enabled APIs:

Go to the Google Cloud Console.
Click the Select a project button, then select the same project you set up for the Maps JavaScript API and click Open.
From the list of APIs on the Dashboard, look for Geocoding API.
If you see the API in the list, you’re all set. If the API is not listed, enable it:
1. At the top of the page, select ENABLE API to display the Library tab. Alternatively, from the left side menu, select Library.
2. Search for Geocoding API, then select it from the results list.
3. Select ENABLE. When the process finishes, Geocoding API appears in the list of APIs on the Dashboard.

Pricing and policies

Pricing

Effective July 16, 2018, a new pay-as-you-go pricing plan went into effect for Maps, Routes, and Places. To learn more about the new pricing and usage limits for your use of the JavaScript Geocoding service, see Usage and Billing for the Geocoding API.

Policies

Use of the Geocoding service must be in accordance with the policies described for the Geocoding API.

Geocoding Requests

Accessing the Geocoding service is asynchronous, since the Google Maps API needs to make a call to an external server. For that reason, you need to pass a callback method to execute upon completion of the request. This callback method processes the result(s). Note that the geocoder may return more than one result.

You access the Google Maps API geocoding service within your code via the google.maps.Geocoder constructor object. The Geocoder.geocode() method initiates a request to the geocoding service, passing it a GeocoderRequest object literal containing the input terms and a callback method to execute upon receipt of the response.

The GeocoderRequest object literal contains the following fields:

{
 address: string,
 location: LatLng,
 placeId: string,
 bounds: LatLngBounds,
 componentRestrictions: GeocoderComponentRestrictions,
 region: string
}

Required parameters: You must supply one, and only one, of the following fields:

address — The address which you want to geocode.
or
location — The LatLng (or LatLngLiteral) for which you wish to obtain the closest, human-readable address. The geocoder performs a reverse geocode. See Reverse Geocoding for more information.
or
placeId — The place ID of the place for which you wish to obtain the closest, human-readable address. See more about retrieving an address for a place ID.

Optional parameters:

bounds — The LatLngBounds within which to bias geocode results more prominently. The bounds parameter will only influence, not fully restrict, results from the geocoder. See more information about viewport biasing below.
componentRestrictions — Used to restrict results to a specific area. See more information about component filtering below.
region — The region code, specified as a specified as a two-character (non-numeric) Unicode region subtag. In most cases, these tags map directly to familiar ccTLD ("top-level domain") two-character values. The region parameter will only influence, not fully restrict, results from the geocoder. See more information about region code biasing below.

Geocoding Responses

The Geocoding service requires a callback method to execute upon retrieval of the geocoder's results. This callback should pass two parameters to hold the results and a status code, in that order.

Geocoding Results

The GeocoderResult object represents a single geocoding result. A geocode request may return multiple result objects:

results[]: {
 types[]: string,
 formatted_address: string,
 address_components[]: {
   short_name: string,
   long_name: string,
   postcode_localities[]: string,
   types[]: string
 },
 partial_match: boolean,
 place_id: string,
 postcode_localities[]: string,
 geometry: {
   location: LatLng,
   location_type: GeocoderLocationType
   viewport: LatLngBounds,
   bounds: LatLngBounds
 }
}

These fields are explained below:

types[] is an array indicating the address 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. See more information about address types and address component types below.
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.
See more information about address types and address component types below.
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_idis a unique identifier of a place, which can be used with other Google APIs. For example, you can use the place_id with the Google Places API library to get details of a local business, such as phone number, opening hours, user reviews, and more. See the place ID overview.
postcode_localities[] is an array denoting all the localities contained in a postal code, and 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. Note that we return this location as a LatLng object, not as a formatted string.
- location_type stores additional data about the specified location. The following values are currently supported:
  - ROOFTOP indicates that the returned result reflects a precise geocode.
  - 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 stores the recommended viewport for the returned result.
- bounds (optionally returned) stores the LatLngBounds 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 should not be returned in the viewport.)

The addresses will be returned by the Geocoder using the browser's preferred language setting, or the language specified when loading the API JavaScript using the language parameter. (For more information, see Localization.)

Address Types and Address Component Types

The types[] array in the GeocoderResult indicates the address type. The types[] array may also be returned within a GeocoderAddressComponent to indicate the type of the particular address component. Addresses returned by the geocoder may have multiple types; the types may be considered tags. For example, many cities are tagged with the political and locality type.

The following types are supported and returned by the geocoder in both the address types and address component types:

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 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 below.

Note: 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.

Status Codes

The status code may return one of 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_QUERY_LIMIT" indicates that you are over your quota.
"REQUEST_DENIED" indicates that your request was denied. The web page is not allowed to use the geocoder.
"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" indicates that the request timed out or there was a problem contacting the Google servers. The request may succeed if you try again.

In this example, we geocode an address and place a marker at the returned latitude and longitude values. Note that the handler is passed as an anonymous function literal.

  var geocoder;
  var map;
  function initialize() {
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(-34.397, 150.644);
    var mapOptions = {
      zoom: 8,
      center: latlng
    }
    map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map'), mapOptions);
  }

  function codeAddress() {
    var address = document.getElementById('address').value;
    geocoder.geocode( { 'address': address}, function(results, status) {
      if (status == 'OK') {
        map.setCenter(results[0].geometry.location);
        var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
            map: map,
            position: results[0].geometry.location
        });
      } else {
        alert('Geocode was not successful for the following reason: ' + status);
      }
    });
  }

<body onload="initialize()">
 <div id="map" style="width: 320px; height: 480px;"></div>
  <div>
    <input id="address" type="textbox" value="Sydney, NSW">
    <input type="button" value="Encode" onclick="codeAddress()">
  </div>
</body>

View example.

Viewport Biasing

You can instruct the Geocoding Service to prefer results within a given viewport (expressed as a bounding box). You do so by setting the bounds parameter within the GeocoderRequest object literal to define the bounds of this viewport. Note that biasing only prefers results within the bounds; if more relevant results exist outside of these bounds, they may be included.

For example, a geocode for "Winnetka" generally returns this suburb of Chicago:

{
  "types":["locality","political"],
  "formatted_address":"Winnetka, IL, USA",
  "address_components":[{
    "long_name":"Winnetka",
    "short_name":"Winnetka",
    "types":["locality","political"]
  },{
    "long_name":"Illinois",
    "short_name":"IL",
    "types":["administrative_area_level_1","political"]
  },{
    "long_name":"United States",
    "short_name":"US",
    "types":["country","political"]
  }],
  "geometry":{
    "location":[ -87.7417070, 42.1083080],
    "location_type":"APPROXIMATE"
  },
  "place_id": "ChIJW8Va5TnED4gRY91Ng47qy3Q"
}

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

{
  "types":["sublocality","political"],
  "formatted_address":"Winnetka, California, USA",
  "address_components":[{
    "long_name":"Winnetka",
    "short_name":"Winnetka",
    "types":["sublocality","political"]
  },{
    "long_name":"Los Angeles",
    "short_name":"Los Angeles",
    "types":["administrative_area_level_3","political"]
  },{
    "long_name":"Los Angeles",
    "short_name":"Los Angeles",
    "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"]
  }],
  "geometry":{
    "location": [34.213171,-118.571022],
    "location_type":"APPROXIMATE"
  },
  "place_id": "ChIJ0fd4S_KbwoAR2hRDrsr3HmQ"
}

Region Code Biasing

You can set the Geocoding Service to return results biased to a particular region explicitly using the region parameter. This parameter takes a region code, specified as a two-character (non-numeric) Unicode region subtag. These tags map directly to familiar ccTLD ("top-level domain") two-character values such as "uk" in "co.uk" for example. In some cases, the region tag also supports ISO-3166-1 codes, which sometimes differ from ccTLD values ("GB" for "Great Britain" for example).

When using the region parameter:

Specify only one country or region. Multiple values are ignored, and could result in a failed request.
Use only two-character region subtags (Unicode CLDR format). All other inputs will result in errors.
Only the countries and regions listed in Google Maps Platform Coverage Details are supported.

Geocoding requests can be sent for every domain in which the main Google Maps application offers geocoding. 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 Service is set to the United States:

{
  "types":["locality","political"],
  "formatted_address":"Toledo, OH, USA",
  "address_components":[{
    "long_name":"Toledo",
    "short_name":"Toledo",
    "types":["locality","political"]
  },{
    "long_name":"Ohio",
    "short_name":"OH",
    "types":["administrative_area_level_1","political"]
  },{
    "long_name":"United States",
    "short_name":"US",
    "types":["country","political"]
  }],
  "place_id": "ChIJeU4e_C2HO4gRRcM6RZ_IPHw"
}

A geocode for "Toledo" with the region field set to 'es' (Spain) will return the Spanish city:

{
  "types":["locality","political"],
  "formatted_address":"Toledo, España",
  "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":"Castilla-La Mancha",
    "short_name":"CM",
    "types":["administrative_area_level_1","political"]
  },{
    "long_name":"España",
    "short_name":"ES",
    "types":["country","political"]
  }],
  "place_id": "ChIJ8f21C60Lag0R_q11auhbf8Y"
}

Component Filtering

You can set the Geocoding Service to return address results restricted to a specific area, by using a components filter. Specify the filter in the componentRestrictions parameter. Filter values support the same methods of spelling correction and partial matching as other geocoding requests.

The geocoder returns only the results that match all the component filters. That is, it evaluates the filter specifications as an AND, not an OR.

A components filter consists of one or more of the following items:

route matches long or short name of a route.
locality matches against locality and sublocality types.
administrativeArea matches all the levels of administrative area.
postalCode matches postal codes and postal code prefixes.
country matches a country name or a two letter ISO 3166-1 country code. Note: 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 example demonstrates using the componentRestrictions parameter to filter by country and postalCode:

function codeAddress() {
geocoder.geocode({
  componentRestrictions: {
    country: 'AU',
    postalCode: '2000'
  }
}, function(results, status) {
  if (status == 'OK') {
    map.setCenter(results[0].geometry.location);
    var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
      map: map,
      position: results[0].geometry.location
    });
  } else {
    window.alert('Geocode was not successful for the following reason: ' + status);
  }
});
}

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 converse, translating a location on the map into a human-readable address, is known as reverse geocoding.

Instead of supplying a textual address, supply a comma-separated latitude/longitude pair in the location parameter.

Note: If you include the componentRestrictions parameter in the request then the location parameter is ignored.

The following example geocodes a latitude/longitude value and centers the map at that location, bringing up an info window with the formatted address:

TypeScript

function initMap(): void {
  const map = new google.maps.Map(
    document.getElementById("map") as HTMLElement,
    {
      zoom: 8,
      center: { lat: 40.731, lng: -73.997 },
    }
  );
  const geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
  const infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow();

  (document.getElementById("submit") as HTMLElement).addEventListener(
    "click",
    () => {
      geocodeLatLng(geocoder, map, infowindow);
    }
  );
}

function geocodeLatLng(
  geocoder: google.maps.Geocoder,
  map: google.maps.Map,
  infowindow: google.maps.InfoWindow
) {
  const input = (document.getElementById("latlng") as HTMLInputElement).value;
  const latlngStr = input.split(",", 2);
  const latlng = {
    lat: parseFloat(latlngStr[0]),
    lng: parseFloat(latlngStr[1]),
  };

  geocoder
    .geocode({ location: latlng })
    .then((response) => {
      if (response.results[0]) {
        map.setZoom(11);

        const marker = new google.maps.Marker({
          position: latlng,
          map: map,
        });

        infowindow.setContent(response.results[0].formatted_address);
        infowindow.open(map, marker);
      } else {
        window.alert("No results found");
      }
    })
    .catch((e) => window.alert("Geocoder failed due to: " + e));
}

declare global {
  interface Window {
    initMap: () => void;
  }
}
window.initMap = initMap;index.ts

JavaScript

function initMap() {
  const map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"), {
    zoom: 8,
    center: { lat: 40.731, lng: -73.997 },
  });
  const geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
  const infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow();

  document.getElementById("submit").addEventListener("click", () => {
    geocodeLatLng(geocoder, map, infowindow);
  });
}

function geocodeLatLng(geocoder, map, infowindow) {
  const input = document.getElementById("latlng").value;
  const latlngStr = input.split(",", 2);
  const latlng = {
    lat: parseFloat(latlngStr[0]),
    lng: parseFloat(latlngStr[1]),
  };

  geocoder
    .geocode({ location: latlng })
    .then((response) => {
      if (response.results[0]) {
        map.setZoom(11);

        const marker = new google.maps.Marker({
          position: latlng,
          map: map,
        });

        infowindow.setContent(response.results[0].formatted_address);
        infowindow.open(map, marker);
      } else {
        window.alert("No results found");
      }
    })
    .catch((e) => window.alert("Geocoder failed due to: " + e));
}

window.initMap = initMap;index.js

View example

Try Sample

Stackblitz.com CodeSandbox.io JSFiddle.net GitPod.io Google Cloud Shell

Note that in the previous example we showed the first result by selecting results[0]. The reverse geocoder often returns more than one result. Geocoded addresses 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 labeled 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 all of these results.

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

Here's an example of the list of addresses that the above query may return:

results[0].formatted_address: "277 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA"
results[1].formatted_address: "Grand St/Bedford Av, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA"
results[2].formatted_address: "Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, USA"
results[3].formatted_address: "Brooklyn, NY, USA"
results[4].formatted_address: "New York, NY, USA"
results[5].formatted_address: "Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA"
results[6].formatted_address: "Kings County, NY, USA"
results[7].formatted_address: "New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA, USA"
results[8].formatted_address: "New York Metropolitan Area, USA"
results[9].formatted_address: "New York, USA"

Addresses are returned in the order of best to least matches. Generally, 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 more general address, you may wish to inspect the results[].types field.

Note: Reverse geocoding is not an exact science. The geocoder will attempt to find the closest addressable location within a certain tolerance.

Retrieving an Address for a Place ID

Supply a placeId to find the address for a given place ID. The place ID is a unique identifier that can be used with other Google APIs. For example, you can supply 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.

When you supply a placeId, the request cannot contain any of the following fields:

address
latLng
location
componentRestrictions

The following example accepts a place ID, finds the corresponding address, and centers the map at that location. It also brings up an info window showing the formatted address of the relevant place: