The Geocoding API is a service that accepts a place as an
address, latitude and longitude coordinates, or Place ID. It converts the
address into latitude and longitude coordinates and a Place ID, or converts
latitude and longitude coordinates or a Place ID into an address.
Why use the Geocoding API
Use the Geocoding API for website or mobile application when you want to use
geocoding data within maps provided by one of the Google Maps Platform APIs.
With the Geocoding API, you use addresses to place markers on a map, or
convert a marker on a map to an address. This service is designed for geocoding
predefined, static addresses
for placement of application
content on a map.
What you can do with the Geocoding API
You can use the Geocoding API to obtain geocoding data for one or more addresses or
places, including the following:
- Geographic coordinates for addresses.
- Addresses for sets of latitude and longitude coordinates.
- Addresses for place IDs.
You can control where the results appear and constrain the results to a particular region,
county, or postal code.
How the Geocoding API works
The Geocoding API does both geocoding and reverse geocoding:
- Geocoding
: Converts addresses such as
"1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA" into latitude and longitude coordinates or Place
IDs. You can use these coordinates to place markers on a map, or to center or reposition the map
within the view frame.
- Reverse geocoding
: Converts
latitude/longitude coordinates or a Place ID into a human-readable address. You can use
addresses for a variety of scenarios, including deliveries or pickups.
The following demo uses the Geocoding Service through the Maps JavaScript API
to demonstrate how the Geocoding API works. Open the map in a separate tab
to see more options and details.
Resources
The following table summarizes the resources available through the
Geocoding API along with the data each endpoint returns.
How to use the Geocoding API
1
|
Get set up.
|
Start with
Set up your
Google Cloud project
and complete the setup
instructions that follow.
|
2
|
Try a geocoding request
|
Once you have an API key, you can start testing out the Geocoding API directly from
cURL or a browser. You'll need to supply the correct lookup parameters
for address or component lookups. See
Geocoding parameters
for details.
|
3
|
Try a reverse geocoding request
|
Supply latitude/longitude coordinates along with your API key to obtain
address components for the closest human-readable address for that location.
See
Reverse geocoding requests
for details.
|
4
|
Understand response basics
|
All endpoints in the Geocoding API return the same data in either JSON or XML.
See
Geocoding responses
for an explanation of the data, status codes, and error messages.
|
5
|
Incorporate geocoding data into your own app!
|
You can use geocoding data to obtain addresses from map markers
or to supply markers on a map based on a known address.
|
Available client libraries
Call this API in the language of
your choice through one of the following client libraries:
The Java Client, Python Client, Go Client and Node.js Client for Google Maps
Services are community-supported client libraries, open sourced under the
Apache 2.0 License
.
Download them from GitHub, where you can also find installation instructions and sample code.
What's next