Geocode

Service version: 2
Last edit: 2023.05.03

Purpose

In many cases, the complete Search service might be too much. For instance, if you are only interested in traditional Geocoding, Search can also be exclusively accessed for address look-up. The Geocoding is performed by hitting the Geocode endpoint with just the address or partial address in question. The Geocoding index will be queried for everything above the street level data.

No POIs (Points of Interest) will be returned. Note that the geocoder is very tolerant of typos and incomplete addresses. It will also handle everything from exact street addresses, streets, or intersections as well as higher-level geographies such as city centers, counties, states, etc.

Run this endpoint

You can easily run this and other endpoints. Go to the TomTom API Explorer page and follow the directions.

Request data

HTTPS Method: GET

For ease of viewing and identification:

  • Constants and parameters enclosed in curly brackets { } must be replaced with their values.
  • Please see the following Request parameters section with the required and optional parameters tables for their values. The generic request format is as follows.

URL request format

get
URL request format
https://{baseURL}/search/{versionNumber}/geocode/{query}.{ext}?key={Your_API_Key}&storeResult={storeResult}&typeahead={typeahead}&limit={limit}&ofs={ofs}&lat={lat}&lon={lon}&countrySet={countrySet}&radius={radius}&topLeft={topLeft}&btmRight={btmRight}&language={language}&extendedPostalCodesFor={extendedPostalCodesFor}&view={view}&mapcodes={mapcodes}&entityTypeSet={entityTypeSet}

URL request example

get
URL request example
https://api.tomtom.com/search/2/geocode/De%20Ruijterkade%20154%2C%201011%20AC%2C%20Amsterdam.json?key={Your_API_Key}

curl command request example

get
curl command request example
curl 'https://api.tomtom.com/search/2/geocode/De%20Ruijterkade%20154%2C%201011%20AC%2C%20Amsterdam.json?key={Your_API_Key}'

Request parameters

The following table describes the parameters that can be used in a request.

  • Required parameters must be used or the call will fail.
  • Optional parameters may be used.
  • The order of request parameters is not important.

Required parameters

Description

baseURL


string

Base URL for calling the API.


Values:

versionNumber


string

Service version number.


Value: The current value is 2.

query


string

Query string. Must be properly URL encoded.


Value: A properly URL encoded query string.

ext


string

A valid response format:


Values: json , jsonp , js , or xml

key


string

An API Key valid for the requested service.


Value: Your valid API Key.

Optional parametersDescription

storeResult
boolean
Deprecated

If the storeResult flag is set, the query will be interpreted as a stored geocode, and will be billed according to the terms of use.
Default value: false.

December 1, 2017

  • The storeResult parameter has been deprecated and will be withdrawn following a 12 month deprecation period.
  • The planned withdrawal date is December 1, 2018.
  • Following withdrawal, API requests that include the storeResult parameter will receive a HTTP 400 error in the response.

typeahead
boolean
Deprecated

If the typeahead flag is set, the query will be interpreted as a partial input, and the search will enter predictive mode.
Default value: false

May 13, 2023

  • The typeahead parameter has been deprecated and will be withdrawn following a 12 month deprecation period.
  • The planned withdrawal date is May 13, 2024.
  • Following withdrawal, API requests that include the typeahead parameter will receive an HTTP 400 error in the response.

limit
integer

The maximum number of responses that will be returned.
Default value: 10
Maximum value: 100

ofs
integer

The starting offset of the returned results within the full result set. The total number of results can be no more than 2000. If you want to receive all the results, you need to limit the number of results by using, for example the radius parameter.
Default value: 0
Maximum value: 1900

lat
float

Latitude, e.g., lat=37.337 lat,lon where results should be biased. Note: supplying a lat/lon without a radius will bias the search results to that area.
Value: lat

lon
float

Longitude, e.g., lon=-121.89 lat,lon where results should be biased. Note: supplying a lat/lon without a radius will bias the search results to that area.
Value: lon

countrySet
string

Comma separated string of country codes in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 or alpha-3 code formats (e.g., FR,ES or FRA,ESP ). This will limit the search to the specified countries. The choice of view may restrict which countries are available. Visit the Geocoding API Market Coverage page for a list of all the countries supported by the Geocoding API engine. Values: FR , ES or FRA , ESP , etc.

radius
integer

If radius and position are set, the results will be constrained to the defined area. The radius parameter is specified in meters.
Value: A radius.

topLeft
string

Top-left position of the bounding box. This is specified as a comma-separated string composed by lat,lon (e.g., 37.553,-122.453 ). Important note: Point-Radius parameters and Bounding Box parameters are mutually exclusive. Point-Radius parameters take precenence when both are passed.
Value: A comma-separated string composed by lat , lon.
Example: 37.553,-122.453

btmRight
string

Bottom-right position of the bounding box. This is specified as a comma-separated string composed by lat,lon (e.g., 37.553,-122.453 ). Important note: Point-Radius parameters and Bounding Box parameters are mutually exclusive. Point-Radius parameters take precenence when both are passed.
Value: A comma-separated string composed by lat , lon.
Example: 37.553,-122.453

language
string

Language in which search results should be returned. It should be one of the TomTom IETF Supported Language Tags , case insensitive. When data in the specified language is not available for a specific field or the language is not specified, the language best matched with your query is used.
Value: A TomTom IETF Supported Language Tag.

extendedPostalCodesFor
string

Indexes for which extended postal codes should be included in the results. Available values are described in Additional Information indexes abbreviation values section. The value should be a comma-separated list of index types (in any order) or "None" for no indexes. By default, extended postal codes are included for all indexes except Geo. Extended postal code lists for geographies can be quite long, so they have to be explicitly requested when needed. Extended postal code is returned as the extendedPostalCode property of an address. Availability is region-dependent.
Value: A comma-separated list of index types.
Usage examples:

  • extendedPostalCodesFor=POI
  • extendedPostalCodesFor=PAD,Addr,POI
  • extendedPostalCodesFor=None
view
string

Geopolitical View. The context used to resolve the handling of disputed territories. Views include Unified , along with AR IL , IN , MA , PK , RU , TR , and CN which are respectively tailored for Argentina, Israel, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and China.
Default values:

  • Argentina , default view: AR , available views: Unified , IL , IN , MA , PK , RU , TR , CN
  • India , default view: IN , available views: -
  • Morocco , default view: MA , available views: Unified , AR , IL , IN , PK , RU , TR , CN
  • Pakistan , default view: PK , available views: Unified , AR , IL , IN , MA , RU , TR , CN
  • Russia , default view: RU , available views: Unified , AR , IL , IN , MA , PK , TR , CN
  • Turkey , default view: TR , available views: Unified , AR , IL , IN , MA , PK , RU , CN
  • China , default view: CN , available views: Unified , AR , IL , IN , MA , PK , RU , TR
  • Others , default view: Unified , available views: AR , IL , IN , MA , PK , RU , TR , CN

mapcodes
string

Enables the return of a comma-separted mapcodes list. It can also filter the response to only show selected mapcode types. See mapcodes in the response. A mapcode represents a specific location, to within a few meters. Every location on Earth can be represented by a mapcode. Mapcodes are designed to be short, easy to recognize, remember, and communicate. Visit the Mapcode project website for more information.
Values: One or more of:

  • Local
  • International
  • Alternative

Usage examples:

  • mapcodes=Local (returns only the local mapcode for a location)
  • mapcodes=Local,Alternative (returns both, local and alternative, mapcodes for a location)
  • mapcodes=Local,Alternative,International (returns all possible mapcodes for a location)

entityTypeSet
string

A comma-separated list of entity types which can be used to restrict the result to the Geography result of a specific entity type. If entityTypeSet is specified, only a Geography result with a proper entity type will be returned.
Value: A comma-separated list of of entity types. Item order in the list does not matter. Values are case sensitive.
Available values:

  • Country
  • CountrySubdivision
  • CountrySecondarySubdivision
  • CountryTertiarySubdivision
  • Municipality
  • MunicipalitySubdivision
  • Neighbourhood
  • PostalCodeArea

Usage examples:

  • entityTypeSet=Municipality : Only returns results with a Municipality entity type.
  • entityTypeSet=Municipality,MunicipalitySubdivision : Returns results with a Municipality or MunicipalitySubdivision entity type.

Request headers

Optional headers

Description

Accept-Encoding

Enables response compression.


Value: gzip

Tracking-ID

Specifies an identifier for the request. It can be used to trace a call. The value must match the regular expression '^[a-zA-Z0-9-]{1,100}$'. An example of the format that matches this regular expression is UUID: (e.g., 9ac68072-c7a4-11e8-a8d5-f2801f1b9fd1 ). For details check RFC 4122. If specified, it is replicated in the Tracking-ID response header. It is only meant to be used for support and does not involve tracking of you or your users in any form.


Value: An identifier for the request.

Response data

Response body

For illustrative purposes the example below is neatly indented and includes all possible response fields. Actual responses are more compact and the fields present will vary based on the result type and the data available. See the following response fields documentation for more information. When requesting JSON output the response has the following structure:

Response structure - JSON
1{
2 "summary": {
3 "query": "2501 soquel dr santa cruz ca 95065",
4 "queryType": "NON_NEAR",
5 "queryTime": 8,
6 "numResults": 1,
7 "offset": 0,
8 "totalResults": 1,
9 "fuzzyLevel": 1,
10 "geoBias": {
11 "lat": 36.98844,
12 "lon": -121.97483
13 }
14 },
15 "results": []
16}

Where each element of the results array is in the following format:

Results array elements format - JSON
1{
2 "type": "Point Address",
3 "id": "US/PAD/p0/45619296",
4 "score": 15.725,
5 "matchConfidence": {
6 "score": 1
7 },
8 "dist": 0.8875712594288668,
9 "address": {
10 "streetNumber": "2501",
11 "streetName": "Soquel Dr",
12 "municipalitySubdivision": "Santa Cruz, Live Oak",
13 "municipality": "Santa Cruz, Live Oak",
14 "countrySecondarySubdivision": "Santa Cruz",
15 "countryTertiarySubdivision": "Santa Cruz",
16 "countrySubdivision": "CA",
17 "postalCode": "95065",
18 "extendedPostalCode": "950652023",
19 "countryCode": "US",
20 "country": "United States Of America",
21 "countryCodeISO3": "USA",
22 "freeformAddress": "2501 Soquel Dr, Santa Cruz, CA 95065",
23 "countrySubdivisionName": "California",
24 "localName": "Santa Cruz"
25 },
26 "position": {
27 "lat": 36.98844,
28 "lon": -121.97482
29 },
30 "mapcodes": [
31 {
32 "type": "Local",
33 "fullMapcode": "US-CA FS.WRH3",
34 "territory": "US-CA",
35 "code": "FS.WRH3"
36 },
37 {
38 "type": "International",
39 "fullMapcode": "S4ZW4.990V"
40 },
41 {
42 "type": "Alternative",
43 "fullMapcode": "US-CA 4349.S8W",
44 "territory": "US-CA",
45 "code": "4349.S8W"
46 },
47 {
48 "type": "Alternative",
49 "fullMapcode": "US-CA JJCH.H9DF",
50 "territory": "US-CA",
51 "code": "JJCH.H9DF"
52 },
53 {
54 "type": "Alternative",
55 "fullMapcode": "USA JJCH.H9DF",
56 "territory": "USA",
57 "code": "JJCH.H9DF"
58 }
59 ],
60 "viewport": {
61 "topLeftPoint": {
62 "lat": 36.98934,
63 "lon": -121.97595
64 },
65 "btmRightPoint": {
66 "lat": 36.98754,
67 "lon": -121.97369
68 }
69 },
70 "entryPoints": [
71 {
72 "type": "main",
73 "position": {
74 "lat": 36.98817,
75 "lon": -121.97487
76 }
77 }
78 ],
79 "addressRanges": {
80 "rangeLeft": "1 - 3",
81 "rangeRight": "2 - 12",
82 "from": {
83 "lat": 51.16561,
84 "lon": 19.48489
85 },
86 "to": {
87 "lat": 51.16545,
88 "lon": 19.4863
89 }
90 },
91 "dataSources": {
92 "geometry": {
93 "id": "00004e4c-3100-3c00-0000-0000685e23c7"
94 }
95 }
96}

Response fields

The following tables describe all of the fields that can appear in a response. Fields are listed by the response section they belong to, and in the order that they appear in the response.

Primary fields

Field

Description

summary


object

Summary information about the search that was performed.


summary object

results


array

The result list, sorted in descending order by score.
results array

summary object

FieldDescription

query


string

The query as interpreted by the search engine.

queryType


string
Deprecated

Response type. Can be NEARBY or NON_NEAR.

May 13, 2023

  • The queryType parameter has been deprecated and will be withdrawn following a 12 month deprecation period.
  • The planned withdrawal date is May 13, 2024.
  • Following withdrawal, API requests that include the queryType parameter will receive an HTTP 400 error in the response.

queryTime


integer

Time spent on resolving the query.

numResults


integer

The number of results in the response.

offset


integer

The starting offset of the returned results within the full result set.

totalResults


integer

The total number of results found.

fuzzyLevel


integer

The maximum fuzzy level required to provide results.

geoBias


object

The position used to bias the results: Latitude, Longitude


LatLon

results array

FieldDescription

type


string

Type of result.


Value: One of:

  • Street

  • Geography

  • Point Address

  • Address Range

  • Cross Street

id


string

the non-stable unique id for this result.

score


double
Deprecated

The score of the result. A larger score means there is a probability that a result meeting the query criteria is higher.

May 13, 2023

  • The score parameter has been deprecated and will be withdrawn following a 12 month deprecation period.
  • The planned withdrawal date is May 13, 2024.
  • Following withdrawal, API requests that include the score parameter will receive an HTTP 400 error in the response.

matchConfidence


object

The confidence of the result`s textual match with the query.


matchConfidence object

dist


double

Unit: meters. This is the distance to an object if geobias was provided.

address


object

The structured address for the result.


address object

position


object

The position of the result: Latitude, Longitude.


LatLon

mapcodes


array

List of mapcode objects.


mapcodes object

viewport


object

A viewport which can be used to display the result on a map.


viewport object

boundingBox


object

Optional section. Only present if type == Geography. A bounding box which can be used to display the result on a map defined by minimum and maximum longitudes and latitudes.


boundingBox object

entrypoints


array

A list of entry points of the POI (Points of Interest).


entryPoints array

addressRanges


object

The address ranges on a street segment. Available only for results where the result type is equal to Address Range. addressRanges object

dataSources


object

An optional section. These are unique reference ids for use with the Additional Data service.


dataSources object

address object

FieldDescription

streetNumber


string

The building number on the street.

streetName


string

The street name.

municipalitySubdivision


string

Sub / Super City

municipality


string

City / Town

countrySecondarySubdivision


string

County

countryTertiarySubdivision


string

Named Area

countrySubdivision


string

State or Province

postalCode


string

Postal Code / Zip Code

postalName


string

An address component which represents the name for a postal code that is related to a single administrative area, city, town, or other populated place. Note: This field only appears for geographies having entityType == PostalCodeArea. It is only supported for the USA.

extendedPostalCode


string

Extended postal code (availability dependent on region).

countryCode


string

A country's code (Note: This is a two-letter code, not a country name.).

country


string

Country name

countryCodeISO3


string

ISO alpha-3 country code

freeformAddress


string

An address line formatted according to the formatting rules of the result's country of origin. In the case of countries, its full country name. For the USA, in the case of geographies with entityType == PostalCodeArea it will contain the postalName field value.

countrySubdivisionName


string

The full name of the first level of country administrative hierarchy. This field appears only in case countrySubdivision is presented in an abbreviated form. It is only supported for the USA, Canada, and Great Britain.

countrySubdivisionCode


string

countrySubdivisionCode prefixed by countryCode ( countryCode-countrySubdivisionCode ) and the hyphen forms the ISO 3166-2 code. It is only present if the returned document has entityType == CountrySubdivision. countrySubdivisionCode examples: TX for Texas, SCT for Scotland, ON for Ontario, ZE for Zeeland and BB for Brandenburg.

localName


string

An address component which represents the name of a geographic area or locality that groups a number of addressable objects for addressing purposes, without being an administrative unit.

matchConfidence object

FieldDescription

score


double

Represents overall textual match score, in the range of [0..1], where 1 means perfect match and 0 - no match.


Example:
A Point Address result with freeformAddress 9390 Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 has:

  • score: 1 for a query that matches perfectly, like "9390 santa monica boulevard beverly hills california los angeles"

  • score: 0.88 for a query that matches, despite a spelling error and synonym, like "9390 snta monica avenue beverly hills california los angeles"

  • score: 0.42 for a query that contains many unmatched terms, like "mr smith apartment 20 ground floor 9390 santa monica boulevard beverly hills california los angeles"

mapcodes object

FieldDescription

type


string

Type of mapcode:


Local :
The shortest possible (and easiest to remember) mapcode. Local mapcodes are especially useful when the user knows what territory the mapcode is in (for example, when an application is designed to be used inside just one European country or US state). Note that the code element of a Local mapcode is ambiguous when used without the territory element. For example, the "4J.P2" mapcode can mean the Eiffel Tower location (48.858380, 2.294440) (with the territory set to FRA ), but also some place in Amsterdam-Noord, Netherlands (52.382184, 4.911021) (with the territory set to NLD ).


International :
This mapcode is unambiguous. It is also the longest.


Alternative :
Alternatives to Local mapcodes. Each Alternative mapcode points to slightly different coordinates due to the way mapcodes are computed (see the mapcode documentation ). For example, the position from a response can be encoded as "5DM.WC" (51.759244, 19.448316) and the "VHJ.036" (51.759245, 19.448264), which are close to each other, but not exactly the same place.

fullMapcode


string

The full form of a mapcode ( territory + code ). It is always unambiguous. The territory element is always in the Latin alphabet. In an International mapcode, the territory part is empty.

territory


string

The territory element of the mapcode. The territory element is always in the Latin alphabet. Usually, the territory is the ISO 3166-1 alpha 3 abbreviation for the country name. However in these eight very large countries:

  • USA
  • Canada
  • Mexico
  • Brazil
  • India
  • Australia
  • Russia
  • China

an address has little meaning unless the user also knows what state it's in (just as, elsewhere, an address has little meaning if the user doesn’t know what country it’s in). More information about territory codes is available at Territories for mapcodes. This field is not returned for an International mapcode.

code


string

The mapcode without the territory element. It consists of two groups of letters and digits separated by a dot. The code is using the same language and alphabet as the response. The language parameter may be used to modify the language and alphabet of both the response and the code (for example: Cyrillic for the language ru-RU ). This field is not returned for the International mapcodes. Use fullMapcode instead.

viewport object

FieldDescription

topLeftPoint


object

Top-left corner of the rectangle:


LatLon

btmRightPoint


object

Bottom-right corner of the rectangle:


LatLon

boundingBox object

FieldDescription

topLeftPoint


object

Top-left position of the bounding box:


LatLon

btmRightPoint


object

Bottom-right position of the bounding box:


LatLon

entryPoints array

FieldDescription

type


string

The main entry point. One of:

  • main

  • minor

functions


array

If present, represents the type of access for the POI.


Example: FrontDoor

position


object

Position of the entry point.


LatLon

addressRanges object

FieldDescription

rangeLeft


string

An address range on the left side of a street segment (assuming looking from the "from" end toward the "to" end).

rangeRight


string

An address range on the right side of a street segment (assuming looking from the "from" end toward the "to" end).

from


object

The beginning point of a street segment: Latitude, Longitude


LatLon

to


object

The end point of a street segment: Latitude, Longitude


LatLon

dataSources object

FieldDescription

geometry


object

Information about the geometric shape of the result. Only present if type == Geography.
geometry object

geometry

FieldDescription

id


string

Pass this as geometryId to the Additional Data service to fetch geometry information for this result.

LatLon

FieldDescription

lat


float

Latitude. min/max: -90 to +90


Reference: Latitude, Longitude, and Coordinate System Grids

lon


float

Longitude. min/max: -180 to +180


Reference: Latitude, Longitude, and Coordinate System Grids

Response codes

The following data table contains HTTP response codes signifying successful and failed requests to an API server.

Successful and failed response codes

Code

Meaning & possible causes

200

OK : The search successfully returned zero or more results.

400

Bad Request : One or more parameters were incorrectly specified.

403

Forbidden : Possible causes include:

  • Service requires SSL
  • Not authorized
  • Rate or volume limit exceeded
  • Unknown referer

405

Method Not Allowed : The HTTPS method ( GET , POST , etc.) is not supported for this request.

404/596

Not Found : The HTTPS request method ( GET , POST , etc.) or path is incorrect.

429

Too Many Requests : The API Key is over QPS (Queries per second).

5xx

Server Error : The service was unable to process your request. Contact support to resolve the issue.

Response headers

The following table contains response headers sent back from an API server.

Header

Description

Access-Control-Allow-Origin

Ensures that clients implementing the CORS security model are able to access the response from this service.


Value: An asterisk * that signifies access to the TomTom API using the Access-Control-Allow-Origin (ACAO) header in its response indicating which origin sites are allowed.

Content-Type

Indicates the format of the response, as chosen by the client.


Format: type/subtype; charset=utf-8


Values: type/subtype is one of application/json , text/javascript , or text/xml.

Content-Encoding

If requested by the client, the Search service applies gzip compression to the responses with the Accept-Encoding header.


Value: gzip

Tracking-ID

An identifier for the request. If the Tracking-ID header was specified, it is replicated in the response. Otherwise, it is generated automatically by the service. It is only meant to be used for support and does not involve tracking of you or your users in any form.


Value: An identifier for the request.

Error response

The error response content type depends on the ext parameter.

Error response content type - JSON
1{
2 "errorText": "Error parsing 'language': Language tag 'en-ES' not supported",
3 "detailedError": {
4 "code": "BadRequest",
5 "message": "Error parsing 'language': Language tag 'en-ES' not supported",
6 "target": "language"
7 },
8 "httpStatusCode": "400"
9}
Error response content type - XML
1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<response>
3 <errorText>Error parsing 'language': Language tag 'en-ES' not supported</errorText>
4 <detailedError>
5 <code>BadRequest</code>
6 <message>Error parsing 'language': Language tag 'en-ES' not supported</message>
7 <target>language</target>
8 </detailedError>
9 <httpStatusCode>400</httpStatusCode>
10</response>

Error response fields

Primary fields

Field

Description

errorText


string

A human-readable description of the error.

detailedError


object

Detailed information about the error.


detailedError object

httpStatusCode


integer

HTTP response codes signifying failed requests to an API server.

detailedError object

FieldDescription

code


string

One of a server-defined set of error codes.

message


string

A human-readable description of the error code. It is intended as an aid to developers and is not suitable for exposure to end users.

target


string

Optional.


Target of the particular error.


Value: The name of the request parameter causing the error.

Additional information

Indexes abbreviation values

In some cases, a list of indexes can be passed as a parameter to query, which should be listed with their abbreviations, available values are:

  • Geo = Geographies - areas on map which represent administrative divison of a land i.e., country, state, city.
  • PAD = Point Addresses - points on a map where a specific address with a street name and number can be found in the index, i.e., Soquel Dr 2501.
  • Addr = Address ranges - for some streets there are address points that are interpolated from the beginning and end of the street, those points are represented as address ranges.
  • Str = Streets - representation of streets on the map.
  • XStr = Cross Streets (intersections) - representations of junctions; places where two streets intersect.