Search with autosuggest

Learn how to search for an address with autosuggest using the geocoding service.

Search for addresses with autosuggest using API key authentication

Autosuggest, also known as autocomplete, is a feature that predicts and displays location-based suggestions as a user types into a search box. In this tutorial, you use ArcGIS REST JS to access the geocoding service. You also create an input control to accept text and suggest address results. When a suggestion is selected, a pop-up will appear with the name, location, and address, and the map will pan to it.

Prerequisites

An ArcGIS Location Platform or ArcGIS Online account.

Steps

Get the starter app

Select a type of authentication below and follow the steps to create a new application.

If you are using the CDN libraries, to get started.

Set up authentication

Create developer credentials in your portal for the type of authentication you selected.

Create a new API key credential with the correct privileges to access the resources used in this tutorial.

Go to the Create an API key tutorial and create an API key with the following privilege(s):
- Privileges:
  - Location services > Geocoding
Copy the API key access token to your clipboard when prompted.

Set developer credentials

Use the API key or OAuth developer credentials so your application can access location services.

Update the accessToken variable to use your API key.

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    const accessToken = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";

In both the index.html and callback.html files, replace YOUR_CLIENT_ID and YOUR_REDIRECT_URL with the client ID and redirect URL of your OAuth credentials.

index.html
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    /* Use for user authentication */
    const clientId = "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"; // Your client ID from OAuth credentials
    const redirectUri = "YOUR_REDIRECT_URI"; // The redirect URL registered in your OAuth credentials
    const authentication = await arcgisRest.ArcGISIdentityManager.beginOAuth2({
      clientId,
      redirectUri,
      portal: "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest" // Your portal URL
    })

callback.html
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    arcgisRest.ArcGISIdentityManager.completeOAuth2({
      clientId: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID", // Your client ID from OAuth credentials
      redirectUri: "YOUR_REDIRECT_URI", // The redirect URL registered in your OAuth credentials
      portal: "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest" // Your portal URL
    })

Run the app and ensure you can sign in successfully.

If you are unable to sign in, make sure you have the correct redirect URL and port. This URL varies based on your application and typically takes the format of https://<server>[:port]/callback.html or http://my-arcgis-app:/auth. For example, if you are running an application on http://127.0.0.1:5500/, set http://127.0.0.1:5500/callback.html as your redirect URL in the index.html and callback.html file and your developer credential. They all have to match!

Make the request

Copy and paste the code below, following the steps to make a request to the Geocoding service.

Reference the arcgis-rest-request and arcgis-rest-geocoding libraries either through CDN, ES Modules, or Node JS.
(Optional) Add input controls to display address suggestions as the user types.
Call arcgisRest.suggest to return address suggestions based on the partial input text.
Retrieve the magicKey from the selected suggestion and call arcgisRest.geocode to get the location of the address.
Display the geocoding results.

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    function performGeocode(magicKey) {

      arcgisRest.geocode({
        magicKey,
        authentication
      }).then((response) => {
        console.log("Autosuggest results:", response);
        result.textContent = JSON.stringify(response, null, 2);
      });
    }

    input.addEventListener("input", () => {
      selectedIndex = -1;
      const text = input.value;
      if (!text) {
        suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
        return;
      }

      arcgisRest.suggest(text, {
        authentication,
        params: {
          location: {
            x: -123.102,
            y: 49.234,
            spatialReference: { wkid: 4326 }
          },
          maxSuggestions: 5
        }
      }).then((response) => {

        suggestionsList.innerHTML = "";
        if (!response.suggestions || response.suggestions.length === 0) {
          suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
          return;
        }

        response.suggestions.forEach((s) => {
          const li = document.createElement("li");
          li.textContent = s.text;

          li.addEventListener("click", () => {
            input.value = s.text;
            suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
            performGeocode(s.magicKey)
          });

          suggestionsList.appendChild(li);
        });

        suggestionsList.style.display = "block";
      });
    });
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Run the app

Run the app.

The result should look similar to this.

What's next?

Learn how to use additional ArcGIS Location Services in these tutorials:

Search for an address

Search for addresses with autosuggest using the geocoding service.

Find a route and directions

Find a route and directions for an origin and destination by accessing the route service.

Find service areas

Create a service area that can be reached from a location within a drive time with the route service.