Find places in a bounding box

A bounding box search finds places within an extent using the places service. An extent typically represents the visible area of a map. To perform a bounding box search, you use the places package from ArcGIS REST JS.

Prerequisites

You need an ArcGIS Developer or ArcGIS Online account to access the developer dashboard and create an API key.

Steps

Create a new pen

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

Get an API Key

To access location services, you need an API key or OAuth 2.0 access token. To learn how to create and scope your key, visit the Create an API key tutorial.

Go to your dashboard to get an API key. The API key must be scoped to access the services used in this tutorial.
In CodePen, update apiKey to use your key.

Make the request

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

Reference the ArcGIS REST JS libraries either through CDN, ES Modules, or Node JS.
Set the apiKey with the API key from your dashboard.
Define the parameters needed for the request.
Call the Places service and handle the results.

CDNCDNES ModulesNode JS
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    <!-- require ArcGIS REST JS libraries from https://unpkg.com -->
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/@esri/arcgis-rest-request@4.0.0/dist/bundled/request.umd.js"></script>
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/@esri/arcgis-rest-places@1.0.0/dist/bundled/places.umd.js"></script>

    <script>
      /* when including ArcGIS REST JS all exports are available
    from the same arcgisRest global */

    const apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";

    const authentication = arcgisRest.ApiKeyManager.fromKey(apiKey);

    arcgisRest.findPlacesWithinExtent({
        xmin: -115.2, // Coordinates around the Las Vegas Strip
        ymin: 36.09,
        xmax:  -115.1,
        ymax: 36.161,
        searchText: "Night Clubs", // Search for "Night Clubs"
        authentication,
        f:"geojson"
    })
    .then((response) => {
        console.log("Search results:", response.results);
        document.getElementById("result").textContent = JSON.stringify(response.results, null, 2);
    });

    </script>
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The service will return a list of up to 20 nearby places that match the search criteria.

The places service returns a maximum of 20 search results at a time. To find more places that match your query, you can paginate through place results by making additional requests with a formatted URL. To learn more, go to Paginate search results.

Result

Below is the response from the service:

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[
  {
    "place": {
      "placeId": "68cf4e32bd935d54748de24a95629603",
      "location": {
        "x": -115.186432,
        "y": 36.118848
      },
      "categories": [
        {
          "categoryId": "10032",
          "label": "Night Club"
        },
        {
          "categoryId": "13009",
          "label": "Cocktail Bar"
        }
      ],
      "name": "Crown Night Club",
      "parentPlaceId": null
    }
  },
  {
    "place": {
      "placeId": "636406dc6564e4ad662a2fc86ac757ca",
      "location": {
        "x": -115.176537,
        "y": 36.092016
      },
      "categories": [

See full response

What's next?

Learn how to use additional ArcGIS location services in these tutorials:

Find nearby places and details

Find points of interest near a location and get detailed information about them

Find place addresses

Find coffee shops, gas stations, restaurants and other nearby places by accessing the Geocoding service.

Find a route and directions

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