Find nearby places and details

Learn how to find places around a location with a keyword search, then get detailed place information.

A nearby search finds places within a given radius of a location using the places service. The location typically represents a point on a map or the geolocation of a device.

To perform a nearby search, you use the places package from ArcGIS REST JS. With the results of the search, you can make another request to the service and return place attributes including the name, categories, ratings, and store hours.

In this tutorial, you use ArcGIS REST JS to perform a nearby search to find points of interest and return all available attributes associated with a place. The tutorial includes starter code that uses Calcite components to create a basic search interface.

Prerequisites

Steps

Get the starter code

To get started, . It contains the Calcite Components necessary to create this application, as well as an initial Leaflet map.

Set the 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. Update cesiumAccessToken to use your Cesium ion access token.

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      const apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";

      Cesium.ArcGisMapService.defaultAccessToken = apiKey;

      const cesiumAccessToken = "YOUR_CESIUM_ACCESS_TOKEN";

      Cesium.Ion.defaultAccessToken = cesiumAccessToken;

      const arcGisImagery = Cesium.ArcGisMapServerImageryProvider.fromBasemapType(Cesium.ArcGisBaseMapType.SATELLITE);

      const viewer = new Cesium.Viewer("cesiumContainer", {

        baseLayer: Cesium.ImageryLayer.fromProviderAsync(arcGisImagery),

      });

Reference ArcGIS REST JS

Reference the places and request packages from ArcGIS REST JS.

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    <!-- Load Cesium from CDN -->
    <script src="https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.105/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js"></script>
    <link href="https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.105/Build/Cesium/Widgets/widgets.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <!-- Calcite components -->
    <script type="module" src="https://js.arcgis.com/calcite-components/1.0.5/calcite.esm.js"></script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://js.arcgis.com/calcite-components/1.0.5/calcite.css" />

    <!-- ArcGIS REST JS: request and places -->
    <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 src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@turf/turf@6/turf.min.js"></script>

Create a REST JS ApiKeyManager using your API key.

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    viewer.camera.setView({
        destination : Cesium.Cartesian3.fromDegrees(-118.46651, 33.96621, 3000),
        orientation : {
            heading : Cesium.Math.toRadians(0.0),
            pitch : Cesium.Math.toRadians(-70.0),
        }
    });

    const authentication = arcgisRest.ApiKeyManager.fromKey(apiKey);
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Set the search category

To perform a place search, you typically need a category ID. Each category ID corresponds to a unique category of place, such as "Chinese Restaurants" (13099) or "Sports and Recreation" (18000). A Calcite category selector is included in the . It includes the default top-level categories as selectable options.

Declare global variables to track the active place category and clicked location. Set the active category to 16000, which corresponds to the Landmarks and Outdoors category of places.

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

    let activeCategory = "16000";
    let userLocation, clickedPoint;

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Create an event handler that updates the activeCategory when a new category is selected from the dropdown.

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    let activeCategory = "16000";
    let userLocation, clickedPoint;

    categorySelect.addEventListener("calciteComboboxChange", e => {
        activeCategory = categorySelect.value;

    });
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Set the search area

A nearby search is defined by a user location and a radius. The places service will search for points of interest near the provided location within the search radius. Add a click handler to set the user location, then draw a circle around that point to represent the search radius.

Add a reference to Turf.js, which will be used to visualize the search extent.

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    <!-- Load Cesium from CDN -->
    <script src="https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.105/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js"></script>
    <link href="https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.105/Build/Cesium/Widgets/widgets.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <!-- Calcite components -->
    <script type="module" src="https://js.arcgis.com/calcite-components/1.0.5/calcite.esm.js"></script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://js.arcgis.com/calcite-components/1.0.5/calcite.css" />

    <!-- ArcGIS REST JS: request and places -->
    <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 src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@turf/turf@6/turf.min.js"></script>

Create a click event handler that saves the location of clicks on the map. Add a searchRadius variable to represent a radius of 750 meters.

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    let activeCategory = "16000";
    let userLocation, clickedPoint;

    const searchRadius = 750;

    viewer.screenSpaceEventHandler.setInputAction(movement => {
        const pickedPosition = viewer.scene.pickPosition(movement.position);
        const latlngRadians = Cesium.Cartographic.fromCartesian(pickedPosition);
        userLocation = [Cesium.Math.toDegrees(latlngRadians.longitude),Cesium.Math.toDegrees(latlngRadians.latitude)]

    }, Cesium.ScreenSpaceEventType.LEFT_CLICK)

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Create a Turf.js circle centered around the clicked location. Add the circle to your viewer as a GeoJsonDataSource.

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    viewer.screenSpaceEventHandler.setInputAction(movement => {
        const pickedPosition = viewer.scene.pickPosition(movement.position);
        const latlngRadians = Cesium.Cartographic.fromCartesian(pickedPosition);
        userLocation = [Cesium.Math.toDegrees(latlngRadians.longitude),Cesium.Math.toDegrees(latlngRadians.latitude)]

        viewer.dataSources.removeAll();
        const searchArea = turf.circle(userLocation, searchRadius, {
            steps:36,
            units:"meters"
        });
        Cesium.GeoJsonDataSource.load(searchArea, {
            fill:new Cesium.Color(1,1,1,0.7),
            clampToGround:true
        }).then(data => {
            viewer.dataSources.add(data);
        });

    }, Cesium.ScreenSpaceEventType.LEFT_CLICK)
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Find places near a point

Once a location and category have been set, make a request to the places service to find places near a point.

Define a new function showPlaces. Use the ArcGIS REST JS findPlacesNearPoint function to submit a request to the places service. Pass the searchRadius, userLocation, and activeCategory, as well as your authentication object.

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    categorySelect.addEventListener("calciteComboboxChange", e => {
        activeCategory = categorySelect.value;

    });

    function showPlaces() {

        arcgisRest.findPlacesNearPoint({
            x: userLocation[0],
            y: userLocation[1],
            categoryIds:activeCategory,
            radius:searchRadius,
            authentication
        })

    };
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Call the showPlaces function inside both of the event handlers.

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    viewer.screenSpaceEventHandler.setInputAction(movement => {
        const pickedPosition = viewer.scene.pickPosition(movement.position);
        const latlngRadians = Cesium.Cartographic.fromCartesian(pickedPosition);
        userLocation = [Cesium.Math.toDegrees(latlngRadians.longitude),Cesium.Math.toDegrees(latlngRadians.latitude)]

        viewer.dataSources.removeAll();
        const searchArea = turf.circle(userLocation, searchRadius, {
            steps:36,
            units:"meters"
        });
        Cesium.GeoJsonDataSource.load(searchArea, {
            fill:new Cesium.Color(1,1,1,0.7),
            clampToGround:true
        }).then(data => {
            viewer.dataSources.add(data);
        });

        showPlaces();

    }, Cesium.ScreenSpaceEventType.LEFT_CLICK)

    categorySelect.addEventListener("calciteComboboxChange", e => {
        activeCategory = categorySelect.value;

        if (userLocation) showPlaces();

    });
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Display results on the map

The places service will return a list of places near your location that match the specified category. Display these results as points on your map.

Access the service response. For each result, add a Cesium Entity to your viewer.

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        arcgisRest.findPlacesNearPoint({
            x: userLocation[0],
            y: userLocation[1],
            categoryIds:activeCategory,
            radius:searchRadius,
            authentication
        })

        .then((response)=>{
            response.results.forEach((result)=>{

                addResult(result);

            });
        });

    };

    function addResult(place) {
        const marker = new Cesium.Entity({
            name: place.name,
            id: place.placeId,
            position: Cesium.Cartesian3.fromDegrees(place.location.x,place.location.y),

        })
        viewer.entities.add(marker)

    }
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Add a billboard to each result entity. Use a PinBuilder to style the billboard icon.

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    function addResult(place) {
        const marker = new Cesium.Entity({
            name: place.name,
            id: place.placeId,
            position: Cesium.Cartesian3.fromDegrees(place.location.x,place.location.y),

            billboard: {
                verticalOrigin: Cesium.VerticalOrigin.BOTTOM,
                heightReference: Cesium.HeightReference.CLAMP_TO_GROUND,

                image: pinBuilder.fromColor(Cesium.Color.ROYALBLUE,48).toDataURL(),

            }

        })
        viewer.entities.add(marker)

    }
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Clear the current entities in the scene when a new request is made.

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    function showPlaces() {

        viewer.entities.removeAll();
        resultPanel.innerHTML = "";

        arcgisRest.findPlacesNearPoint({
            x: userLocation[0],
            y: userLocation[1],
            categoryIds:activeCategory,
            radius:searchRadius,
            authentication
        })

        .then((response)=>{
            response.results.forEach((result)=>{

                addResult(result);

            });
        });

    };
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Display results in a list

To show more information about each place, you will also display place results as an element in a Calcite list. The template for this list is included in the starter code. Each element in the list should display a place name, category, and distance from the clicked location.

Create a new calcite-list-item element to display place information. Set the item properties to display the place name, category, and distance from the user's click. Add the element to the list of results.
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