Reverse geocoding

What is reverse geocoding?

Reverse geocoding is the process of converting a point to an address or place. For example, you can convert -79.3871 longitude and 43.6426 latitude to "CN Tower, 301 Front St W, Toronto, Ontario, M5V, CAN".

You can use reverse geocoding to:

• Get the nearest address to your current location.
• Show an address or place name when you tap on a map.
• Find the address for a geographic location.

How reverse geocoding works

You can find an address for a location by making an HTTPS request to the geocoding service reverseGeocode operation or by using client APIs. Specify the location and optionally, additional parameters to enhance the search.

To refine the search, you can specify a feature type to return a specific type of address such as only POIs or addresses. You can also specify whether to return a street address or rooftop location.

The geocoding service uses the location and all parameters to return a single address that is the closest match. This address contains a number of attributes such as the place name, full address, city, region, and location.

If there are no streets near the input location, then large areal features such as parks, universities, zoos, or airports may be returned.

URL request

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https://geocode-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/World/GeocodeServer/reverseGeocode?location={point}&f=json&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>

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https://geocode.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/World/GeocodeServer/reverseGeocode?location={point}&f=json&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>

Required parameters

Key parameters

Additional parameters: Refine the search and enhance the return values by using parameters such as featureTypes, locationType, and returnIntersection. Use langCode to return results in a specific language.

Code examples

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        const geocodingServiceUrl = "https://geocode-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/World/GeocodeServer" ;

        const params = {
          location: pt
        };

        locator.locationToAddress(geocodingServiceUrl, params).then(
          (response) => {
            if (response) {
              showPopup(response);
            }
          },
          (err) => {
            showPopup("No address found.", pt);
          }
        );

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curl https://geocode-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/World/GeocodeServer/reverseGeocode \
-d 'f=pjson' \
-d 'location=-79.3871,43.6426' \
-d 'token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>'

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{
  "address": {
    "Match_addr": "CN Tower",
    "LongLabel": "CN Tower, 301 Front St W, Toronto, Ontario, M5V, CAN",
    "ShortLabel": "CN Tower",
    "Addr_type": "POI",
    "Type": "Tourist Attraction",
    "PlaceName": "CN Tower",
    "AddNum": "301",
    "Address": "301 Front St W",
    "Block": "",
    "Sector": "",
    "Neighborhood": "Waterfront Communities-the Island",

Tutorials

Search for an address

Convert an address or place to a location with the geocoding service.

JavaScript Kotlin.NETJava Qt Esri Leaflet MapLibre OpenLayers CesiumJS ArcGIS REST JS REST 

Reverse geocode

Get an address, business, or place from coordinates with the geocoding service.

JavaScript Esri Leaflet MapLibre OpenLayers CesiumJS REST 

Find place addresses

Find an address, business, or place with the geocoding service.

JavaScript Esri Leaflet MapLibre OpenLayers CesiumJS ArcGIS REST JS REST 

Display your location

Find and track your device location on a map.

JavaScript .NET Kotlin Swift Java Qt 

Services

API support

Tools