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.

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      const map = L.map("map", {
        minZoom: 2
      })

      map.setView([34.02, -118.805], 13);

      const apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";

      const basemapEnum = "ArcGIS:Streets";

      L.esri.Vector.vectorBasemapLayer(basemapEnum, {
        apiKey: apiKey
      }).addTo(map);

Reference ArcGIS REST JS

Reference the routing and request packages from ArcGIS REST JS.

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    <!-- Load Leaflet from CDN -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/leaflet@1.9.4/dist/leaflet.css" crossorigin="" />
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/leaflet@1.9.4/dist/leaflet.js" crossorigin=""></script>

    <!-- Load Esri Leaflet from CDN -->
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/esri-leaflet@3.0.10/dist/esri-leaflet.js"></script>
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/esri-leaflet-vector@4.0.2/dist/esri-leaflet-vector.js"></script>

    <!-- 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>

Create a REST JS ApiKeyManager using your API key.

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  const apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";

  const basemapEnum = "ArcGIS:Navigation";
  L.esri.Vector.vectorBasemapLayer(basemapEnum, {
      apiKey: apiKey
  }).addTo(map);

  map.zoomControl.setPosition("bottomright");

  const authentication = arcgisRest.ApiKeyManager.fromKey(apiKey);
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Set a category and search area

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;

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Create a click event handler that saves the location of clicks on the map.

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

  let activeCategory = "16000";
  let userLocation;

  map.on('click', function (e) {
      userLocation = e.latlng;

  })

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When a click is registered, create a Circle at the clicked location to represent the area that will be searched. Set the radius to the search radius in meters.

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

  let activeCategory = "16000";
  let userLocation;

  const searchRadius = 750;
  const clickedPoint = L.layerGroup().addTo(map);

  map.on('click', function (e) {
      userLocation = e.latlng;

      clickedPoint.clearLayers();
      L.circle(e.latlng, {
        color:"#000000",
        stroke:true,
        weight:2,
        opacity:0.5,
        fill:true,
        fillOpacity:0.25,
        fillColor:"#aaaaaa",
        radius: searchRadius
      }).addTo(clickedPoint);

  })

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Create another event handler for the Calcite category selector. Update the activeCategory when a new option is selected from the dropdown.

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  map.on('click', function (e) {
      userLocation = e.latlng;

      clickedPoint.clearLayers();
      L.circle(e.latlng, {
        color:"#000000",
        stroke:true,
        weight:2,
        opacity:0.5,
        fill:true,
        fillOpacity:0.25,
        fillColor:"#aaaaaa",
        radius: searchRadius
      }).addTo(clickedPoint);

  })

  categorySelect.addEventListener("calciteComboboxChange", e => {
    console.log(activeCategory)
      activeCategory = categorySelect.value;
      map.closePopup();

  });
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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 => {
    console.log(activeCategory)
      activeCategory = categorySelect.value;
      map.closePopup();

  });

  function showPlaces() {

      arcgisRest.findPlacesNearPoint({
          x: userLocation.lng,
          y: userLocation.lat,
          categoryIds:activeCategory,
          radius:searchRadius,
          authentication
      })

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

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  map.on('click', function (e) {
      userLocation = e.latlng;

      clickedPoint.clearLayers();
      L.circle(e.latlng, {
        color:"#000000",
        stroke:true,
        weight:2,
        opacity:0.5,
        fill:true,
        fillOpacity:0.25,
        fillColor:"#aaaaaa",
        radius: searchRadius
      }).addTo(clickedPoint);

      showPlaces()

  })

  categorySelect.addEventListener("calciteComboboxChange", e => {
    console.log(activeCategory)
      activeCategory = categorySelect.value;
      map.closePopup();

      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.

Create a Leaflet LayerGroup to display results and add it to your map. Clear the contents of the group when a new request is made.

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  const layerGroup = L.layerGroup().addTo(map);

  function showPlaces() {

      layerGroup.clearLayers();
      resultPanel.innerHTML = "";

      arcgisRest.findPlacesNearPoint({
          x: userLocation.lng,
          y: userLocation.lat,
          categoryIds:activeCategory,
          radius:searchRadius,
          authentication
      })

  };
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Access the service response. Create a new addResult function and call it for each search result.

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      arcgisRest.findPlacesNearPoint({
          x: userLocation.lng,
          y: userLocation.lat,
          categoryIds:activeCategory,
          radius:searchRadius,
          authentication
      })

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

              addResult(result);

          });
      });

  };

  function addResult(place) {

  }
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Create a Leaflet Marker at the location of each place. Display the markers in your layer group.

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  function addResult(place) {

      const marker = L.marker([place.location.y, place.location.x], {
        title:place.name
      }).addTo(layerGroup);
      marker.id = place.placeId;

  }
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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.

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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  function addResult(place) {

      const marker = L.marker([place.location.y, place.location.x], {
        title:place.name
      }).addTo(layerGroup);
      marker.id = place.placeId;

      const infoDiv = document.createElement("calcite-list-item");
      resultPanel.appendChild(infoDiv);

      const description = `
          ${place.categories[0].label} -
          ${Number((place.distance / 1000).toFixed(1))} km
      `;

      infoDiv.label = place.name;
      infoDiv.description = description;

  }
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When the HTML element is clicked, display a popup at the associated marker.

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  function addResult(place) {

      const marker = L.marker([place.location.y, place.location.x], {
        title:place.name
      }).addTo(layerGroup);
      marker.id = place.placeId;

      const infoDiv = document.createElement("calcite-list-item");
      resultPanel.appendChild(infoDiv);

      const description = `
          ${place.categories[0].label} -
          ${Number((place.distance / 1000).toFixed(1))} km
      `;

      infoDiv.label = place.name;
      infoDiv.description = description;

      infoDiv.addEventListener("click",e => {
          map.openPopup(place.name,marker.getLatLng(), {
            offset: [0, -25]
          });

      })

  }
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Run the app. Clicking on the map should