Search for an address

Learn how to find an address.

Find the location of addresses with the geocoding service using API key authentication

Geocoding is the process of converting address or place text to a location. The geocoding service provides address and place geocoding and reverse geocoding.

In this tutorial, you use ArcGIS REST JS to access the geocoding service. You use a simple input control to accept text and a button to execute a search for an address or place. When an address or place is located, a pop-up will appear with the name, location, and address, and the view 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.

You can choose one of the following to create a new CodePen:

Option 1: Complete the Display a map tutorial; or,
Option 2: Start from the Display a map tutorial .

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 > Basemaps
  - 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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    /* Use for API key authentication */
    const accessToken = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";
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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 session = await arcgisRest.ArcGISIdentityManager.beginOAuth2({
        clientId,
        redirectUri,
        portal: "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest" // Your portal URL
    })

    const accessToken = session.token;

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!

Update the map

A navigation basemap layer is typically used in geocoding and routing applications. Update the basemap layer to use arcgis/navigation.

Update the basemap and the map initialization to center on location [151.2093, -33.8688], Sydney.

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    map.setView(
      new ol.View({

        center: ol.proj.fromLonLat([151.2093, -33.8688]), // Sydney

        zoom: 13
      })
    );
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Add references to ArcGIS REST JS

This tutorial uses ArcGIS REST JS for geocoding. It also uses the ol-popup library to display pop-ups.

In the <head> element, add references to the ArcGIS REST JS and ol-popup libraries.

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  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol@v10.4.0/ol.css" type="text/css" />
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol@v10.4.0/dist/ol.js"></script>
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol-mapbox-style@12.3.5/dist/olms.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

  <script src="https://unpkg.com/@esri/arcgis-rest-request@4/dist/bundled/request.umd.js"></script>
  <script
    src="https://unpkg.com/@esri/arcgis-rest-geocoding@4/dist/bundled/geocoding.umd.js"></script>

  <script src="https://unpkg.com/ol-popup@5.1.1/dist/ol-popup.js"></script>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/ol-popup@5.1.1/src/ol-popup.css" />
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Create geocoder controls

Use an HTML <input> control to type an address into, and a <button> control to initiate the query. Wrap them in a <div>.

In the <body> section, add a div, with a text input control and a button inside.

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<body>

  <div id="map"></div>

  <div class="search">
    <input id="geocode-input" type="text" placeholder="Enter an address or place e.g. 1 York St" size="50" />
    <button id="geocode-button">Geocode</button>
  </div>
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In the <style> section, style the div with absolute position in the top right corner of the map.

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  <style>
    html,
    body,
    #map {
      padding: 0;
      margin: 0;
      height: 100%;
      width: 100%;
      font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
      font-size: 14px;
      color: #323232;
    }


    .search {
      position: absolute;
      top: 20px;
      right: 20px;
    }

    #geocode-input,
    #geocode-button {
      font-size: 16px;
      margin: 0 2px 0 0;
      padding: 4px 8px;
    }

    #geocode-input {
      width: 300px;
    }

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Add a pop-up

You create a Popup to display the found address at its geocoded location. It is a type of Overlay so you add it to the map with map.addOverlay.

For a complete pop-up tutorial, go to Display a pop-up.

After the map initialization code, create a Popup and save it to a popup variable. Add it to the map with map.addOverlay.

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    const popup = new Popup();
    map.addOverlay(popup);
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Call the geocoding service

When you click the button, call arcgisRest.geocode with the value of the search query. This uses the findAddressCandidates operation from the geocoding service to return a number of possible address candidates for your query.

For more control over geocoding, you can pass an IGeocodeOptions instead of a simple string.

Attach a click event handler to the button.

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    const popup = new Popup();
    map.addOverlay(popup);

    document.getElementById("geocode-button").addEventListener("click", () => {

    });
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Inside the click handler, create a new arcgisRest.ApiKeyManager to access the geocoding service. Call arcgisRest.geocode with the user's search query. Set the params to include the center of the map and set outFields to * to return all fields.

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    document.getElementById("geocode-button").addEventListener("click", () => {

      const query = document.getElementById("geocode-input").value;

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

      const center = ol.proj.transform(map.getView().getCenter(), "EPSG:3857", "EPSG:4326");

      arcgisRest
        .geocode({
          singleLine: query,
          authentication,

          params: {
            outFields: "*",
            location: center.join(","),
            outSR: 3857 // Request coordinates in Web Mercator to simplify displaying
          }
        })
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Show the result

If the query is successful, the candidates property will contain at least one value. To display a pop-up at the location, you use the popup.show method. This sets the pop-up location, and updates its content with an HTML string.

Add a response handler. Inside, check that candidates contains at least one value. Use the location property to calculate and store coordinates as an array.

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          params: {
            outFields: "*",
            location: center.join(","),
            outSR: 3857 // Request coordinates in Web Mercator to simplify displaying
          }
        })

        .then((response) => {
          const result = response.candidates[0];
          if (!result === 0) {
            alert("That query didn't match any geocoding results.");
            return;
          }

          const coords = [result.location.x, result.location.y];

        })
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Call popup.show to position the pop-up at the geocoded location. Pass the result's LongLabel attribute to display the full address as the pop-up's HTML content. Call map.setCenter to center the map at the result.

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          const coords = [result.location.x, result.location.y];

          popup.show(coords, result.attributes.LongLabel);
          map.getView().setCenter(coords);
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Handle errors

It is good practice to handle situations where there is a problem accessing the service. This could happen due to network disruption or a problem with your API key, for instance.

Check for issues accessing the geocoding service and alert the user.

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          popup.show(coords, result.attributes.LongLabel);
          map.getView().setCenter(coords);

        })

        .catch((error) => {
          alert("There was a problem using the geocoder. See the console for details.");
          console.error(error);
        });
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Run the app

Run the app.

In the input box, type "1 Lyon St." or "Starbucks" and then click the Geocode button to find it's location. If a location is found, the map will zoom to it and display a pop-up with the address.

What's next?

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

Reverse geocode

Find an address near a location with the Geocoding service.

Find service areas

Calculate the area that can be reached in a given driving time from a location.

Find a route and directions

Find a route and directions with the route service.