Search for an address

Learn how to find an address or place using a search box and the geocoding service.

Find the location of addresses with the geocoding service.

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

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

Steps

Create a new pen

To get started, either complete the Display a map tutorial or .

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 apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";
const basemapId = "arcgis/streets";
const basemapURL = `https://basemapstyles-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/styles/v2/styles/${basemapId}?token=${apiKey}`;
olms.apply(map, basemapURL);

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
        })
      );

      const apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";

      const basemapId = "arcgis/navigation";

      const basemapURL = `https://basemapstyles-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/styles/v2/styles/${basemapId}?token=${apiKey}`;
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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@v8.2.0/ol.css" type="text/css" />
    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol@v8.2.0/dist/ol.js"></script>
    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol-mapbox-style@10.6.0/dist/olms.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

    <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-geocoding@4.0.0/dist/bundled/geocoding.umd.js"></script>

    <script src="https://unpkg.com/ol-popup@5.1.0/dist/ol-popup.js"></script>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/ol-popup@5.1.0/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 basemapURL = `https://basemapstyles-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/styles/v2/styles/${basemapId}?token=${apiKey}`;

      olms.apply(map, basemapURL);

      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(apiKey);

        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 stiring.

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

In CodePen, run your code to display the map.

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.

OpenLayers

Search for an address

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