Search with autosuggest

Learn how to search for an address with autosuggest using the geocoding service.

Search for addresses with autosuggest using API key authentication

Autosuggest, also known as autocomplete, is a feature that predicts and displays location-based suggestions as a user types into a search box. In this tutorial, you use ArcGIS REST JS to access the geocoding service. You also create an input control to accept text and suggest address results. When a suggestion is selected, a pop-up will appear with the name, location, and address, and the map 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!

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 request and geocoding libraries.

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  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol@v10.6.0/ol.css" type="text/css" />
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol@v10.6.0/dist/ol.js"></script>
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ol-mapbox-style@12.5.0/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" />

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 initialize the map to center on the coordinates [-123.102, 49.234] with a zoom level of 11. This will center the map on Vancouver.

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    const basemapId = "arcgis/navigation";
    const basemapURL = `https://basemapstyles-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/styles/v2/styles/${basemapId}?token=${accessToken}`;

    const map = new ol.Map({ target: "map" });

    map.setView(
      new ol.View({

        center: ol.proj.fromLonLat([-123.102, 49.234]), // Vancouver
        zoom: 11

      })
    );
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Create geocoding controls

Create an HTML <div> containing an <input> for typing an address and a <button> to clear the input. Then, add a <ul> element to display address suggestions as the user types.

In the <body> of your HTML, add a <ul> element with the id suggestions.

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

  <div class="search">
    <input id="geocode-input" type="text" placeholder="Type an address, e.g. 200 Riverside Dr, Vancouver"
      autocomplete="off" />
    <button id="clear-button">&times;</button>
    <ul id="suggestions"></ul>
  </div>

Add styling to the controls.

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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;
      width: 40vw;
    }

    #clear-button {
      position: absolute;
      background: none;
      border: none;
      font-size: 18px;
      color: #666;
      cursor: pointer;
      margin-left: -30px;
      right: 10px;
      top: 5px;
    }

    #geocode-input {
      width: 100%;
      font-size: 16px;
      padding: 4px 2px;
    }

    #suggestions {
      display: none;
      position: absolute;
      left: 0;
      right: 0;
      background: white;
      list-style: none;
      padding: 0;
      margin: 2px 0 0 0;
    }

    #suggestions li {
      padding: 6px 8px;
      border: 1px solid transparent;
      box-sizing: border-box;
    }

    #suggestions li:hover {
      background-color: #f0f0f0;
    }

    #suggestions li.selected {
      border-color: #000;
    }

  </style>

Set up interactivity for the geocoding controls by doing the following:

Handling hover styles.
Enabling keyboard navigation.
Managing suggestion visibility with clear and outside-click actions.

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    const suggestionsList = document.getElementById("suggestions");
    let selectedIndex = -1;

    function updateSelection(items) {
      items.forEach((item, i) => item.classList.toggle("selected", i === selectedIndex));
    }

    input.addEventListener("keydown", (e) => {
      const items = suggestionsList.querySelectorAll("li");

      if (e.key === "ArrowDown") {
        if (selectedIndex < items.length - 1) selectedIndex++;
      } else if (e.key === "ArrowUp") {
        if (selectedIndex > 0) selectedIndex--;
      } else if (e.key === "Enter" && selectedIndex >= 0) {
        items[selectedIndex].click();
      }

      updateSelection(items);
    });

    document.getElementById("clear-button").addEventListener("click", () => {
      input.value = "";
      popup.setPosition(null);
    });

    document.addEventListener("click", (e) => {
      if (!document.querySelector(".search").contains(e.target)) {
        suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
      }
    });
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Get address suggestions

Use the suggest method from the geocoding service to fetch location suggestions as user types.

Add an input event handler to capture text as the user types. Reset the selection index and hide suggestions when the input is empty.

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    input.addEventListener("input", () => {
      selectedIndex = -1;
      const text = input.value;

      if (!text) {
        suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
        return;
      }

    });
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Use the suggest method to fetch location suggestions as the user types, then display them in a list. For each suggestion, create an <li> element, append it to the suggestions list, and make the list visible.

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    input.addEventListener("input", () => {
      selectedIndex = -1;
      const text = input.value;

      if (!text) {
        suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
        return;
      }

      arcgisRest.suggest(text, {
        authentication,
        params: {
          location: {
            x: -123.102,
            y: 49.234,
            spatialReference: { wkid: 4326 }
          },
          maxSuggestions: 5
        }
      }).then((response) => {
        suggestionsList.innerHTML = "";
        if (!response.suggestions || response.suggestions.length === 0) {
          suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
          return;
        }
        response.suggestions.forEach((s) => {
          const li = document.createElement("li");
          li.textContent = s.text;

          suggestionsList.appendChild(li);
        });
        suggestionsList.style.display = "block";
      });

    });
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Call the `geocode` method

When the user selects a suggestion, call the geocode method to get location coordinates.

Get the input field and initialize the popup.

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    const input = document.getElementById("geocode-input");
    const popup = new Popup();
    map.addOverlay(popup);
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Use your access token to authenticate with ArcGIS REST JS and make requests to the geocoding service.

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    const authentication = arcgisRest.ApiKeyManager.fromKey(accessToken);
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Create a function that calls geocode using the magicKey returned by the suggest method. The magicKey helps match partial text input to a complete address. You will use this function in a later step.

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    function performGeocode(magicKey) {
      arcgisRest.geocode({
        magicKey,
        authentication
      }).then((response) => {
        const result = response.candidates[0];
        if (!result) return;

      });
    }
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Add a click handler to each suggestion item to call the performGeocode function with the suggestion's magicKey.

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          li.addEventListener("click", () => {
            input.value = s.text;
            suggestionsList.style.display = "none";
            performGeocode(s.magicKey);
          });
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Show the result

Show the address details with a popup and pan the map to the address.

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    function performGeocode(magicKey) {
      arcgisRest.geocode({
        magicKey,
        authentication
      }).then((response) => {
        const result = response.candidates[0];
        if (!result) return;

        const coords = ol.proj.fromLonLat([result.location.x, result.location.y]);
        popup.show(coords, `<strong>${result.address}</strong><br />${result.location.x.toFixed(4)}, ${result.location.y.toFixed(4)}`);
        map.getView().setCenter(coords);

      });
    }
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Run the app

Run the app.

In the input box, type a partial address and see the suggestions come up. Click on a suggestion and the map will pan to the geocoded address and show a popup with the address details.

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 place addresses

Search for coffee shops, gas stations, restaurants and other nearby places with the Geocoding service.

Find a route and directions

Find a route and directions with the route service.