/categories

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Return the name and category ID of all categories, or categories which satisfy a filter.

A category describes a type of place, such as "movie theater" or "zoo". The places service has over 1,000 categories (or types) of place. The categories fall into ten general groups: Arts and Entertainment, Business and Professional Services, Community and Government, Dining and Drinking, Events, Health and Medicine, Landmarks and Outdoors, Retail, Sports and Recreation, and Travel and Transportation.

The categories are organized into a hierarchical system where a general category contains many more detailed variations on the parent category. For example: "Travel and Transportation" (Level 1), "Transport Hub" (Level 2), "Airport" (Level 3) and "Airport Terminal" (Level 4). The hierarchy has up to 5 levels of categories.

The table below shows the top-level of categories, along with a selection of level two categories.

The /categories endpoint fetches the latest set of place categories. The request returns all categories including their label and categoryId. You should use this endpoint to fetch the latest set of categories when your app starts up. Each category contains an unique ID that you can use to perform a near-point or within-extent search.

You can also reduce the list to a subset of categories using the filter parameter. For example, searching for "coffee" would return categories including:

  • "Coffee Shop"

  • "Coffee Roaster"

  • "Turkish Coffeehouse"

Category LabelCategory IDLevel 2
Arts and Entertainment10000Amusement Park (10001), Art Gallery (10004), Casino (10008), Exhibit (10016), Movie Theater (10024), Museum (10027), Stadium (10051), Water Park (10055), Zoo (10056), ...
Business and Professional Services11000Construction (11028), Convention Center (11029), Food and Beverage Service (11056), Health and Beauty Service (11061), Industrial Estate (11106), Office (11124), ...
Community and Government12000Education (12009), Organization (12082), Government Building (12064), Community Center (12004), Library (12080), Utility Company (12115), ...
Dining and Drinking13000Bakery (13002), Bar (13003), Cafe, Coffee, and Tea House (13032), Restaurant (13065, ...
Event14000Conference (14001), Convention (14002), Entertainment Event (14003), Marketplace (14009), ...
Health and Medicine15000Dentist (15007), Emergency Service (15008), Hospital (15014), Medical Center (15016), Optometrist (15024), Physician (15027), Veterinarian (15054), ...
Landmarks and Outdoors16000Beach (16003), Structure (16007), Campground (16008), Harbor or Marina (16018), Historic and Protected Site (16020), Monument (16026), Nature Preserve (16028), Park (16032), ...
Retail17000Arts and Crafts Store (17003), Bookstore (17018), Convenience Store (17029), Department Store (17033)
Sports and Recreation18000Athletic Field (18001), Baseball (18002), Basketball (18006), Football (18013), Golf (18016), Gym and Studio (18021), ...
Travel and Transportation19000Bike Rental (19002), Cruise (19005), Electric Vehicle Charging Station (19006), Fuel Station (19007), Lodging (19009), Transport Hub (19030), ...

Note: Category details are subject to change as new types of places are introduced.

Note: Query parameters are case-sensitive.

Query parameters

NameTypeRequiredDefault valueDescription

string

A text filter that will be used for searching categories.

string

json

The requested response format - either json or pjson (pretty json).

string

The authentication token with the premium:user:places privilege, used to access the Places service.

filter

A text filter that will be used for searching categories.

The text must be at least three characters and will be applied as a partial match. For example, using the filter "off" would return categories using the word "Office" as well as those using the word "Coffee".

f

The requested response format - either json or pjson (pretty json).

Default
json
Enumerated values
json
Click to copy
pjson
Click to copy

token

The authentication token with the premium:user:places privilege, used to access the Places service.

The token parameter can be either an API Key or short-lived token. See ArcGIS security documentation for more information on authenticating with a token or API key.

Alternatively, you can supply a token in the request header with one of the following keys using the "Bearer" scheme:

  • Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>
  • X-Esri-Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>

Examples

Request

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# You can also use wget
curl -X GET https://places-api.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/places-service/v1/categories \
  -H 'Accept: application/json'

Response

200 Response

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{
  "categories": [
    {
      "categoryId": "17119",
      "fullLabel": [
        [
          "Retail",
          "Sporting Goods Retail",
          "Bicycle Store"
        ]
      ],
      "parents": [
        [
          "17117"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ]
}
StatusMeaningDescriptionSchema

200

OK

Details of categories that a Place can belong to.

Inline

400

Bad Request

Invalid query parameters.

Error

401

Unauthorized

Authentication Error. The API key or token is missing, invalid or expired.

Error

403

Forbidden

The required parameter 'token' is valid but does not have permission to access the service.

Error

5XX

Unknown

An error occurred on the server.

Error

Response details

Status Code 200

NameTypeRequiredRestrictionsDescription

categories

none

Provides details about a category or type of place.

Categories are hierarchical so that you can filter places based on specific categories such as "Provençal Restaurant", or with more generic types such as "Restaurant". A category such as "Provençal Restaurant" includes the details of its more generic parent, such as "French Restaurant".

categoryId

none

A unique identifying string for a category.

This matches the categoryId of a place's category property.

fullLabel

[string]

none

The full list of labels that describe the category, including its more generic parent categories.

parents

[string]

none

The list of parent category Ids for this category.

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