Place Search
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European Economic Area (EEA) developers
The Places API lets you search for place information
using a variety of categories, including establishments, prominent points of
interest, and geographic locations. You can search for places either by
proximity or a text string. A Place Search returns a list of places along with
summary information about each place; additional information is available using
a Place Details (Legacy) query.
Compare search types
There are three search endpoints available with different characteristics. The following table
highlights some of these differences.
Field selection
There is no way to constrain Nearby Search (Legacy) or Text Search (Legacy) to only return specific fields. To
keep from requesting (and paying for) data that you don't need, use a Find Place (Legacy) request instead.
Ambiguous text
Find Place (Legacy) and Text Search (Legacy) are optimized for matching ambiguous text across a number of fields
while Nearby Search (Legacy) is constrained to strict matches on a subset of fields.
Additional filters
Nearby Search (Legacy) and Text Search (Legacy) allow additional parameters to filter results,
(e.g. minprice, maxprice, opennow, and type).
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Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC.
[null,null,["Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Place Search\n\n**European Economic Area (EEA) developers** If your billing address is in the European Economic Area, effective on 8 July 2025, the [Google Maps Platform EEA Terms of Service](https://cloud.google.com/terms/maps-platform/eea) will apply to your use of the Services. Functionality varies by region. [Learn more](/maps/comms/eea/faq).\n**Note: Server-side\nand client-side libraries**\n\nThe Places API is also available with the\n[Java Client,\nPython Client, Go Client and Node.js Client for Google Maps Services](/maps/documentation/places/web-service/client-library).\nThe Places API and the client libraries are for\nuse in server applications.\n\nIf you're building a client-side\napplication, take a look at the\n[Places SDK for Android (New)](/maps/documentation/places/android-sdk), the\n[Places SDK for iOS (New)](/maps/documentation/places/ios-sdk), and the\n[Places Library, Maps JavaScript API](/maps/documentation/javascript/places).\n\nThe Places API lets you search for place information\nusing a variety of categories, including establishments, prominent points of\ninterest, and geographic locations. You can search for places either by\nproximity or a text string. A Place Search returns a list of places along with\nsummary information about each place; additional information is available using\na [Place Details (Legacy)](/maps/documentation/places/web-service/details) query.\n\nCompare search types\n--------------------\n\nThere are three search endpoints available with different characteristics. The following table\nhighlights some of these differences.\n\n| Type | [Field selection](#field-selection) | Text Search (Legacy) | [Ambiguous text](#ambiguous-text) | Location filter | [Additional filters](#additional-filters) |\n|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|----------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------|-------------------------------------------|\n| [Find Place (Legacy)](/maps/documentation/places/web-service/legacy/search-find-place) | | `input` | | | |\n| [Nearby Search (Legacy)](/maps/documentation/places/web-service/legacy/search-nearby) | | `keyword` | | | |\n| [Text Search (Legacy)](/maps/documentation/places/web-service/legacy/search-text) | | `query` | | | |\n\n### Field selection\n\nThere is no way to constrain Nearby Search (Legacy) or Text Search (Legacy) to only return specific fields. To\nkeep from requesting (and paying for) data that you don't need, use a Find Place (Legacy) request instead.\n\n### Ambiguous text\n\nFind Place (Legacy) and Text Search (Legacy) are optimized for matching ambiguous text across a number of fields\nwhile Nearby Search (Legacy) is constrained to strict matches on a subset of fields.\n\n### Additional filters\n\nNearby Search (Legacy) and Text Search (Legacy) allow additional parameters to filter results,\n(e.g. `minprice`, `maxprice`, `opennow`, and `type`)."]]
