A Text Search (New) returns information about a set of places based on a string — for example "pizza in New York" or "shoe stores near Ottawa" or "123 Main Street". The service responds with a list of places matching the text string and any location bias that has been set.
The service is especially useful for making ambiguous address queries in an automated system, and non-address components of the string may match businesses as well as addresses. Examples of ambiguous address queries are poorly-formatted addresses or requests that include non-address components such as business names. Requests like the first two examples below may return zero results unless a location - such as region, location restriction, or location bias - is set.
"10 High Street, UK" or "123 Main Street, US" | Multiple "High Street"s in the UK; multiple "Main Street"s in the US. Query will not return desirable results unless a location restriction is set. |
"ChainRestaurant New York" | Multiple "ChainRestaurant" locations in New York; no street address or even street name. |
"10 High Street, Escher UK" or "123 Main Street, Pleasanton US" | Only one "High Street" in the UK city of Escher; only one "Main Street" in the US city of Pleasanton CA. |
"UniqueRestaurantName New York" | Only one establishment with this name in New York; no street address needed to differentiate. |
"pizza restaurants in New York" | This query contains its location restriction, and "pizza restaurants" is a well-defined place type. It returns multiple results. |
The search response includes a list of places. You can send a Place Details request for more information about any of the places in the response.
Get started
To use Text Search, you need a project with a billing account, and the Places API (New) enabled. Take these steps to set up your project:
Enable "Places API (New)" in the Google Cloud Console.
To make requests to the API, you can either:
-
Create a new API key and add an API restriction to restrict your API key to "Places API (New)".
We recommend also adding an application restriction, to restrict your API key to the web server IP addresses you are using.
- Update an existing restricted API key to add Places API (New).
- Create an OAuth 2.0 token for authentication. For more on using OAuth see Use OAuth.
-
Text Search requests
A Text Search request is an HTTP POST request of the following form:
https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText
Pass all parameters in the JSON request body or in headers as part of the POST request. For example:
curl -X POST -d '{ "textQuery" : "Spicy Vegetarian Food in Sydney, Australia" }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY' \ -H 'X-Goog-FieldMask: places.displayName,places.formattedAddress,places.priceLevel' \ 'https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText'
Make a request using Text Search (New)
Places API supports the existing Text Search. If you are familiar with the existing Text Search, the Preview version of Text Search makes the following changes:
- The new Text Search uses HTTP POST requests. Pass parameters in the request body or in headers as part of an HTTP POST request. In contrast, with the existing Text Search, you pass URL parameters using an HTTP GET request.
- Field masking is required. You must specify which fields you want returned in the response. There is no default list of returned fields. If you omit this list, the methods return an error. For more information, see FieldMask header.
- The new Text Search supports both API keys and OAuth tokens as the authentication mechanism.
- Only JSON is supported as a response format in the new Text Search.
The existing Text Search let you specify latitude and longitude coordinates in the query string. For example:
query=37.4239,-122.0925
. That option is not supported in the new Text Search.Use the
locationRestriction
orlocationBias
filter in the Text Search (New) to restrict the search to a certain boundary. Or, use Reverse Geocoding to search on coordinates.Each element of
photo[]
in the response contains the following fields:name
— A string used to identify the photo when you perform a Photo request. This field is namedphoto_reference
in the existing Text Search.heightPx
— The maximum height of the image. This field is namedheight
in the existing Text Search.widthPx
— The maximum width of the image. This field is namedwidth
in the existing Text Search.authorAttributions[]
— Any required attributions. This field is namedhtml_attributions
in the existing Text Search.
The following table lists parameters in the existing Text Search that have been renamed or modified for the new Text Search, or parameters that are no longer supported.
Current parameter | New parameter | Notes |
---|---|---|
language |
languageCode |
|
location |
locationBias |
|
maxprice/minprice |
priceLevels |
|
opennow |
openNow |
|
pagetoken |
Not supported. | |
query |
textQuery |
Required in all requests. |
radius |
locationBias |
|
region |
regionCode |
|
type |
includedType |
Only takes a single value. |
Usage limits
During the Preview release, you are limited to making a maximum of 10 queries per second per project.
Support options for Preview releases
Although Google has no obligation to provide support for Preview versions, features, or functionality of the Services, we'll consider requests at these development stages on a case-by-case basis.
Pre-release versions are not covered by the Google Maps Platform SLA.
Use of fallback mechanisms is recommended, especially if you are using a pre-release version in a production environment. Some example of fallback situations are: quota exceeded, unexpected responses codes and latency, or unexpected responses when compared to the existing Text Search.
You can use the issue tracker to request new features or suggest modifications to existing features. Please describe the specific functionality you would like to see added, as well as reasons you think it's important. If possible, include specific details about your use case and the new opportunities the feature would allow for:
For any other question on features, please send an email to
newplacesapi@google.com
.
Required parameters
-
FieldMask
There is no default list of returned fields. If you omit this field mask, the methods return an error. Specify the field list by creating a response field mask. You then pass the response field mask to each method by using the URL parameter
$fields
orfields
, or by using the HTTP headerX-Goog-FieldMask
.Field masking is a good design practice to ensure that you don't request unnecessary data, which helps to avoid unnecessary processing time and billing charges.
Specify a comma-separated list of place data types to return. For example, to retrieve the display name and the address of the place.
X-Goog-FieldMask: places.displayName,places.formattedAddress
Use
*
to retrieve all fields.X-Goog-FieldMask: *
Specify one or more of the following place data types:
places.id
,places.name
,places.addressComponents
,places.adrFormatAddress
,places.businessStatus
,places.displayName
,places.formattedAddress
,places.googleMapsUri
,places.iconBackgroundColor
,places.iconMaskBaseUri
,places.location
,places.photos
,places.plusCode
,places.types
,places.utcOffsetMinutes
,places.viewport
,places.wheelchairAccessibleEntrance
,places.internationalPhoneNumber
,places.nationalPhoneNumber
,places.openingHours
,places.currentOpeningHours
,places.secondaryOpeningHours
,places.currentSecondaryOpeningHours
,places.websiteUri
places.curbsidePickup
,places.delivery
,places.dineIn
,places.editorialSummary
,places.priceLevel
,places.rating
,places.reservable
,places.reviews
,places.servesBeer
,places.servesBreakfast
,places.servesBrunch
,places.servesDinner
,places.servesLunch
,places.servesVegetarianFood
,places.servesWine
,places.takeout
,places.userRatingCount
-
textQuery
The text string on which to search, for example: "restaurant" or "123 Main Street". This must include a place name, address, or category of establishments. Any other types of input can generate errors and are not guaranteed to return valid results. The API returns candidate matches based on this string and orders the results based on their perceived relevance.
Optional parameters
includedType
Restricts the results to places matching the specified type defined by Table 1. Only one type may be specified. For example
"includedType":"bar"
"includedType":"pharmacy"
languageCode
The language in which to return results.
- See the list of supported languages. Google often updates the supported languages, so this list may not be exhaustive.
-
If
languageCode
is not supplied, the API attempts to use the preferred language as specified in theAccept-Language
header. - The API does its best to provide a street address that is readable for both the user and locals. To achieve that goal, it returns street addresses in the local language, transliterated to a script readable by the user if necessary, observing the preferred language. All other addresses are returned in the preferred language. Address components are all returned in the same language, which is chosen from the first component.
- If a name is not available in the preferred language, the API uses the closest match.
- The preferred language has a small influence on the set of results that the API chooses to return, and the order in which they are returned. The geocoder interprets abbreviations differently depending on language, such as the abbreviations for street types, or synonyms that may be valid in one language but not in another. For example, utca and tér are synonyms for street in Hungarian.
locationBias
Specifies an area to search. This location serves as a bias which means results around the specified location can be returned, including results outside the specified area.
You can specify
locationRestriction
orlocationBias
, but not both. Think oflocationRestriction
as specifying the region which the results must be within, andlocationBias
as specifying the region that the results must be near but can be outside of the area.Specify the region as a rectangular Viewport or as a circle.
A circle is defined by center point and radius in meters. The radius must be between 0.0 and 50000.0, inclusive. For example:
"locationBias": { "circle": { "center": { "latitude": 37.7937, "longitude": -122.3965 }, "radius": 500.0 } }
A rectangle is a latitude-longitude viewport, represented as two diagonally opposite low and high points. A viewport is considered a closed region, meaning it includes its boundary. The latitude bounds must range between -90 to 90 degrees inclusive, and the longitude bounds must range between -180 to 180 degrees inclusive:
- If low = high, the viewport consists of that single point.
- If low.longitude > high.longitude, the longitude range is inverted (the viewport crosses the 180 degree longitude line).
- If low.longitude = -180 degrees and high.longitude = 180 degrees, the viewport includes all longitudes.
- If low.longitude = 180 degrees and high.longitude = -180 degrees, the longitude range is empty.
Both low and high must be populated, and the represented box cannot be empty. An empty viewport results in an error.
For example, this viewport fully encloses New York City:
"locationBias": { "rectangle": { "low": { "latitude": 40.477398, "longitude": -74.259087 }, "high": { "latitude": 40.91618, "longitude": -73.70018 } } }
locationRestriction
Specifies an area to search. Results outside the specified area are not returned. Specify the region as a rectangular Viewport. See the description of
locationBias
for information on defining the Viewport.You can specify
locationRestriction
orlocationBias
, but not both. Think oflocationRestriction
as specifying the region which the results must be within, andlocationBias
as specifying the region that the results must be near but can be outside of the area.minRating
Restricts results to only those whose average user rating is strictly less than this limit. Values must be between 0.0 and 5.0 (inclusive) in increments of 0.5. For example: 0, 0.5, 1.0, ... , 5.0 inclusive. Values are rounded up to the nearest 0.5. For example, a value of 0.6 eliminates all results with a rating less than 1.0.
-
maxResultCount
Specifies the maximum number of place results to return. Must be between 1 and 20 (default) inclusive.
-
priceLevels
Restrict the search to places that are marked at certain price levels. The default is to select all price levels.
Specify an array of one or more of the following values:
PRICE_LEVEL_UNSPECIFIED
: Place price level is unspecified or unknown.PRICE_LEVEL_INEXPENSIVE
PRICE_LEVEL_MODERATE
PRICE_LEVEL_EXPENSIVE
PRICE_LEVEL_VERY_EXPENSIVE
For example:
"priceLevels":["PRICE_LEVEL_INEXPENSIVE", "PRICE_LEVEL_MODERATE"]
openNow
Return only those places that are open for business at the time the query is sent,
true
, or return all businesses,false
. Places that do not specify opening hours in the Google Places database will not be returned if you include this parameter in your query.rankPreference
Specifies how the results are ranked in the response. The API uses
RELEVANCE
by default when applicable. For example, for a query such as "Restaurants in New York City" thenRELEVANCE
is the default. For geographical queries, such as "Mountain View, CA", or other type of queries then no default is applied and the results appear in the order that they are returned by the back end.Values include:
DISTANCE
: Rank results by distance.RELEVANCE
: Rank results by relevance.
regionCode
The region code, specified as a ccTLD ("top-level domain") two-character value. Most ccTLD codes are identical to ISO 3166-1 codes, with some notable exceptions. For example, the United Kingdom's ccTLD is "uk" (.co.uk) while its ISO 3166-1 code is "gb" (technically for the entity of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"). The parameter can affect results based on applicable law.
Text Search examples
Find a place by query string
The following example shows a simple Text Search request for "Spicy Vegetarian Food in Sydney, Australia":
curl -X POST -d '{ "textQuery" : "Spicy Vegetarian Food in Sydney, Australia" }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY' \ -H 'X-Goog-FieldMask: places.displayName,places.formattedAddress' \ 'https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText'
Note that the X-Goog-FieldMask
header specifies that the response
contains the following data fields: places.displayName,places.formattedAddress
.
The response is then in the form:
{ "places": [ { "formattedAddress": "367 Pitt St\nSydney NSW 2000\nAustralia", "displayName": { "text": "Mother Chu's Vegetarian Kitchen", "languageCode": "en" } }, { "formattedAddress": "175 First Ave\nFive Dock NSW 2046\nAustralia", "displayName": { "text": "Veggo Sizzle - Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurant, Five Dock, Sydney", "languageCode": "en" } }, { "formattedAddress": "29 King St\nSydney NSW 2000\nAustralia", "displayName": { "text": "Peace Harmony", "languageCode": "en" } }, ... ] }
Add more data types to the field mask to return additional information.
For example, add places.types,places.websiteUri
to include the
restaurant type and Web address in the response:
curl -X POST -d '{ "textQuery" : "Spicy Vegetarian Food in Sydney, Australia" }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY' \ -H 'X-Goog-FieldMask: places.displayName,places.formattedAddress,places.types,places.websiteUri' \ 'https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText'
The response is now in the form:
{ "places": [ { "types": [ "vegetarian_restaurant", "vegan_restaurant", "chinese_restaurant", "restaurant", "food", "point_of_interest", "establishment" ], "formattedAddress": "367 Pitt St\nSydney NSW 2000\nAustralia", "websiteUri": "http://www.motherchusvegetarian.com.au/", "displayName": { "text": "Mother Chu's Vegetarian Kitchen", "languageCode": "en" } }, { "types": [ "vegan_restaurant", "thai_restaurant", "vegetarian_restaurant", "indian_restaurant", "italian_restaurant", "american_restaurant", "restaurant", "food", "point_of_interest", "establishment" ], "formattedAddress": "175 First Ave\nFive Dock NSW 2046\nAustralia", "websiteUri": "http://www.veggosizzle.com.au/", "displayName": { "text": "Veggo Sizzle - Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurant, Five Dock, Sydney", "languageCode": "en" } }, ... ] }
Filter places by price level
Use the priceLevel
option to filter the results to restaurants
defined as inexpensive or moderately expensive:
curl -X POST -d '{ "textQuery" : "Spicy Vegetarian Food in Sydney, Australia", "priceLevels":["PRICE_LEVEL_INEXPENSIVE", "PRICE_LEVEL_MODERATE"] }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY' \ -H 'X-Goog-FieldMask: places.displayName,places.formattedAddress,places.priceLevel' \ 'https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText'
This example also uses the X-Goog-FieldMask
header to add the
places.priceLevel
data field to the response so it is in the form:
{ "places": [ { "formattedAddress": "367 Pitt St\nSydney NSW 2000\nAustralia", "priceLevel": "PRICE_LEVEL_MODERATE", "displayName": { "text": "Mother Chu's Vegetarian Kitchen", "languageCode": "en" } }, { "formattedAddress": "115 King St\nNewtown NSW 2042\nAustralia", "priceLevel": "PRICE_LEVEL_MODERATE", "displayName": { "text": "Green Mushroom", "languageCode": "en" } }, ... ] }
Add additional options to refine your search, such as includedType
,
minRating
, rankPreference
, openNow
,
and other parameters described in
Optional parameters.
Search for all places in an area
Use locationRestriction
or locationBias
,
but not both, to restrict a search to an area. Think of locationRestriction
as specifying the region which the results must be within, and locationBias
as specifying the region that the results must be near but can be outside of
the area.
The following example shows a Text Search request for "Spicy Vegetarian Food" biased to being within 500 meters of a point in downtown San Francisco. This request only return the first 10 results for places that are open.
curl -X POST -d '{ "textQuery" : "Spicy Vegetarian Food", "openNow": true, "maxResultCount": 10, "locationBias": { "circle": { "center": {"latitude": 37.7937, "longitude": -122.3965}, "radius": 500.0 } }, }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY' \ -H 'X-Goog-FieldMask: places.displayName,places.formattedAddress' \ 'https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText'
Supported types tables
Table 1 lists the types that are supported for Text Search. These are used in the following ways:
- As part of a Text Search request, use as the value of the
includedType
parameter. - As part of a Text Search response. The request must specify
the
places.types
data field.
Table 2 lists additional place type values which
may also be returned as part of a Text Search response. The request
must specify the places.types
data field. Values from Table 2
may NOT be used as includedType
.
Table 1
Automotive | |
---|---|
car_dealer car_rental car_repair car_wash |
electric_vehicle_charging_station gas_station parking rest_stop |
Business | |
farm |
|
Culture | |
art_gallery museum performing_arts_theater
|
|
Education | |
library preschool primary_school
|
school secondary_school university
|
Entertainment and Recreation | |
amusement_center amusement_park aquarium banquet_hall bowling_alley casino community_center convention_center cultural_center dog_park event_venue hiking_area |
historical_landmark marina movie_rental movie_theater national_park night_club park tourist_attraction visitor_center wedding_venue zoo
|
Finance | |
accounting atm bank
|
|
Food and Drink | |
american_restaurant bakery bar barbecue_restaurant brazilian_restaurant breakfast_restaurant brunch_restaurant cafe chinese_restaurant coffee_shop fast_food_restaurant french_restaurant greek_restaurant hamburger_restaurant ice_cream_shop indian_restaurant indonesian_restaurant italian_restaurant japanese_restaurant korean_restaurant
|
lebanese_restaurant meal_delivery meal_takeaway mediterranean_restaurant mexican_restaurant middle_eastern_restaurant pizza_restaurant ramen_restaurant restaurant sandwich_shop seafood_restaurant spanish_restaurant steak_house sushi_restaurant thai_restaurant turkish_restaurant vegan_restaurant vegetarian_restaurant vietnamese_restaurant
|
Geographical Areas | |
administrative_area_level_1 administrative_area_level_2 country
|
locality postal_code school_district |
Government | |
city_hall courthouse embassy fire_station
|
local_government_office police post_office
|
Health and Wellness | |
dental_clinic dentist doctor drugstore hospital
|
medical_lab pharmacy physiotherapist spa
|
Lodging | |
bed_and_breakfast campground camping_cabin cottage extended_stay_hotel farmstay guest_house
|
hostel hotel lodging motel private_guest_room resort_hotel rv_park
|
Places of Worship | |
church hindu_temple mosque synagogue
|
|
Services | |
barber_shop beauty_salon cemetery child_care_agency consultant courier_service electrician florist funeral_home hair_care hair_salon insurance_agency
|
laundry lawyer locksmith moving_company painter plumber real_estate_agency roofing_contractor storage tailor telecommunications_service_provider travel_agency veterinary_care
|
Shopping | |
auto_parts_store bicycle_store book_store cell_phone_store clothing_store convenience_store department_store discount_store electronics_store furniture_store gift_shop grocery_store hardware_store home_goods_store
|
home_improvement_store jewelry_store liquor_store market pet_store shoe_store shopping_mall sporting_goods_store store supermarket wholesaler
|
Sports | |
athletic_field fitness_center golf_course gym playground |
ski_resort sports_club sports_complex stadium swimming_pool
|
Transportation | |
airport bus_station bus_stop ferry_terminal heliport light_rail_station park_and_ride
|
subway_station taxi_stand train_station transit_depot transit_station truck_stop
|
Table 2
The Place type values in Table 2 may be returned as part of a Text Search response.
The request must specify the places.types
data field. These types are NOT supported
as includedType
for Text Search requests.
Additional Place type values | |
---|---|
administrative_area_level_3 administrative_area_level_4 administrative_area_level_5 administrative_area_level_6 administrative_area_level_7 archipelago colloquial_area continent establishment floor food general_contractor geocode health intersection landmark natural_feature neighborhood place_of_worship plus_code
|
point_of_interest political post_box postal_code_prefix postal_code_suffix postal_town premise room route street_address street_number sublocality sublocality_level_1 sublocality_level_2 sublocality_level_3 sublocality_level_4 sublocality_level_5 subpremise town_square
|