Address descriptors return additional information to the standard reverse geocoding response that help describe the latitude and longitude coordinates by using landmarks and areas. Check out the address descriptors demo to explore the API.
Reverse geocoding requests - Additional parameters
Optional parameters
These are the optional parameters that you can include in a reverse geocoding request:
enable_address_descriptor— A boolean parameter to include with the reverse geocoding request to add the address descriptor to the standard reverse geocoding response.
Example of reverse geocoding
The following query contains the latitude/longitude value for a location in Delhi:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=28.640964,77.235875&key=YOUR_API_KEY&enable_address_descriptor=true
Response
The above query returns an additional address_descriptor as follows:
{
"address_descriptor" : {
"areas" : [
{
"containment" : "OUTSKIRTS",
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "Turkman Gate"
},
"place_id" : "ChIJ_7LLvyb9DDkRMKKxP9YyXgs"
},
{
"containment" : "OUTSKIRTS",
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "Chandni Chowk"
},
"place_id" : "ChIJWcXciBr9DDkRUb4dCDykTwI"
},
{
"containment" : "NEAR",
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "Katar Ganj"
},
"place_id" : "ChIJH3cWUyH9DDkRaw-9CjvcRvY"
}
],
"landmarks" : [
{
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "Delite Cinema"
},
"straight_line_distance_meters" : 29.9306755065918,
"place_id" : "ChIJLfiYDCT9DDkROoEa7NdupUM",
"travel_distance_meters" : 418.7794799804688,
"spatial_relationship" : "ACROSS_THE_ROAD",
"types" : [ "establishment", "movie_theater", "point_of_interest" ]
},
{
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "YES Bank"
},
"straight_line_distance_meters" : 66.83731079101562,
"place_id" : "ChIJFYHM3yb9DDkRRKGkZl2mpSQ",
"travel_distance_meters" : 489.0340270996094,
"spatial_relationship" : "DOWN_THE_ROAD",
"types" : [ "bank", "establishment", "finance", "point_of_interest" ]
},
{
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "UCO Bank"
},
"straight_line_distance_meters" : 25.38849639892578,
"place_id" : "ChIJ-c6_wCb9DDkRjIk1LeqRtGM",
"travel_distance_meters" : 403.2246398925781,
"spatial_relationship" : "ACROSS_THE_ROAD",
"types" : [ "atm", "bank", "establishment", "finance", "point_of_interest" ]
},
{
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "Delhi By Cycle Meeting Point"
},
"straight_line_distance_meters" : 44.02867126464844,
"place_id" : "ChIJNxVfkSb9DDkRJD22l-eGFdM",
"travel_distance_meters" : 97.41281890869141,
"spatial_relationship" : "AROUND_THE_CORNER",
"types" : [
"establishment",
"point_of_interest",
"tourist_attraction",
"travel_agency"
]
},
{
"display_name" : {
"language_code" : "en",
"text" : "Axis Bank Branch"
},
"straight_line_distance_meters" : 102.3495178222656,
"place_id" : "ChIJr3uaDCT9DDkR8roHTVSn1x4",
"travel_distance_meters" : 330.8566284179688,
"spatial_relationship" : "DOWN_THE_ROAD",
"types" : [ "bank", "establishment", "finance", "point_of_interest" ]
}
]
},
... Results (reverse geocoding response) ...
There are two arrays in each address_descriptor object: landmarks and
areas. The landmarks array contains up to 5 results ranked in order of
relevance by taking account of proximity to the requested coordinate, the
prevalence of the landmark and its visibility. Each landmark result contains the
following values:
place_idis the place ID of the landmarks result. See the place ID overview.display_nameis the display name of the landmark and containslanguage_codeandtext.straight_line_distance_metersis the point to point distance in meters between the input coordinate and the landmarks result.travel_distance_metersis the distance in meters as traveled via the road network (ignoring road restrictions) between the input coordinate and the landmarks result.spatial_relationshipis the estimated relationship between the input coordinate and the landmarks result:"NEAR"is the default relationship when none of the following applies."WITHIN"when the input coordinate is contained within the bounds of the structure associated with the landmark."BESIDE"when the input coordinate is directly adjacent to the landmark or landmark's access point."ACROSS_THE_ROAD"when the input coordinate is directly opposite of the landmark on the other side of the route."DOWN_THE_ROAD"when the input coordinate is along the same route as the landmark, but not"BESIDES"or"ACROSS_THE_ROAD"."AROUND_THE_CORNER"when the input coordinate is along a perpendicular route as the landmark (restricted to a single turn)."BEHIND"when the input coordinate is spatially close to the landmark, but far from its access point.typesare the Place types of the landmark.
The areas object contains up to 3 responses and limits itself to places that
represent small regions, such as neighborhoods, sublocalities, and large
complexes. Areas that contain the requested coordinate are listed first and
ordered from smallest to largest. Each areas result contains the following
values:
place_idis the place ID of the areas result. See the place ID overview.display_nameis the display name of the area and containslanguage_codeandtext.containmentis the estimated containment relationship between the input coordinate and the areas result:"NEAR"is the default relationship when none of the following applies."WITHIN"when the input coordinate is close to the center of the area."OUTSKIRTS"when the input coordinate is close to the edge of the area.
Coverage
This feature is only available in select countries.
Feedback
This is an experimental feature and we would appreciate feedback. Please email us at address-descriptors-feedback@google.com.