The Autocomplete (New) service is a web service that returns place predictions and query predictions in response to an HTTP request. In the request, specify a text search string and geographic bounds that controls the search area.
The Autocomplete (New) service can match on full words and substrings of the input, resolving place names, addresses, and plus codes. Applications can therefore send queries as the user types, to provide on-the-fly place and query predictions.
The response from the Autocomplete (New) API can contain two types of predictions:
- Place predictions: Places, such as businesses, addresses and points of interest, based on the specified input text string and search area. Place predictions are returned by default.
- Query predictions: Query strings matching the input text string and
search area. Query predictions are not returned by default. Use the
includeQueryPredictions
request parameter to add query predictions to the response.
For example, you call the API using as input a string that contains a partial user input, "Sicilian piz", with the search area limited to San Francisco, CA. The response then contains a list of place predictions that match the search string and search area, such as the restaurant named "Sicilian Pizza Kitchen", along with details about the place.
The returned place predictions are designed to be presented to the user to aid them in selecting the desired place. You can make a Place Details (New) request to get more information about any of the returned place predictions.
The response can also contain a list of query predictions that match the
search string and search area, such as "Sicilian Pizza & Pasta". Each query prediction in the
response includes the text
field containing a recommended text search string. Use that
string as an input to
Text Search (New)
to perform a more detailed search.
The API Explorer lets you make live requests so that you can get familiar with the API and the API options:
Try it!Autocomplete (New) requests
An Autocomplete (New) request is an HTTP POST request to a URL in the form:
https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:autocomplete
Pass all parameters in the JSON request body or in headers as part of the POST request. For example:
curl -X POST -d '{ "input": "pizza", "locationBias": { "circle": { "center": { "latitude": 37.7937, "longitude": -122.3965 }, "radius": 500.0 } } }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY" \ https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:autocomplete
About the response
Autocomplete (New) returns a JSON object as a response. In the response:
- The
suggestions
array contains all of the predicted places and queries in order based on their perceived relevance. Each place is represented by aplacePrediction
field and each query is represented by aqueryPrediction
field. - A
placePrediction
field contains detailed information about a single place prediction, including the place ID, and text description. - A
queryPrediction
field contains detailed information about a single query prediction.
The complete JSON object is in the form:
{ "suggestions": [ { "placePrediction": { "place": "places/ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "placeId": "ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "text": { "text": "Amoeba Music, Haight Street, San Francisco, CA, USA", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 }] }, ... }, { "queryPrediction": { "text": { "text": "Amoeba Music", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 }] }, ... } ...] }
Required parameters
-
input
The text string on which to search. Specify full words and substrings, place names, addresses, and plus codes. The Autocomplete (New) service returns candidate matches based on this string and orders results based on their perceived relevance.
Optional parameters
-
includedPrimaryTypes
A place can only have a single primary type from types listed in Table A or Table B. For example, the primary type might be
"mexican_restaurant"
or"steak_house"
.By default, the API returns all places based on the
input
parameter, regardless of the primary type value associated with the place. Restrict results to be of a certain primary type or primary types by passing theincludedPrimaryTypes
parameter.Use this parameter to specify up to five type values from Table A or Table B. A place must match one of the specified primary type values to be included in the response.
This parameter may also include, instead, one of
(regions)
or(cities)
. The(regions)
type collection filters for areas or divisions, such as neighborhoods and postal codes. The(cities)
type collection filters for places that Google identifies as a city.The request is rejected with an
INVALID_REQUEST
error if:- More than five types are specified.
- Any type is specified in addition to
(cities)
or(regions)
. - Any unrecognized types are specified.
-
includeQueryPredictions
If
true
, the response includes both place and query predictions. The default value isfalse
, meaning the response only includes place predictions. -
includedRegionCodes
Only include results from the list of specified regions, specified as an array of up to 15 ccTLD ("top-level domain") two-character values. If omitted, no restrictions are applied to the response. For example, to limit the regions to Germany and France:
"includedRegionCodes": ["de", "fr"]
If you specify both
locationRestriction
andincludedRegionCodes
, the results are located in the area of intersection of the two settings. -
inputOffset
The zero-based Unicode character offset indicating the cursor position in
input
. The cursor position can influence what predictions are returned. If empty, it defaults to the length ofinput
. -
languageCode
The preferred language in which to return results. The results might be in mixed languages if the language used in
input
is different from the value specified bylanguageCode
, or if the returned place does not have a translation from the local language tolanguageCode
.- You must use IETF BCP-47 language codes to specify the preferred language.
-
If
languageCode
is not supplied, the API uses the value specified in theAccept-Language
header. If neither is specified, the default isen
. If you specify an invalid language code, the API returns anINVALID_ARGUMENT
error. - 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. This also affects the API's ability to correct spelling errors.
-
The API attempts to provide a street address that is readable for both the user and
local population, while at the same time reflecting the user input. Place predictions are
formatted differently depending on the user input in each request.
-
Matching terms in the
input
parameter are chosen first, using names aligned with the language preference indicated by thelanguageCode
parameter when available, while otherwise using names that best match the user input. -
Street addresses are formatted in the local language, in a script readable by the user
when possible, only after matching terms have been picked to match the terms in the
input
parameter. -
All other addresses are returned in the preferred language, after matching terms have
been chosen to match the terms in the
input
parameter. If a name is not available in the preferred language, the API uses the closest match.
-
Matching terms in the
locationBias or locationRestriction
You can specify
locationBias
orlocationRestriction
, but not both, to define the search area. 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.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.
locationRestriction
Specifies an area to search. Results outside the specified area are not returned.
Specify the
locationBias
orlocationRestriction
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. The default value is 0.0. For
locationRestriction
, you must set the radius to a value greater than 0.0. Otherwise, the request returns no results.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 andhigh.longitude
= 180 degrees, the viewport includes all longitudes. - If
low.longitude
= 180 degrees andhigh.longitude
= -180 degrees, the longitude range is empty.
Both
low
andhigh
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 } } }
- If
-
origin
The origin point from which to calculate straight-line distance to the destination (returned as
distanceMeters
). If this value is omitted, straight-line distance will not be returned. Must be specified as latitude and longitude coordinates:"origin": { "latitude": 40.477398, "longitude": -74.259087 }
-
regionCode
The region code used to format the response, 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").
If you specify an invalid region code, the API returns an
INVALID_ARGUMENT
error. The parameter can affect results based on applicable law. -
sessionToken
Session tokens are user-generated strings that track Autocomplete (New) calls as "sessions." Autocomplete (New) uses session tokens to group the query and selection phases of a user autocomplete search into a discrete session for billing purposes. For more information, see Session tokens.
Autocomplete (New) examples
Use locationRestriction and locationBias
The API uses IP biasing by default to control the search area. With IP biasing, the API uses the
IP address of the device to bias the results. You can optionally use
locationRestriction
or locationBias
, but not both, to specify an area to search.
locationRestriction
specifies the area to search. Results outside the specified area
are not returned. In the following example, you use locationRestriction
to limit the
request to a circle 5000 meters in radius centered on San Francisco:
curl -X POST -d '{ "input": "Amoeba", "locationRestriction": { "circle": { "center": { "latitude": 37.7749, "longitude": -122.4194 }, "radius": 5000.0 } } }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY" \ https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:autocomplete
All results from within the specified areas are contained in the suggestions
array:
{ "suggestions": [ { "placePrediction": { "place": "places/ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "placeId": "ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "text": { "text": "Amoeba Music, Haight Street, San Francisco, CA, USA", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "structuredFormat": { "mainText": { "text": "Amoeba Music", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "secondaryText": { "text": "Haight Street, San Francisco, CA, USA" } }, "types": [ "home_goods_store", "establishment", "store", "point_of_interest", "electronics_store" ] } } ] }
With locationBias
, the location serves as a bias which means results around the
specified location can be returned, including results outside the specified area. In the next
example, you change the request to use locationBias
:
curl -X POST -d '{ "input": "Amoeba", "locationBias": { "circle": { "center": { "latitude": 37.7749, "longitude": -122.4194 }, "radius": 5000.0 } } }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY" \ https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:autocomplete
The results now contain many more items, including results outside of the 5000 meter radius:
{ "suggestions": [ { "placePrediction": { "place": "places/ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "placeId": "ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "text": { "text": "Amoeba Music, Haight Street, San Francisco, CA, USA", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "structuredFormat": { "mainText": { "text": "Amoeba Music", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "secondaryText": { "text": "Haight Street, San Francisco, CA, USA" } }, "types": [ "electronics_store", "point_of_interest", "store", "establishment", "home_goods_store" ] } }, { "placePrediction": { "place": "places/ChIJr7uwwy58hYARBY-e7-QVwqw", "placeId": "ChIJr7uwwy58hYARBY-e7-QVwqw", "text": { "text": "Amoeba Music, Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA, USA", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "structuredFormat": { "mainText": { "text": "Amoeba Music", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "secondaryText": { "text": "Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA, USA" } }, "types": [ "electronics_store", "point_of_interest", "establishment", "home_goods_store", "store" ] } }, ... ] }
Use includedPrimaryTypes
Use the includedPrimaryTypes
parameter to specify up to five type values from
Table A,
Table B,
or only (regions)
, or only (cities)
. A place must match one of the specified
primary type values to be included in the response.
In the following example, you specify an input
string of
"Soccer" and use the includedPrimaryTypes
parameter to restrict results to
establishments of type "sporting_goods_store"
:
curl -X POST -d '{ "input": "Soccer", "includedPrimaryTypes": ["sporting_goods_store"], "locationBias": { "circle": { "center": { "latitude": 37.7749, "longitude": -122.4194 }, "radius": 500.0 } } }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY" \ https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:autocomplete
If you omit the includedPrimaryTypes
parameter, then the results can include
establishments of a type that you do not want, such as "athletic_field"
.
Request query predictions
Query predictions are not returned by default. Use the includeQueryPredictions
request parameter to add query predictions to the response. For example:
curl -X POST -d '{ "input": "Amoeba", "includeQueryPredictions": true, "locationBias": { "circle": { "center": { "latitude": 37.7749, "longitude": -122.4194 }, "radius": 5000.0 } } }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY" \ https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:autocomplete
The suggestions
array now contains both place predictions and query predictions
as shown above in About the response. Each query prediction
includes the text
field containing a recommended text search string. You can make a
Text Search (New)
request to get more information about any of the returned query predictions.
Use origin
In this example, include origin
in the request as latitude and longitude coordinates.
When you include origin
, the API includes the distanceMeters
field in the
response which contains the straight-line distance from the origin
to the destination.
This example sets the origin to the center of San Francisco:
curl -X POST -d '{ "input": "Amoeba", "origin": { "latitude": 37.7749, "longitude": -122.4194 }, "locationRestriction": { "circle": { "center": { "latitude": 37.7749, "longitude": -122.4194 }, "radius": 5000.0 } } }' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: API_KEY" \ https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:autocomplete
The response now includes distanceMeters
:
{ "suggestions": [ { "placePrediction": { "place": "places/ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "placeId": "ChIJ5YQQf1GHhYARPKG7WLIaOko", "text": { "text": "Amoeba Music, Haight Street, San Francisco, CA, USA", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "structuredFormat": { "mainText": { "text": "Amoeba Music", "matches": [ { "endOffset": 6 } ] }, "secondaryText": { "text": "Haight Street, San Francisco, CA, USA" } }, "types": [ "home_goods_store", "establishment", "point_of_interest", "store", "electronics_store" ], "distanceMeters": 3012 } } ] }
Try it!
The API Explorer lets you make sample requests so that you can get familiar with the API and the API options.
- Select the API icon, , on the right side of the page.
- Optionally expand Show standard parameters and set
the
fields
parameter to the field mask. - Optionally edit the Request body.
- Select Execute button. In the pop-up, choose the account that you want to use to make the request.
In the API Explorer panel, select the expand icon, , to expand the API Explorer window.