Location and point of interest

The product feed offers a number of ways for you to specify points of interest associated with the product. Google uses this information to help surface the product to users when relevant POIs or destinations are being searched.

Each product option can specify one or more points of interests (POIs) related to the option using the related_location field (containing a list of RelatedLocation objects). Each RelatedLocation object contains a location describing the POI in question and a relation_type describing the relationship between the POI and the product option.

Related locations and relation_type

A product option should only be marked as related if it provides a meaningful experience of the location in addition to physically visiting it. The definition of "meaningful" might vary for different locations, but things that usually shouldn't be marked as related include views of a POI during for example a boat cruise or bus tour or meeting points for tours (use the meeting_point field instead). The three relation_types are:

• RELATED_NO_ADMISSION: Location is related but the product option does not include admission or admission is irrelevant. For example if the location is a square highlighted in a city tour.

• ADMISSION_TICKET: Relation grants admission to this related location.

• SUPPLEMENTARY_ADDON: Relation declares an additional service which doesn't get the user into the related location. For example parking ticket, a temporary exhibition.

Note: To be eligible for the attraction tickets module on Search, products need to include the ADMISSION_TICKET relation type for the attraction POI.

Examples

relation_type	Example
RELATED_NO_ADMISSION	Walking tour around the Eiffel tower without entry. Helicopter tour around the Burj Khalifa.
ADMISSION_TICKET	Entry ticket to a Zoo, can include additional addons.
SUPPLEMENTARY_ADDON	Skip the line without entry, audio guide without entry.
Not related	Boat cruise which sees the POI from a distance. Tour office where the tour starts or ticket can be purchased.

Each product option may also have a meeting_point for specific tour types where the starting location is unclear and must be determined (e.g. guided tours).

How to request a new Attraction to be added

If you are providing the official tickets for attractions and notice one of the attractions you are working with is missing from Google Things To Do, you can fill in the TTD New POI Request Form to request the POI to be added as part of Things To Do.

Note: Requests are only reviewed in batches periodically by the product team. If an attraction is added, you can see it directly in Things To Do Center's Find Location Matches tool.

How to pass related locations to Google

When processing an incoming feed, Google attempts to match the location hints provided as textual strings to Google-internal entities representing those locations, known as Point of Interests (POIs).

A POI can be loosely defined as a named pin on a specific location (coordinates). Within the context of Things to do, relevant examples include tour operators and tourist attractions; however, generally speaking, a POI can be any establishment with a name and location that is known to Google.

Location Matching refers to the process of matching a related location, in the form of a textual hint, to a POI known to Google, if one exists in the Google database.

There are multiple ways to send a related location to Google, depending on the source of the location data, contractual requirements with suppliers, and the amount of control one wishes to have over the matching process.

The following hint types are supported (in order of preference):

Hint types

Type	Description	Recommended Usage
Business Profile ID	Uniquely identifies a business on Google. It can only be obtained directly from the business owner using their Business Profile advanced settings page, as described in Advanced profile settings. It is mapped to the POI representing the business on Google. The mapping will be successful only if the business's location has been verified by Google. In addition to POIs, this format also supports service-area and hybrid business types, defined in How to use a service-area on Google.	The partner has a direct business relationship with the business owner. For businesses of type service-area or hybrid, this is the preferred way to send such locations.
Place Info	Structured representation of a POI, providing separate fields for place name, address components, and additional hints such as phone number, website, and coordinates. This is the preferred method when obtaining a Business Profile ID from the POI owner is not feasible.	The location is sourced from the supplier or data owner in an address format, for instance using a supplier-facing tool. The location does not have a precise address, but can be identified by name and coordinates, such as an attraction or tour operator located in a remote area such as a desert or an unnamed road. When possible, favor this format over matching the address to a Place ID using the Places API so that Google can use additional information such as phone number or website to improve matching accuracy.
Place ID	Uniquely identifies a POI on Google. It can be sourced using the Places API endpoints, for instance Place Search or Place Autocomplete, or manually using the Find Location Matches tool in Things to Do Center.	The location is sourced from the supplier or data owner by means of a supplier-facing UI tool, which may, for example, use Place Autocomplete to allow the data owner to select the correct match from a list of possible candidates. You prefer to have more control over the matching process, or are unwilling to share the raw address information. This is the preferred method when obtaining a Business Profile ID from the POI owner is not feasible and you prefer matching the address to a POI on your side using the Places API, as opposed to sending the raw place information to Google.
Latitude and Longitude	Loosely identify a geographical or geopolitical region such as a city, locality, or travel destination.	Use this format when you want to send an approximate location that does not represent any specific POI. For example, when you want to associate a product to a city or locality so that the product can trigger in Things to do Ads. This format is not suitable for representing a POI. To send POI locations using coordinates, use the Place Info format.
Address	Represents a POI location as an unstructured single-line address, optionally including the place name. Deprecated. This format will no longer be supported as of May 1, 2024.	All usage of this format will need to migrate to the new Place Info format, which includes a mandatory field for the place name and supports both structured and unstructured address formats. Alternatively, the affected location hints can be migrated to Business Profile ID or Place ID.

Examples

// Example 1: Business Profile ID, copied from the Advanced settings page
// of the Google Business Profile that manages the POI.
"location": {
  "business_profile_id": 11458995034835395294
}

// Example 2: Place Info with structured address, coordinates, website URL,
// and phone number.
"location": {
  "place_info": {
    "name": "Colosseum",
    "phone_number": "[phone]",
    "website_url": "https://colosseo.it/",
    "coordinates": {
      "latitude": 41.8902102,
      "longitude": 12.4922309
    },
    "structured_address" {
      "street_address": "Piazza del Colosseo, 1",
      "locality": "Roma",
      "administrative_area": "RM",
      "postal_code": "00184",
      "country_code": "IT"
    }
  }
}

// Example 3: Place Info with unstructured address.
"location": {
  "place_info": {
    "name": "Eiffel Tower",
    "unstructured_address": "5 Av. Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France"
  }
}

// Example 4: Place Info using place name and coordinates only. This
// configuration is useful for matching POIs located in remote areas without
// an exact street address, such as POIs located in deserts or on unnamed
// roads.
"location": {
  "place_info": {
   "name": "Mutitjulu Waterhole",
   "coordinates": {
     "latitude": -25.3511774,
     "longitude": 131.0326859
    }
  }
}

// Example 5: Latitude and longitude.
// This format maintains the old behavior and will only match to the city or
// region.
// For more accurate matching using coordinates, use PlaceInfo instead,
// which includes a mandatory field for the place name.
"location": {
  "lat_lng": {
    "latitude": 51.5072178,
    "longitude": -0.1275862
  }
}

How to migrate address field to the new place_info field

You can migrate the existing unstructured address field to the new place_info field with the following steps:

1. If the address data you have is unstructured then:
   1. Add the business name to place_info/name field
   2. Place the address without the business name in place_info/unstructured_address
   3. Drop the existing address field from the feed
   4. Go to step 3
2. If the address data you have is structured then:
   1. Add the business name to place_info/name field
   2. Add the address information such as street_address, postal_address in place_info/structured_address.
   3. Drop the existing address field from the feed
   4. Go to step 3
3. Add additional data such as website_url and phone_number to improve matching accuracy