Autocomplete API
The Autocomplete API is designed to enhance search experiences in frontend applications, offering instant place suggestions in search bars and form fields as users type, recognizing both partial and full words for a streamlined and efficient user interaction.
Try the Autocomplete demo
Use Autocomplete in a Map
If you use LocationIQ Maps with either Leaflet or Maplibre libraries, you can add LocationIQ's Autocomplete as a plugin instantly!
Leaflet JS
This plugin offers additional customization which can be viewed here.
Maplibre JS
Use Autocomplete in a Form without a Map
jQuery
Other ways to use Autocomplete without a map or outside a map:
Brief Overview of Request / Response Parameters
The information presented below is a condensed summary. For a more detailed and exhaustive list of parameters, refer to API Reference Page.
Request
Request Format
Requests can be sent to the following endpoint:
https://api.locationiq.com/v1/autocomplete?key=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN&q=SEARCH_STRING
Requests
The Autocomplete API endpoint offers an Anycast IP address and route user requests to a datacenter closest to them. You can still manually specify a
regionsimilar to other LocationIQ endpoints, but in the interest of end-user experience, we don't recommended such a configuration.
Request Example
curl --request GET \
--url 'https://api.locationiq.com/v1/autocomplete?key=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN&q=Empire'
<?php
$curl = curl_init('https://api.locationiq.com/v1/autocomplete?key=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN&q=Empire');
curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'GET',
));
$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);
curl_close($curl);
if ($err) {
echo 'cURL Error #:' . $err;
} else {
echo $response;
}
import requests
url = "https://api.locationiq.com/v1/autocomplete"
data = {
'key': 'YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN',
'q': 'Empire'
}
response = requests.get(url, params=data)
print(response.text)
var settings = {
"async": true,
"crossDomain": true,
"url": "https://api.locationiq.com/v1/autocomplete?key=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN&q=Empire",
"method": "GET"
}
$.ajax(settings).done(function (response) {
console.log(response);
});
Autocomplete Usage
The Autocomplete API endpoint is intended for use where predictive, typeahead functionality is necessary. It is not designed to be compatible with Search/ Forward Geocoding endpoint.
Required Parameters
| Name | Description | Required | Values |
|---|---|---|---|
| key | Your API Key | Yes | |
| q | Query string to search for Maximum length: 200 | Yes |
Frequently used parameters (optional):
| Name | Description | Values |
|---|---|---|
| limit | Limit the number of returned results. Default is 10. | [1 to 20] |
| countrycodes | Limit search to a list of countries. [Read more.] | |
| normalizecity | For responses with no city value in the address section, the next available element in this order - city_district, locality, town, borough, municipality, village, hamlet, quarter, neighbourhood - from the address section will be normalized to city. Defaults to 0. | [0 |1] |
| accept-language | Preferred language for showing search results. Defaults to en. Unlike Search and Reverse endpoints, the Autocomplete endpoint supports only a single 2 digit language code. The Autocomplete endpoint currently supports the following languages: English en, Czech cs, Dutch nl, French fr, German de, Indonesian id, Italian it, Norwegian no, Polish pl, Spanish es, Russian ru, Swedish svand Ukrainian uk. If you'd like us to add support for a specific language, please reach out. [Read more.] | [en] |
List of all input parameters available on the API Reference page
Response
Response Example
[
{
"place_id": "0",
"osm_id": "34633854",
"osm_type": "way",
"licence": "https://locationiq.com/attribution",
"lat": "40.7484284",
"lon": "-73.985654619873",
"boundingbox": [
"40.7479226",
"40.7489422",
"-73.9864855",
"-73.9848259"
],
"class": "tourism",
"type": "attraction",
"display_name": "Empire State Building, 350, 5th Avenue, New York City, New York, 10018, United States of America",
"display_place": "Empire State Building",
"display_address": "350, 5th Avenue, New York City, New York, 10018, United States of America",
"address": {
"name": "Empire State Building",
"house_number": "350",
"road": "5th Avenue",
"city": "New York City",
"state": "New York",
"postcode": "10018",
"country": "United States of America"
}
},
{
"place_id": "0",
"osm_id": "34633854",
"osm_type": "way",
"licence": "https://locationiq.com/attribution",
"lat": "40.7484284",
"lon": "-73.985654619873",
"boundingbox": [
"40.7479226",
"40.7489422",
"-73.9864855",
"-73.9848259"
],
"class": "office",
"type": "yes",
"display_name": "Empire State Building, 350, 5th Avenue, New York City, New York, 10018, United States of America",
"display_place": "Empire State Building",
"display_address": "350, 5th Avenue, New York City, New York, 10018, United States of America",
"address": {
"name": "Empire State Building",
"house_number": "350",
"road": "5th Avenue",
"city": "New York City",
"state": "New York",
"postcode": "10018",
"country": "United States of America"
}
}
]
Response Parameters
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| lat | The Latitude of this element |
| lon | The Longitude of this element |
| display_place | Only the name part of the address; if the type is a city, just the city's name. If the type is highway, just the road's name. This is helpful when a client library wants to display this information separately. |
| display_address | The complete address without the text already present in display_place |
| display_name | The display name of this element, with complete address |
List of all response parameters available on the API Reference page
Updated 3 months ago