Geocoder REST API

Name: Geocoder REST API API
Brand: Geocoder REST API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecMaps GeolocationGeocodingapiKey16 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Geocode and reverse-geocode British Columbia addresses, occupants, and intersections, with proximity search around a coordinate.

Connect the Geocoder REST API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Geocoder REST API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Install Jentic One Beta (Self-Hosted)

Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh

Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Geocoder REST API API.

Geocode a single BC physical or intersection address into coordinates

Reverse geocode a coordinate to the nearest BC site, occupant, or intersection

Find sites, occupants, or intersections within a radius of a point

Find sites, occupants, or intersections inside a polygon or bounding box

GET STARTED

Start building with Geocoder REST API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

The BC Address Geocoder REST API cleans, corrects, completes, geocodes, and reverse geocodes British Columbia physical addresses, intersections, and the occupants associated with them. It exposes single-address geocoding, bulk autocomplete, and proximity searches such as nearest site, occupants near a point, and intersections near a point. Several endpoints accept a path-level outputFormat extension (such as .json or .geojson). Authentication is by API key passed in the apikey header.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Geocoder REST API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Address Validation at Form Submission

When a user submits a BC service request form, validate and standardise the address before storing it. GET /addresses.{outputFormat} accepts a free-form address string and returns the cleaned, geocoded result with confidence scores. This prevents downstream failures when the address is later used for routing or service delivery.

Geocode '4730 Kingsway, Burnaby BC' as JSON and return the latitude, longitude, and match confidence score.

Nearest Service Centre Locator

Help a user find the nearest BC government service site to their current location. GET /sites/nearest.{outputFormat} accepts a coordinate and returns the closest registered site, while GET /occupants/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the closest occupant such as a specific business or office. Useful for self-service tools embedded in BC web properties.

Find the nearest occupant to latitude 48.428 longitude -123.366 and return its name and the distance in metres.

Spatial Query for Outreach

Identify every site or occupant inside a polygon for a targeted outreach campaign. GET /sites/within.{outputFormat} and GET /occupants/within.{outputFormat} accept polygon geometry and return matching records. The same endpoints support a near-point variant for radius queries within an outreach zone.

List all sites within 500 metres of latitude 49.282 longitude -123.115 and return their addresses.

AI Agent Address Resolver

An AI agent built on Jentic resolves user-submitted BC addresses into canonical coordinates and standardised street strings. The agent searches Jentic for 'geocode a bc address', loads the GET /addresses operation, and executes with the user input. The apikey header is injected by Jentic so the secret stays in the vault.

Use Jentic to search 'geocode a bc address' and resolve '800 Hornby St Vancouver' to coordinates and a cleaned address.

Key Endpoints

16 endpoints — the bc address geocoder rest api cleans, corrects, completes, geocodes, and reverse geocodes british columbia physical addresses, intersections, and the occupants associated with them.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/addresses.{outputFormat}

Geocode a free-form BC address

GET

/occupants/addresses.{outputFormat}

Look up occupants tied to a BC address

GET

/sites/nearest.{outputFormat}

Find the nearest BC site to a coordinate

GET

/occupants/nearest.{outputFormat}

Find the nearest occupant to a coordinate

GET

/intersections/nearest.{outputFormat}

Find the nearest intersection to a coordinate

GET

/sites/within.{outputFormat}

Find all sites inside a polygon

GET

/sites/near.{outputFormat}

Find sites within a radius of a point

GET

/addresses.{outputFormat}

Geocode a free-form BC address

GET

/occupants/addresses.{outputFormat}

Look up occupants tied to a BC address

GET

/sites/nearest.{outputFormat}

Find the nearest BC site to a coordinate

GET

/occupants/nearest.{outputFormat}

Find the nearest occupant to a coordinate

GET

/intersections/nearest.{outputFormat}

Find the nearest intersection to a coordinate

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

BC Geocoder apikey credentials live in Jentic's encrypted vault. Jentic injects the apikey header on each call and rotates the key when the vault is updated, so the agent never reads or stores the key.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'geocode a bc address' or 'find nearest occupant') and Jentic returns the matching geocoder operation with its outputFormat path parameter typed correctly.

Time to first call

Direct integration: 2-4 hours for apikey handling, outputFormat path quirks, and parsing the response. Through Jentic: 30 minutes from sign-up to a working geocode call.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Positionstack API

Positionstack offers global forward and reverse geocoding rather than BC-authoritative results

Choose Positionstack when global coverage matters and BC-authoritative parcel and occupant data does not

Alternative

TomTom Search API

TomTom Search supports global geocoding, autocomplete, and POI search

Choose TomTom when the application needs global geocoding plus POI search rather than BC-only authoritative data

Complementary

BC Geographical Names Web Service

Pair with bcgnws to enrich geocoded points with the named features around them

Use after geocoding when the agent needs the official BC name of nearby features

FAQs

Specific to using Geocoder REST API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the BC Geocoder API use?

The BC Geocoder API uses an API key passed in the apikey header. Keys are issued through the BC API Directory and tied to a GitHub or IDIR account. When called through Jentic, the apikey is held in Jentic's encrypted vault and injected into the apikey header at request time.

Can I reverse geocode a coordinate with the BC Geocoder API?

Yes. GET /sites/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the nearest BC site to a supplied coordinate, GET /occupants/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the nearest occupant, and GET /intersections/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the nearest street intersection. All three are reverse-geocoding shapes with different result types.

What are the rate limits for the BC Geocoder API?

Specific limits are not declared in the OpenAPI spec. The BC API Directory documents tier-based throttling tied to the issued API key, so plan for modest sustained throughput per key and back off on HTTP 429 responses.

How do I geocode a BC address through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'geocode a bc address', load the GET /addresses.{outputFormat} operation, and execute with the address string and outputFormat path parameter (typically json or geojson). With pip install jentic the call returns coordinates and the cleaned address.

Does the BC Geocoder API support spatial queries inside a polygon?

Yes. GET /sites/within.{outputFormat}, GET /occupants/within.{outputFormat}, and GET /intersections/within.{outputFormat} accept polygon or bounding-box geometry and return all matching records inside it. Pair with /sites/near for radius queries around a point.