canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/here.com/here-maps

# HERE Geocoding & Search API

Convert free-text addresses into geographic coordinates, reverse geocode coordinates back to addresses, and discover places by category or free-form search queries. The API supports autosuggest for real-time type-ahead, category-based browsing around a location, and place detail lookup by HERE ID, returning structured address components, access points for navigation, and match confidence scores across 6 dedicated service endpoints.

## For AI agents

Geocode addresses to coordinates, reverse geocode locations to addresses, discover nearby places by category, and look up place details by HERE ID.

## Scope

Does not handle routing, traffic, map tile rendering, or fleet management - use for geocoding and place search only.

## Capabilities

- Geocode free-text or structured addresses into latitude/longitude coordinates with field-level confidence scoring
- Reverse geocode coordinates to the nearest street address with configurable result types and language localization
- Discover places and addresses through free-form natural language queries within a geographic area
- Browse points of interest by category around a specified location with name filtering
- Provide real-time type-ahead suggestions combining places, addresses, and query term completions
- Retrieve full place details including opening hours, contacts, and access points using a HERE place ID

## Use cases

### AI Agent Location Resolution

AI agents resolve ambiguous user location references into precise coordinates for downstream tasks such as ride booking, delivery scheduling, or weather lookups. The geocode endpoint converts free-text like '1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW' into exact lat/lng pairs, while autosuggest handles partial or misspelled inputs. Through Jentic, agents search for 'geocode an address' and receive the operation schema instantly, eliminating manual doc parsing.

Example prompt: Geocode '1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC' using the /geocode endpoint and return the latitude, longitude, and formatted address label

### Reverse Geocoding for Fleet Tracking

Fleet management systems translate raw GPS coordinates from vehicle trackers into human-readable addresses for dispatch dashboards and delivery notifications. The reverse geocode endpoint accepts lat/lng pairs and returns the nearest street-level address, including the country, city, district, and house number. Results can be filtered by type (address, street, city) to control granularity.

Example prompt: Reverse geocode coordinates 52.5200,13.4050 using the /revgeocode endpoint and return the full formatted address label

### Place Discovery for Travel Applications

Travel and hospitality apps let users search for hotels, restaurants, and attractions near their destination. The discover endpoint performs free-form search (e.g., 'sushi restaurants in Tokyo') while the browse endpoint filters by HERE category IDs within a radius. Results include place name, address, coordinates, distance from center, and contact details.

Example prompt: Search for 'coffee shops' near coordinates 40.7128,-74.0060 using the /discover endpoint with a limit of 5 results

### Address Autocomplete for Forms

Web and mobile forms use type-ahead address completion to reduce user input errors and speed up checkout flows. The autosuggest endpoint returns a mix of place, address, and query-term suggestions as the user types, with character-level highlight positions for rendering bold matched text. It requires a search center (at parameter) to rank nearby results higher.

Example prompt: Get autosuggest results for partial query 'Alexanderpl' with search center at 52.5200,13.4050 and return the top 3 suggestions

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | /geocode | Geocode a free-text address into coordinates |
| GET | /revgeocode | Reverse geocode coordinates to nearest address |
| GET | /autosuggest | Type-ahead search suggestions |
| GET | /discover | Free-form place and address search |
| GET | /browse | Browse places by category near a location |
| GET | /lookup | Look up place details by HERE ID |

## Key resources

- **Geocode** — Forward geocoding - convert addresses to coordinates with structured address components and confidence scoring
- **Reverse Geocode** — Reverse geocoding - convert coordinates to the nearest address with type filtering
- **Autosuggest** — Real-time search suggestions combining places, addresses, and query completions with highlight positions
- **Discover** — Free-form search for places and addresses within a geographic area
- **Browse** — Category-based place browsing around a specified location
- **Lookup** — Retrieve full place details by HERE ID including contacts and opening hours

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the HERE Geocoding & Search API by hand means passing your apiKey as a query parameter and picking the right per-function host, since geocode, revgeocode, autosuggest, discover, browse, and lookup each live on their own hereapi.com subdomain. Through Jentic you install once, import the HERE Geocoding & Search API from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** HERE geocoding takes its address or coordinates as query parameters rather than a resource id in the path, so limit the agent to the operations it needs, such as geocoding an address or searching nearby places. You choose the operations it may call, so reverse geocoding or autosuggest is only included if you add it.
- **Credential handling:** Your HERE API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and added as the apiKey query parameter at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'geocode an address' or 'find nearby places', and Jentic returns the matching HERE Geocoding & Search operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the HERE developer documentation.

## Related APIs

- **TomTom Search API** — Similar fuzzy search and geocoding with POI data, plus along-route search
- **LocationIQ API** — OSM-based geocoding with routing, timezone, and lower pricing tiers
- **Geocodio** — US/Canada-focused geocoding with congressional district and census data appends

## FAQ

### What authentication does the HERE Geocoding & Search API use?

The HERE Geocoding & Search API authenticates requests using an API key passed as the `apiKey` query parameter, or alternatively via an OAuth 2.0 bearer token in the Authorization header. Through Jentic, your HERE API key is stored encrypted in your Jentic One instance - agents receive scoped access tokens without the raw key entering their context.

### Can I geocode addresses in multiple languages with the HERE API?

Yes. Every endpoint accepts a `lang` parameter using BCP 47 language tags (e.g., 'de', 'fr', 'ja'). The response text, address formatting, and place names are returned in the specified language when translations are available.

### What are the rate limits for the HERE Geocoding & Search API?

HERE returns HTTP 429 when rate limits are exceeded. The specific limits depend on your HERE plan tier - the Freemium plan allows 250,000 transactions per month with 5 requests per second. Paid plans scale to millions of transactions with higher concurrency.

### How do I search for nearby restaurants through Jentic?

Install the Jentic SDK with `pip install jentic`, then search for 'find places near a location'. Jentic returns the /discover or /browse operation schemas. Use /browse with the `categories` parameter set to the restaurant category ID and `at` set to your coordinates. Execute the call through Jentic and receive structured place results.

### What is the difference between the discover and browse endpoints?

The /discover endpoint performs free-text search (e.g., 'pizza in Berlin') and ranks results by relevance. The /browse endpoint filters by HERE category IDs around a location and is better when you know the exact category you want. Both accept geographic area constraints and return the same place result format.

### Does the HERE API support batch geocoding?

The Geocoding & Search API processes one address per request. For batch processing, agents can make parallel requests to the /geocode endpoint. Each request supports structured queries via the `qq` parameter (e.g., city=Berlin;country=Germany) or free-text via the `q` parameter, with up to 100 results per call.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the HERE Geocoding and Search API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which HERE operations the agent may call, so you can grant only geocoding an address or searching nearby places and leave out reverse geocoding, autosuggest, browse, or lookup. Since HERE takes the address or coordinates as query parameters rather than an id in the path, scoping is done per operation: an operation is available to the agent only if you add it. Your HERE API key stays stored and encrypted on your instance and is attached at execution time, so the agent can act within those bounds without the raw key entering its context.