Kakao Maps Local API

Name: Kakao Maps Local API
Brand: Kakao Maps Local API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMaps GeolocationGeocodingapiKey6 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Resolve Korean addresses to coordinates, search Korean places by keyword or category, and transform coordinates between WGS84 and Korean coordinate systems. Six endpoints covering the full geocoding workflow.

Install Jentic One Beta

Connect the Kakao Maps Local API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Kakao Maps Local 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.

Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.

Step 1: Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fkakao.com%2Fkakao" | sh

Step 2: Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fkakao.com%2Fkakao" | 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 Kakao Maps Local API.

Geocode a Korean street or land-lot address into latitude and longitude using /v2/local/search/address.json

Reverse-geocode a coordinate pair to a Korean administrative or legal region code via /v2/local/geo/coord2regioncode.json

Resolve a coordinate pair to the nearest Korean street address via /v2/local/geo/coord2address.json

GET STARTED

Start building with Kakao Maps Local API

Explore with Jentic One

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Kakao Maps Local API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Korean Address Geocoding

Convert Korean street addresses, land-lot addresses, and building names into latitude and longitude coordinates for mapping, delivery routing, or location-based services. Kakao's geocoder handles both road-name (도로명) and land-lot (지번) address formats with confidence scoring through analyze_type. Integration is a single GET call returning matched documents with x, y coordinates and address normalisation in under 200 ms.

Geocode the address '서울 강남구 테헤란로 152' using GET /v2/local/search/address.json and return the road and land-lot coordinates.

Korean Place Search and Discovery

Find businesses, landmarks, and points of interest across Korea by keyword or category code, with optional centre point and radius for proximity-based results. Each match returns place name, category, phone, road and land-lot address, coordinates, and distance from the search centre. Used for store locators, travel guides, and local-search features where Korean coverage is required.

Search for 'starbucks' near coordinates (37.5665, 126.9780) within a 1000-metre radius and return the closest five locations sorted by distance.

Coordinate System Transformation

Transform coordinates between WGS84 (GPS), KTM, TM, and WCONGNAMUL projection systems used by Korean government datasets and legacy mapping software. The transcoord endpoint accepts a single point with input_coord and output_coord parameters and returns the projected x, y values. Critical for ingesting Korean public-sector spatial data that ships in non-standard projections.

Convert the WGS84 point (127.108678, 37.402001) to the WCONGNAMUL projection using GET /v2/local/geo/transcoord.json.

Region Code Lookup for Compliance

Map a coordinate to its administrative (행정동) and legal (법정동) region codes, required for tax filings, delivery zone restrictions, and regional reporting in Korea. The coord2regioncode endpoint returns both code types in one call with their hierarchical names, so a delivery app can validate that a drop-off falls within a serviced district.

Resolve coordinates (127.1086, 37.4020) to their administrative and legal region codes using GET /v2/local/geo/coord2regioncode.json.

Agent-Driven Korean Location Workflows

AI agents handling logistics, travel planning, or local-recommendation tasks for Korean users discover Kakao Maps Local through Jentic's intent search. The agent resolves a Korean place name to coordinates, then chains category search to find nearby services, all without manually crafting Authorization headers or parsing Kakao's nested response envelope. Jentic injects the KakaoAK key at execution time so the agent never sees raw credentials.

Use the Jentic search query 'find places in Korea by keyword', load the keyword search schema, and execute a search for '광화문' to return the top three matching places.

Key Endpoints

6 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for kakao maps local api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/v2/local/search/address.json

Geocode a Korean address to coordinates

GET

/v2/local/geo/coord2address.json

Reverse geocode coordinates to a Korean address

GET

/v2/local/geo/coord2regioncode.json

Resolve coordinates to administrative and legal region codes

GET

/v2/local/geo/transcoord.json

Transform coordinates between Korean projection systems

GET

/v2/local/search/keyword.json

Search Korean places by free-text keyword

GET

/v2/local/search/category.json

Search Korean places by Kakao category code

GET

/v2/local/search/address.json

Geocode a Korean address to coordinates

GET

/v2/local/geo/coord2address.json

Reverse geocode coordinates to a Korean address

GET

/v2/local/geo/coord2regioncode.json

Resolve coordinates to administrative and legal region codes

GET

/v2/local/geo/transcoord.json

Transform coordinates between Korean projection systems

GET

/v2/local/search/keyword.json

Search Korean places by free-text keyword

Why Jentic?

What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.

Setup

Wiring the Kakao Maps Local API by hand means learning its KakaoAK apiKey header, pointing every call at dapi.kakao.com, and handling the query-parameter shapes for geocoding and place search yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the Kakao Maps Local API from the API Directory, store the KakaoAK key once, and your agent calls it.

Permission scoping

Kakao Maps Local carries its targets as query parameters rather than resource ids in the URL path, so scope the agent by the operations it needs, such as address search and coordinate-to-region lookup. You pick that read-only set, so an agent built for geocoding is not given the keyword or category search operations unless you add them.

Credential isolation

Your KakaoAK REST API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'geocode a Korean address' or 'convert coordinates to a region code', and Jentic returns the matching Kakao Maps Local operation with its query-parameter schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the Kakao Developers reference docs.

FAQs

Specific to using Kakao Maps Local API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Kakao Maps Local API?

Kakao does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Kakao Maps Local API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

What authentication does the Kakao Maps Local API use?

The API uses an API key scheme called KakaoAK. Each request must send an Authorization header in the form `Authorization: KakaoAK {REST_API_KEY}`, where the key is issued from your Kakao Developers application. Through Jentic the key is stored encrypted in the vault and injected at execution time, so the agent never sees the raw key value.

Can I geocode both road-name and land-lot addresses with the Kakao Maps Local API?

Yes. GET /v2/local/search/address.json accepts both 도로명 (road-name) and 지번 (land-lot) Korean addresses and returns separate `road_address` and `address` blocks in each matched document, with x, y coordinates for both formats. Use the `analyze_type` query parameter to choose between similar and exact matching.

What are the rate limits for the Kakao Maps Local API?

Kakao applies a daily quota per application key (typically 300,000 requests per day for the Local API on the free tier) and rejects bursts with HTTP 429. The exact quota depends on the application's review status in Kakao Developers - check your app dashboard at https://developers.kakao.com for current limits before scaling agent traffic.

How do I search Korean places by category through Jentic?

Run `pip install jentic` and search Jentic with the query 'find places in Korea by keyword'. Jentic returns the schema for GET /v2/local/search/category.json; the agent supplies a category_group_code (for example `CE7` for cafes), centre coordinates, and radius, then executes the call to receive matching places ranked by distance.

Is the Kakao Maps Local API free to use?

Yes for typical usage. The Local API is free up to the daily quota assigned to your Kakao Developers application, and there is no per-call charge below that quota. Higher quotas require a business review through Kakao Developers.

Can the Kakao Maps Local API convert WGS84 coordinates to Korean projection systems?

Yes. GET /v2/local/geo/transcoord.json converts a single (x, y) point between WGS84, KTM, TM, and WCONGNAMUL by setting `input_coord` and `output_coord`. This is essential when ingesting Korean public-sector datasets that ship in non-WGS84 projections.

Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Kakao Maps Local API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which Kakao Maps Local operations and credentials the agent may use, and you grant only the ones a given task needs. Since Kakao carries its targets as query parameters rather than path resource ids, you scope by operation: a geocoding agent can be limited to address search (/v2/local/search/address.json) and coordinate-to-region lookup (/v2/local/geo/coord2regioncode.json) without ever receiving the keyword or category place-search calls. The KakaoAK key is stored by your own instance and injected at execution time, so the agent runs only within the read-only set you define.