Nominatim
Nominatim is an open-source (BSD-2-Clause) search engine for OpenStreetMap data, supporting forward geocoding (address to coordinates), reverse geocoding (coordinates to address), and address lookup by OSM ID. The OpenStreetMap Foundation runs a free public instance at nominatim.openstreetmap.org under a published usage policy, and the project is also widely self-hosted and resold by commercial providers (MapTiler, LocationIQ, Geocode Earth).
1 APIs
8 Features
GeocodingOpenStreetMapMapsLocationServicesOpenSourcePublic APIs
Forward Geocoding
Convert free-form or structured addresses into coordinates and full place metadata.
Reverse Geocoding
Identify the closest OSM feature to a coordinate at a chosen administrative zoom level.
OSM Object Lookup
Resolve up to 50 OSM nodes/ways/relations to detailed address breakdowns per call.
Multi-Format Output
Returns json, jsonv2, geojson, geocodejson, and xml from a single endpoint via `format`.
Polygon Geometry
Optional geometry output as GeoJSON, KML, SVG, or WKT with a simplification tolerance.
Country And Layer Filtering
Bias or restrict results by ISO country code, viewbox, layer (address/poi/etc.), or feature type.
Service Health
/status endpoint exposes data freshness, software version, and database version for monitoring.
Self-Hostable
Install on your own infrastructure from a planet.osm.pbf import; BSD-2-Clause licensed.
Map Search Box
Power "find a place" search boxes in OSM-based map applications.
Reverse Geocoding For Telemetry
Attach human-readable addresses to coordinates collected from devices, vehicles, or sensors.
Civic Tech And Open Data
Provide geocoding for public-interest tools where commercial pricing is a barrier.
Background Address Normalisation
When self-hosted, normalize address strings in pipelines without per-call costs.
AI Agents With Map Tools
Ground LLM agents in real-world places via an MCP server backed by Nominatim.
geopy
Python geocoding library shipping a built-in Nominatim adapter.
GeoDjango
Django GIS framework with Nominatim geocoder support.
Leaflet Control Geocoder
Leaflet plugin offering a Nominatim geocoder out of the box.
OpenLayers
Web mapping library frequently paired with Nominatim for search.
QGIS MMQGIS
Desktop GIS plugin that batch-geocodes via Nominatim.
MapTiler Cloud Geocoding
Commercial hosted Nominatim-style API from MapTiler.
LocationIQ
Commercial Nominatim-compatible geocoding/routing platform.
Geocode Earth
Commercial Pelias deployment (Nominatim-compatible workloads).
OSMF Public Instance
Free hosted Nominatim under the OSMF Usage Policy (1 req/sec ceiling).
Self-Hosted Nominatim
BSD-2-Clause stack you import a planet dump into; no upstream rate limits.
Commercial Hosted Nominatim
Paid hosted offerings from MapTiler, LocationIQ, Geocode Earth and others.
opencollection: 1.0.0
info:
name: Nominatim API
version: 4.5.0
items:
- info:
name: Search
type: folder
items:
- info:
name: Search OSM Objects By Name Or Address
type: http
http:
method: GET
url: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search
params:
- name: q
value: ''
type: query
description: Free-form query string. Cannot be combined with structured query parameters.
- name: amenity
value: ''
type: query
description: Name or type of point of interest.
- name: street
value: ''
type: query
description: House number and street name.
- name: city
value: ''
type: query
- name: county
value: ''
type: query
- name: state
value: ''
type: query
- name: country
value: ''
type: query
- name: postalcode
value: ''
type: query
- name: format
value: ''
type: query
description: Output format.
- name: json_callback
value: ''
type: query
description: Wrap JSON output in a JSONP callback.
- name: limit
value: ''
type: query
description: Maximum number of returned results.
- name: addressdetails
value: ''
type: query
description: Include a breakdown of the address into elements.
- name: extratags
value: ''
type: query
description: Include additional information (Wikipedia link, opening hours, etc.).
- name: namedetails
value: ''
type: query
description: Include a full list of names for the result.
- name: accept-language
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Preferred language order for showing search results, in browser-style
format (e.g. `en-US,en;q=0.5`). Overrides the HTTP Accept-Language
header.
'
- name: countrycodes
value: ''
type: query
description: Comma-separated list of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes to limit results to.
- name: exclude_place_ids
value: ''
type: query
description: Comma-separated list of place IDs to exclude from the result set.
- name: viewbox
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Bounding box `x1,y1,x2,y2` (longitudes and latitudes) used to bias
results toward a geographic area.
'
- name: bounded
value: ''
type: query
description: When set, restrict results strictly to the viewbox.
- name: polygon_geojson
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as GeoJSON.
- name: polygon_kml
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as KML.
- name: polygon_svg
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as SVG.
- name: polygon_text
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as WKT.
- name: polygon_threshold
value: ''
type: query
description: Simplification tolerance for polygon output, in degrees.
- name: dedupe
value: ''
type: query
description: Remove duplicate hits from the result set.
- name: layer
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Restrict results to one or more feature layers. Comma-separated list of
`address`, `poi`, `railway`, `natural`, `manmade`.
'
- name: featureType
value: ''
type: query
description: Restrict search results to a single feature type.
- name: email
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Email address identifying you when making high-volume requests. Required
by the OSMF usage policy at sustained traffic levels.
'
- name: debug
value: ''
type: query
description: Return verbose HTML output containing internal debugging information.
docs: 'Forward-geocode a free-form or structured query and return matching
OSM objects. Use the free-form `q` parameter or one of the structured
parameters (`amenity`, `street`, `city`, `county`, `state`, `country`,
`postalcode`) — the two query styles cannot be combined.
'
- info:
name: Reverse
type: folder
items:
- info:
name: Reverse Geocode A Coordinate
type: http
http:
method: GET
url: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/reverse
params:
- name: lat
value: ''
type: query
description: Latitude of the coordinate to reverse geocode (WGS84).
- name: lon
value: ''
type: query
description: Longitude of the coordinate to reverse geocode (WGS84).
- name: zoom
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Level of administrative detail required. 3=country, 5=state, 8=county,
10=city, 12=town/borough, 13=village/suburb, 14=neighbourhood, 15=any
settlement, 16=major streets, 17=major and minor streets, 18=building.
'
- name: format
value: ''
type: query
description: Output format.
- name: json_callback
value: ''
type: query
description: Wrap JSON output in a JSONP callback.
- name: addressdetails
value: ''
type: query
description: Include a breakdown of the address into elements.
- name: extratags
value: ''
type: query
description: Include additional information (Wikipedia link, opening hours, etc.).
- name: namedetails
value: ''
type: query
description: Include a full list of names for the result.
- name: accept-language
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Preferred language order for showing search results, in browser-style
format (e.g. `en-US,en;q=0.5`). Overrides the HTTP Accept-Language
header.
'
- name: layer
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Restrict results to one or more feature layers. Comma-separated list of
`address`, `poi`, `railway`, `natural`, `manmade`.
'
- name: polygon_geojson
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as GeoJSON.
- name: polygon_kml
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as KML.
- name: polygon_svg
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as SVG.
- name: polygon_text
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as WKT.
- name: polygon_threshold
value: ''
type: query
description: Simplification tolerance for polygon output, in degrees.
- name: email
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Email address identifying you when making high-volume requests. Required
by the OSMF usage policy at sustained traffic levels.
'
- name: debug
value: ''
type: query
description: Return verbose HTML output containing internal debugging information.
docs: 'Find the closest OSM object to a latitude/longitude pair and return its
address information. The result is the closest suitable feature for the
requested zoom level rather than a literal address for the exact point.
'
- info:
name: Lookup
type: folder
items:
- info:
name: Look Up Address Details For OSM Objects
type: http
http:
method: GET
url: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/lookup
params:
- name: osm_ids
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Comma-separated list of OSM IDs each prefixed with type
(N=node, W=way, R=relation). Maximum 50 IDs per request.
'
- name: format
value: ''
type: query
description: Output format.
- name: json_callback
value: ''
type: query
description: Wrap JSON output in a JSONP callback.
- name: addressdetails
value: ''
type: query
description: Include a breakdown of the address into elements.
- name: extratags
value: ''
type: query
description: Include additional information (Wikipedia link, opening hours, etc.).
- name: namedetails
value: ''
type: query
description: Include a full list of names for the result.
- name: accept-language
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Preferred language order for showing search results, in browser-style
format (e.g. `en-US,en;q=0.5`). Overrides the HTTP Accept-Language
header.
'
- name: polygon_geojson
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as GeoJSON.
- name: polygon_kml
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as KML.
- name: polygon_svg
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as SVG.
- name: polygon_text
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as WKT.
- name: polygon_threshold
value: ''
type: query
description: Simplification tolerance for polygon output, in degrees.
- name: email
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Email address identifying you when making high-volume requests. Required
by the OSMF usage policy at sustained traffic levels.
'
- name: debug
value: ''
type: query
description: Return verbose HTML output containing internal debugging information.
docs: 'Look up address details for one or more OSM objects identified by their
OSM type and ID. Up to 50 IDs may be passed per request.
'
- info:
name: Details
type: folder
items:
- info:
name: Show Internal Place Details
type: http
http:
method: GET
url: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/details
params:
- name: osmtype
value: ''
type: query
description: OSM object type (N=node, W=way, R=relation).
- name: osmid
value: ''
type: query
description: OSM object ID.
- name: class
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Optional OSM tag key used to disambiguate between multiple places
originating from the same OSM object.
'
- name: place_id
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Internal Nominatim place identifier. Not portable across Nominatim
instances.
'
- name: json_callback
value: ''
type: query
description: Wrap JSON output in a JSONP callback.
- name: format
value: ''
type: query
description: Output format.
- name: addressdetails
value: ''
type: query
description: Include a breakdown of the address into elements.
- name: keywords
value: ''
type: query
description: Include name and address keywords used for indexing.
- name: linkedplaces
value: ''
type: query
description: Include details for linked places.
- name: hierarchy
value: ''
type: query
description: Include dependent POIs and addresses.
- name: group_hierarchy
value: ''
type: query
description: Group the hierarchy output by element type.
- name: polygon_geojson
value: ''
type: query
description: Output geometry as GeoJSON.
- name: accept-language
value: ''
type: query
description: 'Preferred language order for showing search results, in browser-style
format (e.g. `en-US,en;q=0.5`). Overrides the HTTP Accept-Language
header.
'
docs: 'Show internal details for an object. Intended for debugging — the
endpoint is not part of the stable API surface and the place_id is not
portable across Nominatim installations.
'
- info:
name: Status
type: folder
items:
- info:
name: Report Service And Database Status
type: http
http:
method: GET
url: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/status
params:
- name: format
value: ''
type: query
description: Response format.
docs: 'Report on the state of the Nominatim service and its underlying
database. Useful for health checks.
'
- info:
name: Deletable
type: folder
items:
- info:
name: List Objects Deleted From OSM But Retained In Nominatim
type: http
http:
method: GET
url: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/deletable
docs: 'List OSM objects that have been deleted upstream in OpenStreetMap but
are still present in the Nominatim database. Used for data quality
monitoring.
'
- info:
name: Polygons
type: folder
items:
- info:
name: List Problematic Polygon Geometries
type: http
http:
method: GET
url: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/polygons
docs: 'List polygons whose geometries the Nominatim importer flagged as
broken or otherwise problematic. Used for data quality monitoring.
'
bundled: true
