# Nominatim

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/providers/nominatim/  
**Website:** https://nominatim.org/  
**APIs profiled:** 7

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).

## Kin Score — 39.7 / 100 (developing)

Scored 2026-08-20 under rubric 0.12.0. Trend: flat (+0.0 from 39.7).

| Facet | Score |
|---|---|
| Discoverability | 81.5 |
| Contract Quality | 64.2 |
| Governance | 25.0 |
| Contract Governance | 25.0 |
| Operational Transparency | 28.9 |
| Developer Ergonomics | 11.9 |
| Commercial Clarity | 31.6 |
| Access Clarity | 31.6 |

## Agent readiness — 28.1 (agent-aware)

| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Spec Presence | yes |
| Agentic Access | derived |
| Reversibility Documented | na |
| MCP Server | no |
| Auth Clarity | no |
| Idempotency | na |
| Error Semantics | no |
| OpenAPI Examples | partial |
| Rate Limit Signal | documented |
| Event Surface Described | no |
| Agent Skills | no |
| Well Known Catalog | no |
| Consent Identity | no |
| Agent Card | no |
| Dry Run Mode | na |

## Access

Unknown — onboarding: unknown, pricing: unknown, trial: no (confidence: low).

## APIs (7)

- **Nominatim Deletable API** — Objects removed from OpenStreetMap but retained in Nominatim.
- **Nominatim Details API** — Internal place details, intended for debugging.
- **Nominatim Lookup API** — Look up address details for OSM objects by their OSM ID.
- **Nominatim Polygons API** — Problematic polygon data detected by the system.
- **Nominatim Reverse API** — Reverse geocoding — find the closest OSM object to a coordinate.
- **Nominatim Search API** — Forward geocoding — search OSM objects by name or address.
- **Nominatim Status API** — Service and database status reporting.

## Agentic access (1)

- **Nominatim Agentic Access** — 7 operations

## Security (1)

- **Nominatim Domain Security** — TLSv1.2 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

## Plans (1)

- **Nominatim Plans Pricing**

## Use cases (5)

- **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.

## Tags

Geocoding, OpenStreetMap, Maps, Location Services, Open-Source, Public APIs

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/providers/nominatim/). Scores are computed from the provider's own public artifacts under a published rubric.