# Place Output
-The [\reverse](Reverse.md), [\search](Search.md) and [\lookup](Lookup.md)
+The [/reverse](Reverse.md), [/search](Search.md) and [/lookup](Lookup.md)
API calls produce very similar output which is explained in this section.
There is one section for each format which is selectable via the `format`
parameter.
The possible fields are:
- * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID
+ * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID ([see notes](#place_id-is-not-a-persistent-id))
* `osm_type`, `osm_id` - reference to the OSM object
- * `boundingbox` - area of corner coordinates
+ * `boundingbox` - area of corner coordinates ([see notes](#boundingbox))
* `lat`, `lon` - latitude and longitude of the centroid of the object
* `display_name` - full comma-separated address
* `class`, `type` - key and value of the main OSM tag
* `importance` - computed importance rank
* `icon` - link to class icon (if available)
- * `address` - dictionary of address details (only with `addressdetails=1`)
+ * `address` - dictionary of address details (only with `addressdetails=1`,
+ [see notes](#addressdetails))
* `extratags` - dictionary with additional useful tags like website or maxspeed
(only with `extratags=1`)
* `namedetails` - dictionary with full list of available names including ref etc.
### GeoJSON
-This format follows the [RFC7946](http://geojson.org). Every feature includes
+This format follows the [RFC7946](https://geojson.org). Every feature includes
a bounding box (`bbox`).
The feature list has the following fields:
- * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID
+ * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID ([see notes](#place_id-is-not-a-persistent-id))
* `osm_type`, `osm_id` - reference to the OSM object
* `category`, `type` - key and value of the main OSM tag
* `display_name` - full comma-separated address
* `place_rank` - class search rank
* `importance` - computed importance rank
* `icon` - link to class icon (if available)
- * `address` - dictionary of address details (only with `addressdetails=1`)
- * `extratags` - dictionary with additional useful tags like website or maxspeed
+ * `address` - dictionary of address details (only with `addressdetails=1`,
+ [see notes](#addressdetails))
+ * `extratags` - dictionary with additional useful tags like `website` or `maxspeed`
(only with `extratags=1`)
* `namedetails` - dictionary with full list of available names including ref etc.
* `type` - value of the main tag of the object (e.g. residential, restaurant, ...)
* `label` - full comma-separated address
* `name` - localised name of the place
- * `housenumber`, `street`, `locality`, `postcode`, `city`,
- `district`, `county`, `state`, `country` -
+ * `housenumber`, `street`, `locality`, `district`, `postcode`, `city`,
+ `county`, `state`, `country` -
provided when it can be determined from the address
- (see [this issue](https://github.com/openstreetmap/Nominatim/issues/1080) for
- current limitations on the correctness of the address) and `addressdetails=1`
- was given
* `admin` - list of localised names of administrative boundaries (only with `addressdetails=1`)
Use `polygon_geojson` to output the full geometry of the object instead
```
<reversegeocode timestamp="Sat, 11 Aug 18 11:53:21 +0000"
- attribution="Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright"
+ attribution="Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright"
querystring="lat=48.400381&lon=11.745876&zoom=5&format=xml">
<result place_id="179509537" osm_type="relation" osm_id="2145268" ref="BY"
lat="48.9467562" lon="11.4038717"
The place information can be found in the `result` element. The attributes of that element contain:
- * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID
+ * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID ([see notes](#place_id-is-not-a-persistent-id))
* `osm_type`, `osm_id` - reference to the OSM object
* `ref` - content of `ref` tag if it exists
* `lat`, `lon` - latitude and longitude of the centroid of the object
- * `boundingbox` - comma-separated list of corner coordinates
+ * `boundingbox` - comma-separated list of corner coordinates ([see notes](#boundingbox))
-The full address address of the result can be found in the content of the
+The full address of the result can be found in the content of the
`result` element as a comma-separated list.
Additional information requested with `addressdetails=1`, `extratags=1` and
```
<searchresults timestamp="Sat, 11 Aug 18 11:55:35 +0000"
- attribution="Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright"
+ attribution="Data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright"
querystring="london" polygon="false" exclude_place_ids="100149"
more_url="https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search.php?q=london&addressdetails=1&extratags=1&exclude_place_ids=100149&format=xml&accept-language=en-US%2Cen%3Bq%3D0.7%2Cde%3Bq%3D0.3">
<place place_id="100149" osm_type="node" osm_id="107775" place_rank="15"
boundingbox="51.3473219,51.6673219,-0.2876474,0.0323526" lat="51.5073219" lon="-0.1276474"
- display_name="London, Greater London, England, SW1A 2DU, United Kingdom"
+ display_name="London, Greater London, England, SW1A 2DU, United Kingdom"
class="place" type="city" importance="0.9654895765402"
icon="https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/images/mapicons/poi_place_city.p.20.png">
<extratags>
The place information can be found in the `place` elements, of which there may
be more than one. The attributes of that element contain:
- * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID
+ * `place_id` - reference to the Nominatim internal database ID ([see notes](#place_id-is-not-a-persistent-id))
* `osm_type`, `osm_id` - reference to the OSM object
* `ref` - content of `ref` tag if it exists
* `lat`, `lon` - latitude and longitude of the centroid of the object
- * `boundingbox` - comma-separated list of corner coordinates
+ * `boundingbox` - comma-separated list of corner coordinates ([see notes](#boundingbox))
* `place_rank` - class search rank
* `display_name` - full comma-separated address
* `class`, `type` - key and value of the main OSM tag
Additional information requested with `extratags=1` and `namedetails=1` can
be found in extra elements as sub-element of each place.
+
+## Notes on field values
+
+### place_id is not a persistent id
+
+The `place_id` is created when a Nominatim database gets installed. A
+single place will have a different value on another server or even when
+the same data gets re-imported. It's thus not useful to treat it as
+permanent for later use.
+
+The combination `osm_type`+`osm_id` is slighly better but remember in
+OpenStreetMap mappers can delete, split, recreate places (and those
+get a new `osm_id`), there is no link between those old and new ids.
+Places can also change their meaning without changing their `osm_id`,
+e.g. when a restaurant is retagged as supermarket. For a more in-depth
+discussion see [Permanent ID](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Permanent_ID).
+
+Nominatim merges some places (e.g. center node of a city with the boundary
+relation) so `osm_type`+`osm_id`+`class_name` would be more unique.
+
+### boundingbox
+
+Comma separated list of min latitude, max latitude, min longitude, max longitude.
+The whole planet would be `-90,90,-180,180`.
+
+Can we used to pan and center the map on the result, for example with leafletjs
+mapping library
+`map.fitBounds([[bbox[0],bbox[2]],[bbox[1],bbox[3]]], {padding: [20, 20], maxzoom: 16});`
+
+Bounds crossing the antimeridian have a min latitude -180 and max latitude 180,
+essentially covering the planet (See [issue 184](https://github.com/openstreetmap/Nominatim/issues/184)).
+
+### addressdetails
+
+Address details in the xml and json formats return a list of names together
+with a designation label. Per default the following labels may appear:
+
+ * continent
+ * country, country_code
+ * region, state, state_district, county
+ * municipality, city, town, village
+ * city_district, district, borough, suburb, subdivision
+ * hamlet, croft, isolated_dwelling
+ * neighbourhood, allotments, quarter
+ * city_block, residental, farm, farmyard, industrial, commercial, retail
+ * road
+ * house_number, house_name
+ * emergency, historic, military, natural, landuse, place, railway,
+ man_made, aerialway, boundary, amenity, aeroway, club, craft, leisure,
+ office, mountain_pass, shop, tourism, bridge, tunnel, waterway
+
+They roughly correspond to the classification of the OpenStreetMap data
+according to either the `place` tag or the main key of the object.
projects / nominatim.git / blobdiff