dataservices-api/doc/geocoding_functions.md

Geocoding Functions

The geocoder functions allow you to match your data with geometries on your map. This geocoding service can be used programatically to geocode datasets via the CartoDB SQL API. It is fed from Open Data and it serves geometries for countries, provinces, states, cities, postal codes, IP addresses and street addresses. CartoDB provides functions for several different categories of geocoding through the Data Services API.

This service is subject to quota limitations, and extra fees may apply. View the Quota Information section for details, and recommendations, about to quota consumption.

Here is an example of how to geocode a single country:

https://{username}.cartodb.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('USA')&api_key={api_key}

In order to geocode an existent CartoDB dataset, an SQL UPDATE statement must be used to populate the geometry column in the dataset with the results of the Data Services API. For example, if the column where you are storing the country names for each one of our rows is called country_column, run the following statement in order to geocode the dataset:

https://{username}.cartodb.com/api/v2/sql?q=UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin0_

The following geocoding functions are available, grouped by categories.

Country Geocoder

This function geocodes country names by transforming them into country border geometries. It recognizes the names of the different countries either by different synonyms (such as their English name or their endonym), or by ISO (ISO2 or ISO3) codes.

cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon(country_name text)

Geocodes a country name into a polygon data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
country_name	text	Name of the country

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('France')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon({country_column})

Level-1 Administrative Regions Geocoder

This function geocodes the Level 1, or NUTS-1, administrative divisions (or units) of countries and transforms them into polygon geometries. For example, a "state" in the United States, "départements" in France, or an autonomous community in Spain.

cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon(admin1_name text)

Geocodes Level-1 administrative regions into polygon data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
admin1_name	text	Name of the province/state

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon('Alicante')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon({province_column})

cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon(admin1_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes Level-1 administrative regions, and country names, into polygon data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
admin1_name	text	Name of the province/state
country_name	text	Name of the country in which the province/state is located

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon('Alicante', 'Spain')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon({province_column}, {country_column})

City Geocoder

This function geocodes the names of cities and transforms them to a point geometries. It is recommended to use geocoding functions that require more defined parameters — this returns more accurate results when several cities have the same name. If there are duplicate results for a city name, the city name with the highest population will be returned.

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text)

Geocodes city names into point data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
city_name	text	Name of the city

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('Barcelona')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_namedplace_point({city_column})

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes city names, and country names, into point data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
city_name	text	Name of the city
country_name	text	Name of the country in which the city is located

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('Barcelona', 'Spain')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_namedplace_point({city_column}, 'Spain')

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text, admin1_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes city names, level-1 administrative regions, and country names into point data. This is recommended for the most accurate geocoding of city data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
city_name	text	Name of the city
admin1_name	text	Name of the province/state in which the city is located
country_name	text	Name of the country in which the city is located

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('New York', 'New York', 'USA')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_namedplace_point({city_column}, {province_column}, 'USA')

Postal Code Geocoder

This function geocodes postal codes and country names and transforms them to points or polygon geometries. The postal code polygon geocoder covers the United States, France, Australia and Canada; a request for a different country will return an empty response.

Note: For the USA, US Census Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTA) are used to reference geocodes for USPS postal codes service areas. See the FAQs about datasets and data for details.

cdb_geocode_postalcode_polygon(postal_code text, country_name text)

Geocodes the postal code, and country name, into polygon data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
postal_code	text	Postal code
country_name	text	Name of the country in which the postal code is located

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_postalcode_polygon('11211', 'USA')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_postalcode_polygon({postal_code_column}, 'USA')

cdb_geocode_postalcode_point(code text, country_name text)

Geocodes postal codes, and country names, into point data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
postal_code	text	Postal code
country_name	text	Name of the country in which the postal code is located

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_postalcode_point('11211', 'USA')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_postalcode_point({postal_code_column}, 'USA')

IP Addresses Geocoder

This function geocodes both IPv4, and IPv6, IP addresses and transforms them into point geometries. This is useful if you are analyzing location based data, based on a set of user's IP addresses.

cdb_geocode_ipaddress_point(ip_address text)

Geocodes IP addresses, and country names into point data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
ip_address	text	Postal code
country_name	text	IPv4 or IPv6 address

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

SELECT cdb_geocode_ipaddress_point('102.23.34.1')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_ipaddress_point('102.23.34.1')

Street-Level Geocoder

This function geocodes street addresses and transforms them into point geometries. CartoDB uses several different service providers for street-level geocoding, depending on your platform. If you access CartoDB on a Google Cloud Platform, Google Maps geocoding is applied. All other platform users are provided with HERE geocoding services. Additional service providers will be implemented in the future.

This service is subject to quota limitations, and extra fees may apply. View the Quota information for details and recommendations about quota consumption.

cdb_geocode_street_point(search_text text, [city text], [state text], [country text])

Geocodes a complete street address into point data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
searchtext	text	searchtext contains free-form text containing address elements. You can specify the searchtext parameter by itself, or with other parameters, to narrow your search. For example, you can specify the state or country parameters, along with a free-form address in the searchtext field.
city	text	(Optional) Name of the city.
state	text	(Optional) Name of the state.
country	text	(Optional) Name of the country.

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

Using SELECT for geocoding functions

SELECT cdb_geocode_street_point('651 Lombard Street, San Francisco, California, United States')
SELECT cdb_geocode_street_point('651 Lombard Street', 'San Francisco')
SELECT cdb_geocode_street_point('651 Lombard Street', 'San Francisco', 'California')
SELECT cdb_geocode_street_point('651 Lombard Street', 'San Francisco', 'California', 'United States')
SELECT cdb_geocode_street_point('651 Lombard Street San Francisco California', NULL, NULL, 'USA')

Update

UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_street_point({street_name_column})