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_polygon('USA')&api_key={api_key}

Notice that you can make use of Postgres or PostGIS functions in your Data Services API requests, as the result is a geometry that can be handled by the system. For example, suppose you need to retrieve the centroid of a specific country, you can wrap the resulting geometry from the geocoder functions inside the PostGIS ST_Centroid function:

https://{username}.cartodb.com/api/v2/sql?q=UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = ST_Centroid(cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('USA'))&api_key={api_key}

The following geocoding functions are available, grouped by categories.

Country Geocoder

This function geocodes your data 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 the text name of a country into a country_name geometry, displayed as polygon data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
country_name	text	Name of the country

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('France')

Level-1 Administrative Regions Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into polygon geometries for Level 1, or NUTS-1, administrative divisions (or units) of countries. 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 the name of the province/state into a Level-1 administrative region, displayed as a polygon geometry.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
admin1_name	text	Name of the province/state

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon('Alicante')

cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon(admin1_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes the name of the province/state for a specified country into a Level-1 administrative region, displayed as a polygon geometry.

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

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon('Alicante', 'Spain')

City Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into point geometries for names of cities. 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 the text name of a city into a named place geometry, displayed as point data.

Arguments

Name	Type	Description
city_name	text	Name of the city

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('Barcelona')

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes the text name of a city for a specified country into a named place point geometry.

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

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('Barcelona', 'Spain')

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text, admin1_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes your data into a named place point geometry, containing the text name of a city, for a specified province/state and country. 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

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('New York', 'New York', 'USA')

Postal Code Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into point, or polygon, geometries for postal codes. 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)

Goecodes the postal code for a specified country into a polygon geometry.

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

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_postalcode_polygon('11211', 'USA')

cdb_geocode_postalcode_point(code text, country_name text)

Goecodes the postal code for a specified country into a point geometry.

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

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_postalcode_point('11211', 'USA')

IP Addresses Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into point geometries for IP addresses. 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 a postal code from a specified country into an IP address, displayed as a point geometry.

Arguments

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

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_ipaddress_point('102.23.34.1')

Street-Level Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into a point geometry for a street address. 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 address into a single street geometry, displayed as 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

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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

Insert a geocoded row into a table

INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_street_point('651 Lombard Street', 'San Francisco', 'California', 'United States')