🌍 Photon Geocoder Scraper

🚀 Turn place names into coordinates and coordinates into addresses in one run. Powered by Photon by komoot on top of OpenStreetMap, with no API key required.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-06-04 · 📊 25 fields per record · Global coverage · Forward and reverse geocoding

Photon Geocoder Scraper takes any text query such as "Brandenburg Gate, Berlin" and returns ranked matching locations with latitude, longitude, full address parts, OSM identifiers, and a ready map link. It also works in reverse, turning a latitude and longitude pair into the nearest named place or address.

Coverage is worldwide because Photon indexes the global OpenStreetMap dataset. You can geocode landmarks, streets, house numbers, cities, regions, and countries, and read back structured fields like postcode, district, county, state, country, and country code whenever the underlying OSM object provides them.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Data engineers and analysts	Enrich address lists with coordinates
Logistics and delivery teams	Validate and standardize delivery points
Travel and mapping builders	Power search boxes and place autocomplete
Marketers and sales ops	Geocode leads for territory planning
Researchers and journalists	Map locations from open data

📋 What the Photon Geocoder Scraper does

• Forward geocoding: text query to one or more matching locations with coordinates.
• Reverse geocoding: a latitude and longitude pair to the nearest place or address.
• Returns clean structured address parts: name, street, house number, postcode, locality, district, city, county, state, country, and country code.
• Adds a composed displayName, an OpenStreetMap mapUrl, the bounding box extent, and the raw OSM identifiers osmId and osmType.
• Auto-detects mode from your input, so you never pick a mode manually.
• Language preference for result names where translations exist.

🎬 Full Demo (🚧 Coming soon)

⚙️ Input

Field	Key	Type	Description
Search Query	query	string	Place name or address for forward geocoding.
Result Language	language	string	Preferred name language. One of en, de, fr, it, es.
Latitude	latitude	string	Latitude for reverse geocoding.
Longitude	longitude	string	Longitude for reverse geocoding.
Max Items	maxItems	integer	Maximum locations returned. Free plan caps at 10.

Forward geocoding example:

{
    "query": "Brandenburg Gate, Berlin",
    "language": "en",
    "maxItems": 10
}

Reverse geocoding example:

{
    "latitude": "52.5162699",
    "longitude": "13.3777034",
    "language": "en",
    "maxItems": 5
}

⚠️ Good to Know: Provide a Search Query for forward mode, or both Latitude and Longitude for reverse mode. If a query and coordinates are both present, forward geocoding takes priority. Address parts such as house number, postcode, or state appear only when the matched OpenStreetMap object actually carries them, so a city result will not include a house number while a building result will.

📊 Output

Each record includes the following fields.

Field	Key	Description
🧭 Query Mode	queryMode	"forward" or "reverse".
🔎 Query	query	The query or coordinate pair you sent.
📍 Display Name	displayName	Readable composed address line.
🏷 Name	name	Primary place or feature name.
🧭 Latitude	latitude	Latitude of the location.
🧭 Longitude	longitude	Longitude of the location.
🗂 Category	category	OSM key, for example place or tourism.
🗂 Category Detail	categoryDetail	OSM value, for example city or attraction.
🏷 Type	type	Photon result type, for example house or city.
🏠 House Number	houseNumber	Street number when available.
🛣 Street	street	Street name when available.
✉️ Postcode	postcode	Postal code when available.
🏘 Locality	locality	Locality or neighborhood when available.
🗺 District	district	District when available.
🏙 City	city	City when available.
🗺 County	county	County when available.
🗺 State	state	State or region when available.
🌍 Country	country	Country name when available.
🌐 Country Code	countryCode	Two letter country code when available.
🆔 OSM ID	osmId	OpenStreetMap object identifier.
🔠 OSM Type	osmType	OpenStreetMap object type, N, W, or R.
📐 Extent	extent	Bounding box as four coordinates when available.
🔗 Map URL	mapUrl	OpenStreetMap link centered on the location.
🕒 Scraped At	scrapedAt	Timestamp of the run.
❌ Error	error	Null on success, a message on failure.

Real sample records from a live run:

{
    "queryMode": "forward",
    "query": "Pariser Platz 1, Berlin",
    "displayName": "Brandenburg Gate Pariser Platz 1, 10117, Berlin, Mitte, Germany",
    "name": "Brandenburg Gate",
    "latitude": 52.5162699,
    "longitude": 13.3777034,
    "category": "tourism",
    "categoryDetail": "attraction",
    "type": "house",
    "houseNumber": "1",
    "street": "Pariser Platz",
    "postcode": "10117",
    "locality": "Friedrich-Wilhelm-Stadt",
    "district": "Mitte",
    "city": "Berlin",
    "county": null,
    "state": null,
    "country": "Germany",
    "countryCode": "DE",
    "osmId": 518071791,
    "osmType": "W",
    "extent": [13.3775798, 52.5164328, 13.3778251, 52.516117],
    "mapUrl": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=52.5162699&mlon=13.3777034#map=17/52.5162699/13.3777034",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-04T19:34:49.669Z",
    "error": null
}

{
    "queryMode": "forward",
    "query": "Berlin",
    "displayName": "Berlin, Germany",
    "name": "Berlin",
    "latitude": 52.5173885,
    "longitude": 13.3951309,
    "category": "place",
    "categoryDetail": "city",
    "type": "city",
    "houseNumber": null,
    "street": null,
    "postcode": null,
    "locality": null,
    "district": null,
    "city": null,
    "county": null,
    "state": null,
    "country": "Germany",
    "countryCode": "DE",
    "osmId": 62422,
    "osmType": "R",
    "extent": [13.088345, 52.6755087, 13.7611609, 52.3382448],
    "mapUrl": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=52.5173885&mlon=13.3951309#map=17/52.5173885/13.3951309",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-04T19:34:21.967Z",
    "error": null
}

{
    "queryMode": "forward",
    "query": "Berlin",
    "displayName": "Berlin, 03570, New Hampshire, United States",
    "name": "Berlin",
    "latitude": 44.4696602,
    "longitude": -71.1810703,
    "category": "place",
    "categoryDetail": "city",
    "type": "city",
    "houseNumber": null,
    "street": null,
    "postcode": "03570",
    "locality": null,
    "district": null,
    "city": null,
    "county": "Coos",
    "state": "New Hampshire",
    "country": "United States",
    "countryCode": "US",
    "osmId": 170184,
    "osmType": "R",
    "extent": [-71.397858, 44.528436, -71.123642, 44.445057],
    "mapUrl": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=44.4696602&mlon=-71.1810703#map=17/44.4696602/-71.1810703",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-04T19:34:22.050Z",
    "error": null
}

✨ Why choose this Actor

• No API key and no account on the source side. Photon is open and keyless.
• Two modes in one tool. Forward and reverse are auto-detected from your input.
• Global reach from the OpenStreetMap dataset, from landmarks to whole countries.
• Clean and predictable records with a composed display name and a map link.
• Honest fields. Address parts appear only when the matched object carries them, never padded with fake values.

📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Coverage	Key required	Reverse mode	Structured address parts
Photon Geocoder Scraper	Global OSM	No	Yes	Yes
Paid geocoding APIs	Global	Usually yes	Yes	Yes, with quotas and billing
Manual map lookups	Manual	No	Manual	Copy by hand
Single endpoint scripts	Varies	Varies	Often forward only	Often raw, unmapped

🚀 How to use

1. Create a free Apify account using this sign-up link.
2. Open the Photon Geocoder Scraper in Apify Console.
3. Enter a Search Query for forward geocoding, or a Latitude and Longitude pair for reverse geocoding.
4. Set Max Items and an optional result language, then click Start.
5. Watch the run finish and browse or connect the results to your own systems.

💼 Business use cases

Logistics and delivery

Need	How this helps
Standardize delivery points	Convert customer addresses to precise coordinates.
Validate new stops	Confirm a place exists and read back its parts.

Sales and marketing operations

Need	How this helps
Territory planning	Geocode leads to assign regions by state or county.
List enrichment	Add coordinates and country codes to contact lists.

Product and engineering

Need	How this helps
Search and autocomplete	Back a place search box with ranked matches.
Map features	Pin results using the included map link and extent.

Research and analytics

Need	How this helps
Spatial datasets	Build location tables from open address text.
Reverse lookups	Label scattered coordinate samples with place names.

🔌 Automating Photon Geocoder Scraper

Connect runs to the tools you already use:

• Make and Zapier to trigger geocoding from new rows or form entries.
• Slack to post a summary when a batch finishes.
• Airbyte to sync results into a warehouse.
• GitHub Actions to schedule recurring enrichment jobs.
• Google Drive to archive result snapshots for your team.

🌟 Beyond business use cases

• Research: map study sites and survey points from text descriptions.
• Personal: plan trips by resolving landmark names into map pins.
• Non-profit: geocode service locations for community resource maps.
• Experimentation: prototype geocoding features without paid quotas.

🤖 Ask an AI assistant

Paste a result into your assistant of choice and ask for the next step:

• ChatGPT
• Claude
• Perplexity
• Microsoft Copilot

Example prompt: "Here is a geocoding result with latitude, longitude, and address parts. Group these places by country and country code and summarize the coverage."

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an API key for Photon? No. Photon by komoot is keyless and open, so you only need your Apify account.

What is the difference between forward and reverse geocoding? Forward turns a place name or address into coordinates. Reverse turns a coordinate pair into the nearest named place or address.

How do I choose the mode? You do not. The mode is auto-detected. A Search Query runs forward, a Latitude and Longitude pair runs reverse.

What happens if I send both a query and coordinates? Forward geocoding takes priority and the coordinates are ignored for that run.

Why are some address fields empty? Address parts like house number, postcode, or state appear only when the matched OpenStreetMap object actually carries them. A country or city result will not include a house number.

How many results can I get per query? Up to your Max Items value. Free plans are capped at 10 results per run.

Which languages are supported for names? English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish where the underlying data provides translated names.

Is the data accurate and current? Results come from OpenStreetMap through Photon, so accuracy reflects community OSM data, which is broad and frequently updated.

Can I geocode many addresses at once? Each run resolves a single query. Use an automation platform to loop over a list and trigger one run per address.

What is the map link for? The mapUrl opens OpenStreetMap centered on the location, which is handy for quick visual checks.

What does the extent field mean? It is the bounding box of the feature as four coordinates, useful for zooming a map to fit the place.

Is this affiliated with komoot or OpenStreetMap? No. This is an independent tool that queries the public Photon service. See the disclaimer below.

🔌 Integrate with any app

Results are available through the Apify API and webhooks, so you can pull records into spreadsheets, databases, dashboards, or any service that speaks HTTP.

🔗 Recommended Actors

• Nominatim OSM Scraper for an alternative OpenStreetMap geocoding source.
• US Census Geocoder Scraper for United States address matching.
• GeoNames Places Scraper for place name and administrative data.
• Overpass OSM POI Scraper for points of interest from OpenStreetMap.
• Address Normalizer to clean and standardize raw address text.

💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection.

🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form

⚠️ Disclaimer: independent tool, not affiliated with komoot, Photon, or OpenStreetMap. Only publicly available data is collected.