Geocoder: Forward Geocoding API for Place Names & Addresses

Turn any place name, landmark, or address into precise latitude and longitude — one at a time or in bulk. Geocoder is a lightweight Apify Actor that works as a simple forward geocoding API for developers, data teams, and no-code automation.

Quick answer: Give Geocoder a place (like "Eiffel Tower") or a list of places, and it returns clean coordinates you can use right away: name, country_code, lat, and lng.

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At a glance

What it does	Forward geocoding (text → coordinates)
Input	A single place, or a list of places
Output	query, name, country_code, lat, lng
Best for	Bulk address and place lookups, data enrichment

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What is forward geocoding?

Forward geocoding is the process of converting a text description of a location — a place name, landmark, or street address — into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude). It's the opposite of reverse geocoding, which starts with coordinates and returns an address.

If you've ever typed an address into a map and gotten a pin back, you've used forward geocoding. This actor does the same thing, but at scale.

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Key features

• Place names to coordinates — landmarks, cities, addresses, or business names.
• Bulk geocoding — send one place or a whole list in a single run.
• Fast — even long lists finish quickly.
• Clean, normalized output — the same tidy fields every time: query, name, country_code, lat, lng.
• Failures don't stop the run — a place that can't be found returns an error entry while the rest keep going.

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Input

Geocoder accepts two kinds of input. Use either one.

Single place — place

A single place name, landmark, or address.

{
  "place": "Eiffel Tower, Paris"
}

Multiple places — places

A list of places to geocode in one run.

{
  "places": [
    "45 Wall St, New York",
    "Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, Japan",
    "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA",
    "10 Downing St, London, UK"
  ]
}

Field	Type	Description
place	string	One place name, landmark, or address (up to 100 characters)
places	array of strings	A list of places to geocode in one run

If you set both, places takes priority. If you leave both empty, the actor geocodes a default place — 45 Wall St, New York — so you can try it instantly.

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How it works

1. You provide a place or a list of places.
2. Geocoder looks up each place and turns it into coordinates.
3. Clean results are pushed to the Apify Dataset.

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Output

Every place that resolves successfully becomes one item in the dataset:

{
  "query": "Taj Mahal",
  "name": "Taj Mahal, Dharmapuri, Forest Colony, Tajganj, Agra, Uttar Pradesh",
  "country_code": "IN",
  "lat": 27.175144799999998,
  "lng": 78.0421422
}

Field	Description
query	The exact text you searched for
name	The full resolved place name or formatted address
country_code	Country in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format (for example, IN or US)
lat	Latitude
lng	Longitude

If a place can't be found, you still get an item — just with an error message instead of coordinates:

{
  "query": "asdkjfhaskjdfh zzzz 12345",
  "error": "Place not found"
}

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Use cases

• Enrich business data with coordinates so you can map customers, stores, or leads.
• Turn delivery or shipping addresses into map pins.
• Geo-tag photos, events, or assets at scale.
• Clean up messy location lists before analytics or reporting.
• Power location-based features in your own app or dashboard.

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FAQ

What's the difference between forward geocoding and reverse geocoding? Forward geocoding goes from text to coordinates ("Eiffel Tower" → 48.858, 2.294). Reverse geocoding goes the other way, from coordinates to an address.

How many places can I geocode in one run? There's no hard limit — send a single place or a long list.

What happens if a place can't be found? The run keeps going. That place gets its own item with an error field, and everything else is geocoded normally.

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Getting started

1. Open the Geocoder actor on Apify.
2. Enter a place or a list of places.
3. Click Start, then open the Dataset tab to see your results.

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Why Geocoder?

• Simple — one field for a single place, one for a list.
• Fast — even long lists finish quickly.
• Reliable — one bad place won't break the run.
• Tidy output — the same clean fields every time, ready for Excel, a database, or your code.

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Questions or ideas? Get in touch.