Top Geocoding and Location APIs# Geocoding Location APIs
## About geocoding location APIs
Calculate travel durations and distances, and get directions and correct addresses with geocoding location APIs.
## What is a geocoding location API?
A geocoding location application programming interface (API) is a service that enables developers to retrieve addresses and landmark geocoordinate information.
## How does a geocoding location API work?
A geocoding location API converts address descriptions into latitude and longitude coordinates that the computer can read. Geocoding APIs use the GET method. It returns responses in JSON or XML format.
## Who is an API for latitude and longitude for exactly?
Developers that want to easily add distance calculation and mapping functionality to their applications will find latitude and longitude APIs useful.
Businesses in retail, real estate, travel, and other industries where consumers require accurate directions can also benefit from using applications with location APIs.
## Why is an API for latitude and longitude important?
Latitude and longitude APIs are especially helpful to new developers because it makes coding simple. Addresses sometimes change, but coordinates for latitude and longitude stay the same. To manually research coordinates would be impractical due to the time it would take to complete. Also, there is a high risk of inaccuracy with manual calculations.
Applications with driving distance mapping are important to businesses that have physical locations. Restaurants and retail stores are a couple of examples. If customers cannot find the exact location of a business it wants to visit, the business will miss sales opportunities.
## What can you expect from geocoding APIs?
Developers can expect accurate geocoding with less time spent manually coding. And businesses can provide website visitors with a way to locate their business and obtain driving directions to the nearest location if they have more than one.
## Are there examples of free APIs for geocoding?
RapidAPI's Marketplace has plenty of location freemium APIs from which developers can choose. For instance, TrueWay Matrix by Trueway is a driving distance calculation API that returns data based on live or predictive traffic information. The free Basic plan for individuals has a hard limit of 1,500 requests per day at the rate of two requests per second.
Address Correction and Geocoding by Yaddress is an API that retrieves the correct postal address, along with geocodes. It validates an address and then standardizes it, which is to place the data into appropriate fields to make it readable. Its one-plan-for-all Basic is free and includes unlimited requests.
## Best Geocoding and Location APIs
1. [MapTiles](https://rapidapi.com/MapTilesApi/api/maptiles)
2. [Telize](https://rapidapi.com/fcambus/api/telize)
3. [TrueWay Matrix](https://rapidapi.com/trueway/api/trueway-matrix)
4. [Geocoder US Census Bureau](https://rapidapi.com/eec19846/api/geocoder-united-states-census-bureau)
5. [Google Maps Geocoding](https://rapidapi.com/googlecloud/api/google-maps-geocoding)
6. [boundaries-io](https://rapidapi.com/VanitySoft/api/boundaries-io-1)
7. [GeoDB Cities](https://rapidapi.com/wirefreethought/api/geodb-cities)
8. [City Geo Location Lookup](https://rapidapi.com/dev132/api/city-geo-location-lookup)
## Geocoding and Location API SDKs
All geocoding and location APIs are supported and made available in [multiple developer programming languages and SDKs](https://docs.rapidapi.com/v2.0/docs/getting-started-with-rapidapi-sdks) including:
1. Node.js
2. PHP
3. Python
4. Ruby
5. Objective-C
6. Java (Android)
7. C# (.NET)
8. cURL
Just select your preference from any API endpoints page.
[Sign up today for free on RapidAPI](https://rapidapi.com/signup) to begin using Geocoding and Location APIs!
US Zipcode, County, City, and State Boundaries API:
A simple & very fast API that will allow you to integrate multiple GeoJson US boundaries results into your apps and systems.
This API is designed to be used programatically for optimal performance. When using the MashApe UI for queries expect significant latency issues on large result sets!
Telize offers a JSON IP and GeoIP REST API allowing to get a visitor IP address and to query location information from any IP address. It outputs JSON-encoded IP geolocation data, and supports both Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) and JSONP.
Geocoding is the process of converting addresses (like "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA") into geographic coordinates (like latitude 37.423021 and longitude -122.083739), which you can use to place markers on a map, or position the map.
Fast and accurate geocoding API that supports IP address geocoding, extended typo correction, postal code geocoding, returns various localization data (time zone, currency, language).
The Zip Code API provides the following functions: Distance Between Zip Code API - The API allows you to quickly and easily figure out the distance between zip codes.Zip Codes in Radius API - You can use this API to find all zip codes within a given radius from another zip code.Zip Code to City and State API and Zip Code to Latitude/Longitude API - The API can convert a zip code to the primary location for the zip code. This includes the city, state, latitude, and longitude for the primary location.City to Zip Code - This API looks up the Zip Code based on the City and State.
Census geocoder provides interactive & programmatic (REST) access to users interested in matching addresses to geographic locations and entities containing those addresses.
The TransLoc PublicAPI is a RESTful API which allows you to incorporate real-time vehicle tracking information into your web or mobile applications. It exposes several resources that allow you to access real-time information about transit systems tracked by TransLoc Inc.
UK Postal Code(ex. ZE1 0AE), Sector, District, Boundaries API:
A simple & very fast API that will allow you to integrate multiple GeoJson UK Unit and sector level boundaries result into your apps and systems.
This API is designed to be used programatically for optimal performance. When using the MashApe UI for queries expect significant latency issues on large result sets!