Forward place lookup
Search human-entered place names and return normalized city, administrative area, region, and country records.
City geocoding use case
City geocoding API for integrations
PlaceField helps turn a user's city, region, or country search into a structured place record with a stable ID, hierarchy, country, and coordinates when available. Use it when your product needs place-level geocoding for apps, workflows, or forms, not full address geocoding or maps infrastructure.
Coordinates included
Store latitude and longitude alongside country, hierarchy, label, place type, and stable PlaceField IDs.
Not address geocoding
PlaceField does not parse street addresses, validate postal addresses, reverse geocode coordinates, search POIs, or render maps.
Where this fits
Many products reach for a geocoding API when they only need a user or record's broad location. If your workflow needs city, region, country, and coordinates, PlaceField can be the smaller tool.
Good fits include backend normalization, signup forms, profile locations, marketplaces, CRM records, directories, communities, and privacy-friendly city-level search.
Example request
GET https://api.placefield.dev/v1/locations/autocomplete?q=paris&typePreset=default&geoBias=none
Authorization: Bearer pf_live_xxxGeocoding-style data without address scope
PlaceField returns the data many integrations wanted from geocoding in the first place: a canonical place, administrative context, country, and coordinates. It keeps street addresses, businesses, venues, routes, and map UI out of the result set.
Normalize locations
Store a stable ID and place type instead of only free-text city names.
Rank by country
Bias with a single country, restrict with a country allowlist, or prefer requester-country and nearby results.
Use API or widget
Call the API directly or add the JavaScript widget when your product also needs browser autocomplete UI.
Keep scope clear
Use a full geocoding or address product when exact streets, postal addresses, or coordinate-to-address lookup matter.
Need a broader product overview?
Read the location autocomplete API page for the main PlaceField positioning, compare city vs address autocomplete, or use the location autocomplete decision guide for country, region, city, address, POI search, geocoding, and reverse geocoding choices.
Tell us about your location lookup
Share whether you need city, region, country, coordinates, or all of them in your production workflow.