Place Search API
Search the full OpenStreetMap dataset by name, type, or tag with relevance ranking
How it works
Search by name or type
Free-form text or structured tag queries.
Plaza ranks results
Full-text search across 8B+ OSM features.
Get ranked places
Name, coordinates, tags, and relevance score.
See it in action
A real API request, visualized.
Who uses this
Teams building with Place Search API.
Place discovery
Search for restaurants, parks, or attractions in any city.
Business directories
Build location-aware search for local business listings.
Data enrichment
Enrich addresses and coordinates with nearby POI data.
Full-text
Ranking
8B+
Searchable features
Native
In-database
<50ms
p95 latency
What you can build
Example apps powered by Place Search API.
City Explorer
Discover points of interest near any location on a map.
Accessibility Finder
Find wheelchair-accessible venues filtered by OSM tags.
Travel Planner
Search for hotels, restaurants, and attractions along a route.
Start building
curl -X POST https://plaza.fyi/api/v1/search -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"q":"coffee shops manhattan","limit":10}'
View endpoints
| Method | Path | Description |
|---|---|---|
| POST | /api/v1/search | Full-text search for places by name or category |
| POST | /api/v1/features | Query elements by bounding box and tag filters |
How it compares
Common questions
What search algorithm does Plaza use?
Full-text search with fuzzy matching. Results are ranked by relevance across all 8 billion+ OSM entities.
Can I search by OSM tags?
Yes. The search API supports filtering by any OSM tag combination. For complex tag queries (e.g., "all pubs within 500m of a train station"), use the PlazaQL endpoint.
Can I filter search results by area?
Yes. Pass a bounding box, a center point with radius, or use the PlazaQL endpoint for complex spatial filters. All approaches support tag-based filtering.
Does search work with non-Latin scripts?
Yes. OpenStreetMap includes names in local scripts across all 200+ mapped countries. The search index handles Unicode natively — search for 東京駅 or القاهرة and get results.