MapIt API
The documentation below is for developers who want to use MapIt as a web service, describing its REST API. If that’s all Greek to you, please see our page for non-developers.
lookup by point
- URL:
- /point/[SRID]/[x],[y]
- /point/[SRID]/[x],[y]/box
- Parameters:
-
SRID is a unique number referring to a particular co-ordinate system; the one you probably are interested in is 4326 for WGS84 normal lon/lat.
x and y are the co-ordinates of the point in the co-ordinate system; note that x,y means longitude,latitude.
- Optional query parameters:
-
- type, to restrict results to a particular area type or types (multiple types separated by commas);
- generation, to return results for a previous generation.
- Returns:
-
A hash of the areas that the point is contained within. If the /box version is used, only the area bounding boxes are considered.
- Example:
- Example of areas containing (47.366667,8.55).
lookup by area
- URL:
- /area/[area ID]
- /code/osm_rel/[OSM relation ID]
- /code/osm_way/[OSM way ID]
- /area/[area ID]/geometry
- /area/[area ID].[kml or geojson or wkt]
- /area/[SRID]/[area ID].[kml or json or wkt]
- Optional query parameters:
- simplify_tolerance, a floating point parameter to simplify the polygons returned.
- Returns:
- Information on a particular area, including name, type, parent, and any associated codes (see below for details). The code lookups redirect to the area URI. geometry returns centroid, extent and area of the area.
- Examples:
-
- Information held on Paris: /area/29746.html
- A KML file of Paris: /area/29746.kml (on a Google Map)
lookup multiple areas
- URL:
- /areas/[area IDs]
- /areas/[area IDs]/geometry
- /areas/[type(s)]
- /areas/[name prefix]
- Parameters:
- Separate multiple parameters with commas. Name prefix means it will return any area that starts with the string given. The current area types are: O01 to O12.
- Optional query parameters:
- generation, to return areas in that generation (type and name lookups only).
- min_generation, to return areas since that generation (type and name lookups only).
- type, to restrict results to a type or types (multiple separated by commas; name lookup only).
- Returns:
-
Information on multiple areas that match the parameters provided, as a dictionary indexed by area ID. The geometry argument lets you fetch multiple single area geometry results at once.
- Examples:
-
- All areas starting “Ven”: /areas/Ven.html
- Information on areas 29746 and 25495: /areas/29746,25495.html
- All level 2 (O02) areas: /areas/O02.html
Generations
- URL:
- /generations
- Returns:
- A list of all generations in this installation of MapIt.
General information
- Format
-
All calls return JSON, you can generally get an HTML representation by sticking .html on the end.
Whenever an area is returned from MapIt, it is as a dictionary with the following keys: id, name, country, type, parent_area, generation_low, generation_high, codes.
- Historical areas
- By default, calls will return active areas; for some calls you may specify a previous generation to look up instead.
About MapIt
MapIt was written back in 2003 as a postcode lookup to power the original mySociety sites such as WriteToThem. Over time it gained features such as point lookup (for FixMyStreet), and when Ordnance Survey data became freely available in 2010, it was rewritten and made public for the whole UK. Versions have appeared in other countries, such as Norway, and in 2012 we released this global version based on OpenStreetMap data.
Usage & Licence
As a UK registered charity our legal status only allows this service to be used free of charge by other registered charities, or individuals working unpaid on non-profit projects. The free usage limit for non-profit users is 50,000 calls to the API per year. All other uses need to acquire a licence.
Find out if you need a licence or get in touch so we can discuss how we can provide you with the service you require.
To maintain quality of service for our own websites, as well as our API users, this service is rate limited to an average of 1 call per second in a rolling 3 minute period.
If you use this service, you must attribute OpenStreetMap as per their licences. We also ask that all non-profit users attribute MapIt at the point of use on sites or apps. Attribution should use the text “Powered by MapIt”, with a link back to this page.