The Geocoder.ca API

Quick start

Shortcut form: https://geocoder.ca/some_location?desired_output. Sign up for an auth token to use the XML/JSON/CSV data port unthrottled.

curl -G 'https://geocoder.ca/' \\
  --data-urlencode 'locate=330 metcalfe ottawa on' \\
  --data 'geoit=XML' --data 'json=1' \\
  --data 'standard=1' \\
  --data 'auth=YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN'

JSON: add json=1. JSONP: add jsonp=1&callback=yourFn. CSV: use geoit=CSV instead of geoit=XML.

Forward geocoding

Send these to https://geocoder.ca/ via GET or POST. Put as much location detail as possible in locate — it parses addresses, intersections, postal/ZIP codes and IP addresses.

Geoparsing — extract locations from text scantext

Pass free-form text and get back every location found, ordered by confidence score. Great for mining addresses out of documents, emails or articles.

try: “This and That and the Other street in Porters Lake Nova Scotia” ›

Premium functions

Available to premium API subscribers. Several bill per returned data item — note the cost column.

Intersection geocoding

Find the coordinates where two streets cross. Send via GET or POST.

A failed request may return a <suggestion> with corrected street names, city and province.

Reverse geocoding

Supply a latitude/longitude pair; get the nearest civic address, postal/ZIP, nearest intersection, nearest major intersection, and the closest road — plus optional POIs.

curl -G 'https://geocoder.ca/' \\
  --data 'latt=45.4215' --data 'longt=-75.6972' \\
  --data 'reverse=1' --data 'geoit=XML' \\
  --data 'allna=1' --data 'auth=YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN'

Reverse place search — nearest POIs pois

Add pois=1 to a reverse lookup to also return nearby points of interest.

restaurants within 200 m › keyword “elgin” › all nearby (JSON) ›

Each poi returns: name, distance_km, main/second category, address, city, neighborhood, phone, location_id / area_id / small_area_id, lat/long, prov, postal, formatted_address, source_url, crawl_time and opening_hours.

Partial street-name matching

Match partial street names across Canada and the USA.

https://geocoder.ca/?cityname=Ottawa&provname=on&streetname=metcalfe&matchonly=1&geoit=xml

Required: cityname, provname, streetname, matchonly=1, geoit=xml. Or constrain with a box via bounds=SWlat,SWlng,NElng instead of city/prov.

Output fields

Responses (XML or JSON) may include the following. Empty latt/longt means no match.

Error codes

Code samples

Forward geocoding in a few popular languages. Every example hits the same endpoint — https://geocoder.ca/?locate=<address>&json=1&auth=<token> — and reads latt / longt from the JSON response. Swap locate for stno/addresst/city/prov components, or add &geoit=XML / &geoit=CSV for other formats.

# Forward geocode, JSON out
curl "https://geocoder.ca/?locate=101+Wellington+St,+Ottawa,+ON&json=1&auth=YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN"

# Reverse geocode (POST)
curl -X POST "https://geocoder.ca/" \
  -d latt=45.4215 -d longt=-75.6972 \
  -d geoit=XML -d reverse=1 -d auth=YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN

import requests

r = requests.get("https://geocoder.ca/", params={
    "locate": "101 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON",
    "json":   1,
    "auth":   "YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN",
})
data = r.json()
print(data["latt"], data["longt"])

// Node 18+ or browsers (fetch is built in)
const params = new URLSearchParams({
  locate: "101 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON",
  json:   "1",
  auth:   "YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN",
});
const res  = await fetch(`https://geocoder.ca/?${params}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data.latt, data.longt);

<?php
$params = http_build_query([
    "locate" => "101 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON",
    "json"   => 1,
    "auth"   => "YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN",
]);
$data = json_decode(
    file_get_contents("https://geocoder.ca/?" . $params),
    true
);
echo $data["latt"] . ", " . $data["longt"];

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
)

func main() {
    q := url.Values{}
    q.Set("locate", "101 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON")
    q.Set("json", "1")
    q.Set("auth", "YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN")

    res, _ := http.Get("https://geocoder.ca/?" + q.Encode())
    defer res.Body.Close()

    var d struct{ Latt, Longt string }
    json.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(&d)
    fmt.Println(d.Latt, d.Longt)
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://geocoder.ca/")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(
  locate: "101 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON",
  json:   1,
  auth:   "YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN",
)
data = JSON.parse(Net::HTTP.get(uri))
puts "#{data['latt']}, #{data['longt']}"

use strict; use warnings;
use HTTP::Tiny;
use JSON::PP;
use URI::Escape;

my $addr = uri_escape("101 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON");
my $url  = "https://geocoder.ca/?locate=$addr&json=1&auth=YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN";

my $res = HTTP::Tiny->new->get($url);
my $d   = decode_json($res->{content});
print "$d->{latt}, $d->{longt}\n";

Reverse geocoding uses the same endpoint with a POST sending latt, longt, reverse=1 (add allna=1 for nearest address + corner), plus geoit and auth. More: live examples · AWS cloud guide · community libraries.

Use with AI coding agents open source

Our agent skills (MIT-licensed) teach Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and other coding agents the Geocoder.ca API. With them installed, an agent knows the endpoints, parameters, output fields, error codes and rate limits on this page. It also has ready-made examples in Python, Node.js, PHP, Perl and the command line. Ask it to geocode a column of addresses or validate postal codes, and it writes working code on the first try.

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add geocode-xyz/geolytica-skills
/plugin install geolytica@geolytica-skills

Gemini CLI

gemini extensions install https://github.com/geocode-xyz/geolytica-skills

Codex and other agents: add to your AGENTS.md or agent instructions

Fetch and follow instructions from
https://geocoder.ca/SKILL.md
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/geocode-xyz/geolytica-skills/refs/heads/main/skills/geocoder-ca-autocomplete/SKILL.md