Advanced REST Geocoding API

The Texas A&M Geoservices Geocoder can be used from desktop and/or web applications via the Geocoding Web Service interfaces listed below. The only required information is the API key, which is available in your account profile page. You may want to read the technical details and the known bugs.

API Version - 4.04

    - Previous versions - 4.01

Available API Endpoints

The following web services provide access to the Texas A&M Geoservices geocoding system. The versions below are the simplified APIs and offer reduced input parameters and output values than do the advanced Geocoding APIs which provide additional metadata about the internal working of the Texas A&M Geoservices Geocoder as well as advanced options for requesting specific computational options, reference data sources, output hierarchies, etc. (i.e., all the science under the hood).

Most people probably don't need or care about the internal workings of geocoding systems, but they are provided in the advanced APIs in hopes that more people start to! If you are brave, click here to view the advanced versions of the API's.

API #1 - .Net Geocode Web Service

• API that can be used from scripts, http, and SOAP compatible clients

• API URL

  https://geoservices.tamu.edu/Services/Geocode/WebService/GeocoderService_V04_04.asmx

API #2 - HTTP Geocode Web Service (Non-parsed)

• API for non-parsed address data that can be used from scripts and http

• API URL

  https://geoservices.tamu.edu/Services/Geocode/WebService/GeocoderWebServiceHttpNonParsed_V04_04.aspx?

  API Input Fields

  (* Fields in bold are new for this API version)
  (* Fields in bold and italic are upated for this API version)
  (* Fields with strikethrough have been removed for this API version)

  Parameter	Required	Description	Example	Possible Value
  apiKey	true	Click here for your API key	api-key-value	some text
  version	true	api version	4.04	4.04
  streetAddress	false	non-parsed street address value	3620 North Vermont Ave W.	some text
  city	false	city value	Beverly Hills	some text
  state	false	state value	CA	some text
  zip	false	zip code value	90089	some text
  allowTies*	false	flag to indicate to return ties as valid results or handle using the tieBreakingStrategy parameter	true	true, false
  tieBreakingStrategy*	false	if allowTies parameter is false, this strategy is used to break ties and not return ties as valid results	flipACoin	flipACoin (choose and return one of the ties at random); revertToHierarchy (fail on a tie and match to the next level of the geographic hierarchy - parcel, then street, then ZIP, then city, etc.)
  census	false	calculate census variables (takes longer)	true	true, false
  censusYear*	false	bar (|) separated list of the year of census data to intersect with, or "allAvailable"	2000|2010, allAvailable	1990, 2000, 2010, allAvailable
  format*	false	output format	csv	csv, (results in comma separated values) tsv, (results in tab separated values) xml (results in XML format) kml and googleMapsUrl (dropped in version 4.01)
  includeHeader	false	include column headers for text (csv/tsv) output	true	true (include field headers) false (don't include field headers)
  notStore	false	indicates if the transaction details should not be historically stored in your account	true	true, false

  API Output Fields and Index (for non-XML output)

  (* Fields in bold are new for this API version)
  (* Fields with strikethrough have been removed for this API version)

  Position	Field	Required	Description	Possible Values
  0	Transaction Id	true	Query Id	Unique Id
  1	API Version	true	Vesion of the API used	4.04
  2	Query Status Code	true	Result code	See list
  3	Latitude	true	Decimal
  4	Longitude	true	Decimal
  5	NAACCR GIS Coordinate Quality Code	true	Geocode quality code in NAACCR standard	See list
  6	NAACCR GIS Coordinate Quality Name	true	Name of the geocode quality code in NAACCR standard	See list
  7	Match Score	true	Match percentage between input data and reference feature
  8	Match Type	true	Geocode match type	See list
  9	Feature Match Type*	true	Geocode feature match type	success (only one match), ambiguous (more than one match, all returned), brokenTie (more than one match, the tie was broken, and only one result was returnd)
  10	Feature Match Count*	true	Number of geocodes that matched	0 (no matched found), 1 (non-ambiguous match found), some number more than 1 (ambiguous matches found)
  11	Matching Geography Type	true	Geographic level of the output	See list
  12	Region Size	true	Area of spatial uncertainty of the geocode	decimal number
  13	Region size units	true	Units of area of spatial uncertainty of the geocode	square meters (m), square kilometers (km)
  14	Matched Location Type	true	Type of input data identified	See list
  15	Time Taken	true	Processing time	Milliseconds
  16	Census Year*	true	Year of the census data returned	Removed in version 4.01
  16	NAACCR Census Tract Certainty Code	false	Centainty code for the Census tract assignment in NAACCR standard	See list
  17	NAACCR Census Tract Certainty Name	false	Name of the centainty code for the Census tract assignment in NAACCR standard	See list
  18	1990 Census Block*	false	1990 Census block value for the output point
  19	1990 Census Block Group*	false	1990 Census block group value for the output point
  20	1990 Census Tract*	false	1990 Census tract value for the output point
  21	1990 Census County Fips*	false	1990 Census county fips value for the output point
  22	1990 Census CBSA Fips*	false	1990 Census core base statistical area fips value for the output point
  23	1990 Census CBSA Micro*	false	1990 Census core base statistical area micropolitan flag for the output point
  24	1990 Census MCD Fips*	false	1990 Census minor civil division fips value for the output point
  25	1990 Census MetDiv Fips*	false	1990 Census metropolitan division fips value for the output point
  26	1990 Census MSA Fips*	false	1990 Census metropolitan statistical area fips value for the output point
  27	1990 Census Place Fips*	false	1990 Census place fips value for the output point
  28	1990 Census State Fips*	false	1990 Census state fips value for the output point
  29	2000 Census Block*	false	2000 Census block value for the output point
  30	2000 Census Block Group*	false	2000 Census block group value for the output point
  31	2000 Census Tract*	false	2000 Census tract value for the output point
  32	2000 Census County Fips*	false	2000 Census county fips value for the output point
  33	2000 Census CBSA Fips*	false	2000 Census core base statistical area fips value for the output point
  34	2000 Census CBSA Micro*	false	2000 Census core base statistical area micropolitan flag for the output point
  35	2000 Census MCD Fips*	false	2000 Census minor civil division fips value for the output point
  36	2000 Census MetDiv Fips*	false	2000 Census metropolitan division fips value for the output point
  37	2000 Census MSA Fips*	false	2000 Census metropolitan statistical area fips value for the output point
  38	2000 Census Place Fips*	false	2000 Census place fips value for the output point
  39	2000 Census State Fips*	false	2000 Census state fips value for the output point
  40	2010 Census Block*	false	2010 Census block value for the output point
  41	2010 Census Block Group*	false	2010 Census block group value for the output point
  42	2010 Census Tract*	false	2010 Census tract value for the output point
  43	2010 Census County Fips*	false	2010 Census county fips value for the output point
  44	2010 Census CBSA Fips*	false	2010 Census core base statistical area fips value for the output point
  45	2010 Census CBSA Micro*	false	2010 Census core base statistical area micropolitan flag for the output point
  46	2010 Census MCD Fips*	false	2010 Census minor civil division fips value for the output point
  47	2010 Census MetDiv Fips*	false	2010 Census metropolitan division fips value for the output point
  48	2010 Census MSA Fips*	false	2010 Census metropolitan statistical area fips value for the output point
  49	2010 Census Place Fips*	false	2010 Census place fips value for the output point
  50	2010 Census State Fips*	false	2010 Census state fips value for the output point

• API Examples

  Example 1 - 9355 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, ca, 90210 (CSV, with 2000 & 2010 census)
  
  Example 2 - 9355 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, ca, 90210 (CSV, with all available census and field headers)
  
  Example 3 - 9355 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, ca, 90210 (XML, without census)
  
  Example 4 - 9355 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, ca, 90210 (XML, with 2000 & 2010 census)
  
  Example 5 - 123 Main Street, Los Angeles, ca, 90007 (XML, for an address that has a tie, without ties allowed and flipACoin as tie handling strategy - will match at street level and pick one of two options)
  
  Example 6 - 123 Main Street, Los Angeles, ca, 90007 (XML, for an address that has a tie, without ties allowed and revertToHierarchy as tie handling strategy - will fail at street level because it was ambigous and match at zip code because it is the next level of geography in the hierarchy)
  
  Example 7 - 123 Main Street, Los Angeles, ca, 90007 (XML, for an address that has a tie, with ties allowed - will return ambigous street level matches)
  
  Example 8 - 123 Main Street, Los Angeles, ca, 90007 (same as example #7 but TSV with header fields)
  
  Example 9 - 123 Main Street, Los Angeles, ca, 90007 (same as example #8 but TSV with ties not allowed and flipACoin as tie breaking strategy)
  
  Example 10 - 123 Main Street, Los Angeles, ca, 90007 (same as example #9 with all census years turned on)
  
  

API's #3 and #4

Click the above link to view additional APIs with more detailed reporting and advanced processing options