Geocoding

Convert addresses to coordinates and coordinates to addresses with Radar’s geocoding APIs

Radar provides comprehensive geocoding capabilities for iOS apps, including forward geocoding, reverse geocoding, IP geocoding, and address validation.

Forward Geocoding

Forward geocoding converts a human-readable address into geographic coordinates.

Basic Forward Geocoding

Swift

Radar.geocode(address: "20 jay st brooklyn") { status, addresses in
    if status == .success, let address = addresses?.first {
        print("Coordinate: \(address.coordinate)")
        print("Formatted address: \(address.formattedAddress ?? "")")
    }
}

Forward Geocoding with Filters

You can filter geocoding results by layer type and country to get more precise results.

Swift

Radar.geocode(
    address: "20 jay st brooklyn",
    layers: ["place", "locality"],
    countries: ["US", "CA"]
) { status, addresses in
    if status == .success, let address = addresses?.first {
        print("Layer: \(address.layer ?? "")")
        print("Country: \(address.countryCode ?? "")")
        print("Coordinate: \(address.coordinate)")
    }
}

Layer filters allow you to specify the type of result you want: place, address, locality, state, country, etc.

Reverse Geocoding

Reverse geocoding converts geographic coordinates into a human-readable address.

Basic Reverse Geocoding

Reverse geocode the device’s current location:

Swift

Radar.reverseGeocode { status, addresses in
    if status == .success, let address = addresses?.first {
        print("Formatted address: \(address.formattedAddress ?? "")")
        print("City: \(address.city ?? "")")
        print("State: \(address.state ?? "")")
        print("Country: \(address.country ?? "")")
    }
}

Reverse Geocoding a Specific Location

Swift

let location = CLLocation(latitude: 40.70390, longitude: -73.98670)

Radar.reverseGeocode(location: location) { status, addresses in
    if status == .success, let address = addresses?.first {
        print("Formatted address: \(address.formattedAddress ?? "")")
        print("Street: \(address.street ?? "")")
        print("Number: \(address.number ?? "")")
        print("Postal code: \(address.postalCode ?? "")")
    }
}

Reverse Geocoding with Layer Filters

Swift

let location = CLLocation(latitude: 40.70390, longitude: -73.98670)

Radar.reverseGeocode(
    location: location,
    layers: ["locality", "state"]
) { status, addresses in
    if status == .success, let address = addresses?.first {
        print("City: \(address.city ?? "")")
        print("State: \(address.state ?? "") (\(address.stateCode ?? ""))")
    }
}

IP Geocoding

IP geocoding converts the device’s IP address into an approximate location. This is useful for location-based content customization without requesting location permissions.

Swift

Radar.ipGeocode { status, address, proxy in
    if status == .success, let address = address {
        print("Country: \(address.countryCode ?? "")")
        print("City: \(address.city ?? "")")
        print("Is proxy: \(proxy)")
    }
}

IP geocoding provides approximate location data at the city level. It should not be used for precise location-based features.

Address Validation

Validate and standardize addresses to ensure accuracy and completeness.

Swift

let address = RadarAddress(from: [
    "latitude": 0,
    "longitude": 0,
    "city": "New York",
    "stateCode": "NY",
    "postalCode": "10003",
    "countryCode": "US",
    "street": "Broadway",
    "number": "841"
])!

Radar.validateAddress(address: address) { status, validatedAddress, verificationStatus in
    if status == .success, let validatedAddress = validatedAddress {
        print("Verification status: \(Radar.stringForVerificationStatus(verificationStatus))")
        print("Formatted address: \(validatedAddress.formattedAddress ?? "")")
        print("Plus4: \(validatedAddress.plus4 ?? "")")
    }
}

Verification Status Values

The RadarAddressVerificationStatus indicates the quality of the address match:

1. Verified

   Complete match was made between the input data and a single record from the reference data.

2. Partially Verified

   A partial match was made between the input data and a single record.

3. Ambiguous

   More than one close reference data match was found.

4. Unverified

   Unable to verify. The output fields will contain the input data.

Autocomplete

Autocomplete provides address suggestions as users type, sorted by relevance.

Swift

let origin = CLLocation(latitude: 40.78382, longitude: -73.97536)

Radar.autocomplete(
    query: "brooklyn",
    near: origin,
    layers: ["locality"],
    limit: 10,
    country: "US"
) { status, addresses in
    if status == .success {
        addresses?.forEach { address in
            print("Suggestion: \(address.formattedAddress ?? "")")
        }
    }
}

Autocomplete with Mailable Filter

Filter results to only include addresses that can receive mail:

Swift

let origin = CLLocation(latitude: 40.78382, longitude: -73.97536)

Radar.autocomplete(
    query: "brooklyn",
    near: origin,
    layers: ["address"],
    limit: 10,
    country: "US",
    mailable: true
) { status, addresses in
    if status == .success {
        addresses?.forEach { address in
            print("Mailable address: \(address.formattedAddress ?? "")")
        }
    }
}

RadarAddress Properties

The RadarAddress object contains comprehensive address information:

Property	Type	Description
coordinate	CLLocationCoordinate2D	The location coordinate
formattedAddress	String?	Formatted string representation
country	String?	Country name
countryCode	String?	Two-letter country code
countryFlag	String?	Country flag emoji
state	String?	State or province name
stateCode	String?	State or province code
postalCode	String?	Postal or ZIP code
city	String?	City name
borough	String?	Borough name
county	String?	County name
neighborhood	String?	Neighborhood name
street	String?	Street name
number	String?	Street number
unit	String?	Unit or apartment number
plus4	String?	ZIP+4 extension
addressLabel	String?	Address label
placeLabel	String?	Place label
layer	String?	Layer type (e.g., ‘place’, ‘address’)
distance	NSNumber?	Distance to search anchor in meters
confidence	RadarAddressConfidence	Confidence level of result
metadata	[String: Any]?	Additional metadata
timeZone	RadarTimeZone?	Time zone information
categories	[String]?	Place categories

International Support

Radar’s geocoding APIs support addresses in over 100 countries worldwide. Use the countries parameter to filter results:

Radar.geocode(
    address: "10 Downing Street",
    layers: ["address"],
    countries: ["GB"]
) { status, addresses in
    // Handle results
}

For best results with international addresses, always specify the country code when it’s known.

Error Handling

All geocoding methods return a RadarStatus value indicating success or failure:

Radar.geocode(address: query) { status, addresses in
    switch status {
    case .success:
        print("Geocoding succeeded")
    case .errorNetwork:
        print("Network error occurred")
    case .errorBadRequest:
        print("Invalid request parameters")
    case .errorRateLimit:
        print("Rate limit exceeded")
    default:
        print("Error: \(Radar.stringForStatus(status))")
    }
}

Learn More

API Reference

Explore the complete geocoding API reference

Places

Learn about place search and categorization

Regions

Understand region data model

Context

Get comprehensive location context