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Radar’s search APIs allow you to find places, geofences, and business locations near a given point with powerful filtering capabilities.

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Search Places

Search for places near a location, sorted by distance. You can filter by chains, categories, groups, and countries. Search for places within a radius using the device’s current location: 
Radar.searchPlaces(
    radius: 1000,
    chains: nil,
    categories: ["restaurant"],
    groups: nil,
    countryCodes: nil,
    limit: 10
) { status, location, places in
    if status == .success {
        places?.forEach { place in
            print("Place: \(place.name)")
            print("Categories: \(place.categories.joined(separator: ", "))")
        }
    }
}

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Search by Chain

Find specific restaurant or retail chains near a location: 
Radar.searchPlaces(
    radius: 5000,
    chains: ["mcdonalds", "starbucks"],
    categories: nil,
    groups: nil,
    countryCodes: ["US"],
    limit: 20
) { status, location, places in
    if status == .success {
        places?.forEach { place in
            print("Chain: \(place.chain?.name ?? "Unknown")")
            print("Address: \(place.address?.formattedAddress ?? "")")
        }
    }
}
See the complete list of supported chains in the Radar documentation.

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Search with Chain Metadata

Filter chains by custom metadata attributes: 
Radar.searchPlaces(
    radius: 1000,
    chains: ["mcdonalds"],
    chainMetadata: ["orderActive": "true"],
    categories: nil,
    groups: nil,
    countryCodes: ["US"],
    limit: 10
) { status, location, places in
    if status == .success {
        places?.forEach { place in
            print("Place: \(place.name)")
            if let metadata = place.chain?.metadata {
                print("Metadata: \(metadata)")
            }
        }
    }
}
Chain metadata must be configured in the Radar dashboard settings.

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Search Near a Specific Location

Search for places near coordinates other than the device’s current location: 
let searchLocation = CLLocation(latitude: 40.7128, longitude: -74.0060)

Radar.searchPlaces(
    near: searchLocation,
    radius: 2000,
    chains: nil,
    categories: ["cafe", "restaurant"],
    groups: nil,
    countryCodes: ["US"],
    limit: 15
) { status, location, places in
    if status == .success {
        places?.forEach { place in
            print("\(place.name): \(place.categories.joined(separator: ", "))")
        }
    }
}

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Search Parameters

1

Radius

Search radius in meters. Must be between 100 and 10,000 meters.
2

Chains

Array of chain slugs to filter. Cannot be combined with categories or groups.
3

Categories

Array of place categories to filter. Cannot be combined with chains or groups.
4

Groups

Array of place groups to filter. Cannot be combined with chains or categories.
5

Country Codes

Array of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes to filter results.
6

Limit

Maximum number of results to return. Must be between 1 and 100.
You can only specify one of chains, categories, or groups per search request.

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Search Geofences

Search for geofences near a location, sorted by distance. This is useful for finding nearby custom regions. Search for all geofences near the device’s current location: 
Radar.searchGeofences { status, location, geofences in
    if status == .success {
        geofences?.forEach { geofence in
            print("Geofence: \(geofence.__description)")
            print("Tag: \(geofence.tag ?? "None")")
            print("External ID: \(geofence.externalId ?? "None")")
        }
    }
}
Search with filters for tags, metadata, radius, and result limits: 
let searchLocation = CLLocation(latitude: 40.7128, longitude: -74.0060)

Radar.searchGeofences(
    near: searchLocation,
    radius: 1000,
    tags: ["store", "venue"],
    metadata: ["type": "retail"],
    limit: 50,
    includeGeometry: false
) { status, location, geofences in
    if status == .success {
        print("Found \(geofences?.count ?? 0) geofences")
        geofences?.forEach { geofence in
            print("Geofence: \(geofence.__description)")
            if let metadata = geofence.metadata {
                print("Metadata: \(metadata)")
            }
        }
    }
}

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Geofence Search Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
nearCLLocation?Search location (nil uses current location)
radiusIntSearch radius in meters (100-10000, or -1 for unlimited)
tags[String]?Array of tags to filter
metadata[String: Any]?Dictionary of metadata to filter
limitIntMaximum results (1-1000, default 100)
includeGeometryBoolInclude geometry in response (set to false for >100 results)
Set includeGeometry to false if you only need geofence metadata and not the actual boundaries. This improves performance and allows returning more than 100 results.

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Place Categories

Radar supports hundreds of place categories across different verticals:
Food & Drink
  • restaurant, cafe, bar, fast-food, bakery, brewery
Retail
  • clothing-store, grocery-store, pharmacy, convenience-store
Services
  • bank, atm, gas-station, car-wash, post-office
Health & Fitness
  • gym, hospital, doctor, dentist, spa
Entertainment
  • movie-theater, museum, park, stadium, casino
Transportation
  • airport, train-station, bus-station, parking
View all categories →

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Working with Search Results

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RadarPlace Properties

The RadarPlace object contains comprehensive information about each place: 
Radar.searchPlaces(...) { status, location, places in
    if let place = places?.first {
        // Basic info
        print("ID: \(place._id)")
        print("Name: \(place.name)")
        print("Categories: \(place.categories)")
        
        // Chain information
        if let chain = place.chain {
            print("Chain: \(chain.name)")
            print("Chain slug: \(chain.slug)")
            print("Chain metadata: \(chain.metadata ?? [:])")
        }
        
        // Location
        print("Coordinate: \(place.location.coordinate)")
        
        // Address
        if let address = place.address {
            print("Address: \(address.formattedAddress ?? "")")
        }
        
        // Group and metadata
        if let group = place.group {
            print("Group: \(group)")
        }
        if let metadata = place.metadata {
            print("Metadata: \(metadata)")
        }
    }
}

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Checking Place Properties

RadarPlace provides convenience methods for checking chains and categories: 
if let place = places?.first {
    // Check if place is part of a specific chain
    if place.isChain("starbucks") {
        print("This is a Starbucks location")
    }
    
    // Check if place has a specific category
    if place.hasCategory("restaurant") {
        print("This is a restaurant")
    }
}

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Use Cases

Store Locator

Build a store locator to help users find nearby retail locations.

Restaurant Finder

Create a restaurant discovery feature with category filters.

Delivery Zones

Search geofences to determine if a location is within a delivery zone.

Competitor Analysis

Find competitor locations near your stores using chain search.

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Performance Tips

1

Optimize Search Radius

Use the smallest radius necessary for your use case. Smaller radii return results faster.
2

Limit Results

Request only the number of results you need. Fewer results improve performance.
3

Use Specific Filters

Filter by country, category, or chain to reduce result sets and improve relevance.
4

Disable Geometry

For geofence searches, set includeGeometry: false if you don’t need the shapes.

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Learn More

Places API

Explore the complete places search API reference

Geofences API

Learn about geofence search capabilities

Context

Get comprehensive location context

Geocoding

Convert between addresses and coordinates