OS Places API

What is OS Places API?

OS Places API provides direct access to rich address data for geocoding, postcode searching, form-filling and much more. Find addresses within the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man instantly online and be confident you're getting the most up-to-date information.

The API presents a detailed view of an address and its lifecycle. It contains all the records of AddressBase Premium and AddressBase Premium – Islands, providing all the information relating to an address or property from creation to retirement.

OS Places API contains local authority, Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail addresses, current addresses, and alternatives for current addresses, provisional addresses (such as planning developments) and historic information, plus Objects Without a Postal Address (OWPAs) and cross-references to the OS MasterMap Topographic Identifiers (TOIDs).

OS Places API includes addresses located within the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. For address records in Jersey and Guernsey the coordinates will be ‘0.0’ as they fall outside of the British National Grid; this means they are not compatible with the GeoSearch operations.

Features

Accurate address lookup

Supports geocoding and reverse geocoding of UK addresses.

Multiple search options

Allows searching by different address information such as postcode, full or partial address or UPRN.

Authoritative address dataset

Uses OS's comprehensive and authoritative addressing data – AddressBase Premium

Benefits

Reduce address input errors

Improve operational efficiency and data accuracy by capturing accurate addresses.

Enhance user experience

Enhance the user experience of your applications by speeding up address entry with autocomplete functionality.

Up-to-date address data

Providers accurate and continuously updated address data.

Summary

• Format: GeoJSON, XML

• Data Source: AddressBase Premium and AddressBase Premium Islands

• Coverage: United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man

• Update: Daily

Things to remember for OS Places API

You can:

• Find a specific address accurately using a full or partial address, a postcode or a UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number)

• Find addresses closest to a given point or all addresses within a defined area, bounding box or circle

• Geocode (add the location element) and reverse-geocode an addresses

• Obtain the UPRN for addresses

• Search both Royal Mail and Local Authority address datasets

• Find addresses in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey

• Verify your address records against authoritative data

You can't:

• Locate general areas such as cities, forests or beaches

• Carry out bulk queries (transactions are subject to API throttling)

What's next?

Getting started with example queries using Node.js

Example queries that you can adapt and use with OS Places API.

Technical specification

This technical specification explains the content of the OS Places API and the methods you can use to call it.

Datasets

This page details the output results returned by the dataset query parameter for DPA or LPI.

Code lists

The code lists used within OS Places API.

Code examples

Code examples you can use to display a map using the OS Places API.

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