reverse geocoding service

A reverse geocoding service converts latitude/longitude coordinates into a human-readable location, such as:

• street address
• city
• region/state
• postal code
• country

Common reverse geocoding services

• Google Maps Geocoding API
• Mapbox Geocoding API
• OpenCage
• LocationIQ
• HERE Geocoding
• Nominatim (OpenStreetMap)

Typical request

You send coordinates like:

lat=40.7484, lon=-73.9857

And get back something like:

{
  "address": "Empire State Building, 350 5th Ave, New York, NY 10118, USA"
}

Example using Nominatim

curl "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/reverse?lat=40.7484&lon=-73.9857&format=json"

Example using Google Geocoding API

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?latlng=40.7484,-73.9857&key=YOUR_API_KEY

Things to consider

• Accuracy: rooftop vs street vs city-level
• Rate limits: especially on free services
• Licensing/terms
• International support
• Need for offline/local geocoding?

If you want, I can also recommend the best reverse geocoding service for your use case or show code examples in Python/JavaScript.