Geocoding API release notes

SearchDestinations endpoint added to the Geocoding API v4 in experimental.

Announcing the Experimental release of the SearchDestinations endpoint of the Geocoding API v4. For more information, see Search for destinations.

With this release, the following experimental features are no longer supported in the Geocoding API v3:

• Entrances
• Navigation points
• Building outlines
• Grounds

For continued use of these features, we recommend developers to use the SearchDestinations endpoint instead. For more information, see Migrate from v3 features to the SearchDestinations endpoint.

Enhancements to the building outlines and entrances Experimental release

The Experimental release of Building outlines and entrances adds the following enhancements:

• Increases entrance coverage by returning all entrances on the same building as the geocoding result. In the previous release it only returned entrances that were for the geocoding result itself.
• A new response field, entrance_tags[], is associated with each entrance to distinguish between entrances that are for the geocoding result and other entrances that are on the building. An entrance that has a value of PREFERRED in entrance_tags[] indicates that the entrance likely provides physical access to the geocoding result.

Grounds Experimental release available

Announcing the Experimental release of grounds. The new grounds field in a Geocoding response contains a single grounds definition that, when populated, gives contextual information about the immediate territory that the geocoding result is on.

Geocoding API v4 is now in Preview.

Geocoding API v4 is implemented on the service infrastructure on Google Cloud which brings with it a more secure and trusted platform with enhanced security options like OAuth.

For more information and examples, see Geocoding API v4 overview.

Road name added to navigation points; Migration to new parameter and location fields required

The new road_name response field contains the name of the road the navigation point is offset from. To return the road_name response field, and to continue receiving navigation points, you must include the following query parameter in the request:

extra_computations=NAVIGATION_POINTS

Migration Notice: Existing applications must be updated to include the NAVIGATION_POINTS parameter. Additionally, migrate to using location.lat and location.lng response fields instead of location.latitude and location.longitude. Future requests without this parameter will not return navigation points, and the older location fields will be removed. For more information, see Navigation points.

Navigation points and road names are Experimental (pre-GA) features.

Address descriptors released for General Availability (GA) in India

Address descriptors include additional information that help describe a location using landmarks and areas. For more information, see Address descriptors request and response.

This feature is available in all regions and is in GA for India and in the pre-GA Experimental launch stage for all other regions. The use of address descriptors in India incurs no additional cost and usage is covered by the existing Geocoding (India) Essentials SKU. For more information, see coverage details.