PlaceKit JS Client

Location data, search and autocomplete for your apps

Features • Quick start • Reference • License • Examples

PlaceKit JavaScript Client abstracts interactions with our API, making your life easier. We highly recommend to use it instead of accessing our API directly.

👉 If you're looking for a full Autocomplete experience, have a look at our standalone PlaceKit Autocomplete JS library, or check out our examples to learn how to integrate with an existing components library.

✨ Features

• Featherweight, zero-dependency HTTP client
• Works both on the browser and node.js
• Integrates with your preferred stack and autocomplete components (see examples)
• TypeScript compatible

🎯 Quick start

NPM

First, install PlaceKit JavaScript Client using npm package manager:

npm install --save @placekit/client-js

Then import the package and perform your first address search:

// CommonJS syntax:
const placekit = require("@placekit/client-js/lite");

// ES6 Modules syntax:
import placekit from "@placekit/client-js/lite";

const pk = placekit("<your-api-key>", {
  //...
});

pk.search("Paris").then((res) => {
  console.log(res.results);
});

👉 Check out our examples for different use cases and advance usages!

CDN

First, add this line before the closing </body> tag in your HTML to import PlaceKit JavaScript Client:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@placekit/client-js@2.3.0/dist/placekit-lite.umd.js"></script>

Then it works the same as the node example above. After importing the library, placekit becomes available as a global:

<script>
  const pk = placekit("<your-api-key>", {
    //...
  });

  pk.search("Paris").then((res) => {
    console.log(res.results);
  });
</script>

Or if you are using native ES Modules:

<script type="module">
  import placekit from "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@placekit/client-js@2.3.0/dist/placekit-lite.js";
  const pk = placekit(/* ... */);
  // ...
</script>

🧰 Reference

PlaceKit Client JS exports two versions of the client:

• Lite version has an optimized bundle size for the browser, but works also in the back-end.
• Extended version methods require a private API key that you should never expose to the browser–it is intended for the back-end only.

• placekit()

Lite and Extended:

• pk.search()
• pk.reverse()
• pk.options
• pk.configure()
• pk.requestGeolocation()
• pk.clearGeolocation()
• pk.hasGeolocation

Extended-only:

• pk.patch.list()
• pk.patch.create()
• pk.patch.get()
• pk.patch.update()
• pk.patch.delete()
• pk.patch.deleteLang()
• pk.keys.list()
• pk.keys.create()
• pk.keys.get()
• pk.keys.update()
• pk.keys.delete()

placekit()

PlaceKit initialization function returns a PlaceKit client, named pk in all snippets below.

// Lite version, CommonJS syntax:
const placekit = require("@placekit/client-js/lite");

// Lite version, ES6 Modules syntax:
import placekit from "@placekit/client-js/lite";

// Extended version, CommonJS syntax:
const placekit = require("@placekit/client-js");

// Extended version, ES6 Modules syntax:
import placekit from "@placekit/client-js";

// Initialize PlaceKit client
const pk = placekit("<your-api-key>", {
  countries: ["fr"],
  language: "en",
  maxResults: 10,
});

pk.search()

Performs a search and returns a Promise, which response is a list of results alongside some request metadata. The options passed as second parameter override the global parameters only for the current query.

pk.search("Paris", {
  countries: ["fr"],
  maxResults: 5,
}).then((res) => {
  console.log(res.results);
});

pk.reverse()

Performs a reverse geocoding search and returns a Promise, which response is a list of results alongside some request metadata. The options passed as first parameter override the global parameters only for the current query. Any coordinates previously set as option would be overriden by the coordinates passed as first argument.

pk.reverse({
  coordinates: "48.871086,2.3036339",
  countries: ["fr"],
  maxResults: 5,
}).then((res) => {
  console.log(res.results);
});

Notes:

• If you omit options.coordinates, it'll use coordinates from global parameters set when instanciating with placekit() or with pk.configure().

pk.options

Read-only to access global options persistent across all API calls that are set at initialization and with pk.configure(). Options passed at query time in pk.search() override global parameters only for that specific query.

console.log(pk.options); // { "language": "en", "maxResults": 10, ... }

[1]: See Coverage for more details.

pk.configure()

Updates global parameters. Returns void.

pk.configure({
  language: "fr",
  maxResults: 5,
});

pk.requestGeolocation()

Requests device's geolocation (browser-only). Returns a Promise with a GeolocationPosition object.

pk.requestGeolocation({ timeout: 10000 }).then((pos) =>
  console.log(pos.coords)
);

The location will be store in the coordinates global options, you can still manually override it.

pk.clearGeolocation()

Clear device's geolocation stored with pk.requestGeolocation.

pk.clearGeolocation();

The global option coordinates will be deleted and pk.hasGeolocation will be set to false.

pk.hasGeolocation

Reads if device geolocation is activated or not (read-only).

console.log(pk.hasGeolocation); // true or false

pk.patch.list()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

List, filter and paginate patch records.

// get all patches, paginated
pk.patch.list().then((res) => {
  console.log(res.results);
});

// filter and paginate patches
pk.patch
  .list({
    status: "approved",
    maxResults: 10,
    offset: 10,
  })
  .then((res) => {
    console.log(res.results);
  });

Patch Record status explained

• pending: only available through Live Patching endpoints,
• approved: available to end-users through Search endpoints.

pk.patch.create()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Add a missing location or fix an existing one.

// Adding a missing location
const record = {
  type: 'street',
  name: 'New street',
  city: 'Los Angeles',
  county: 'Los Angeles',
  administrative: 'California',
  country: 'United States of America',
  countrycode: 'us',
  coordinates: '33.9955095,-118.472482',
  zipcode: ['90291'],
  population: 3849000,
};
pk.patch.create(record, { status: 'approved' }).then((record) => {
  console.log(record);
});

// Fixing an existing location
pk.patch.create(
  { population: 3849000 },
  { status: 'approved' }
  originalRecord, // original record from `pk.search` or `pk.reverse`
).then((record) => {
  console.log(record);
});

Patch Record language explained

Language is always considered as "preferred display language", which means:

• If you omit opts.language, then details will be set in the default language.
• If the patch record has a translation but no default, then the first available translation will be used as default.
• If the patch record misses some translation, it will show the default value for non-translated properties.

pk.patch.get()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Retrieve a patch record by ID.

// get record default language
pk.patch.get("<patch-id>").then((record) => {
  console.log(record);
});

// get record FR translation
pk.patch.get("<patch-id>", "fr").then((record) => {
  console.log(record);
});

pk.patch.update()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Update a patch record.

// update and publish
pk.patch
  .update(
    "<patch-id>",
    { coordinates: "33.9955095,-118.472482" },
    { status: "approved" }
  )
  .then((record) => {
    console.log(record);
  });

// update translation
pk.patch
  .update("<patch-id>", { name: "Rue Nouvelle" }, { language: "fr" })
  .then((record) => {
    console.log(record);
  });

// unpublish
pk.patch
  .update("<patch-id>", undefined, { status: "pending" })
  .then((record) => {
    console.log(record);
  });

pk.patch.delete()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Delete a patch record.

pk.patch.delete("<patch-id>");

pk.patch.deleteLang()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Delete a patch translation.

pk.patch.deleteLang("<patch-id>", "fr");

NOTES:

• Deleting a translation will return a 409 error if there is no default language and no other translation available.

pk.keys.list()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Retrieve all application API keys.

pk.keys.list();

pk.keys.create()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Create an application API key.

pk.keys.create("<role>", { domains: [] });

pk.keys.get()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Retrieve an API key by ID.

pk.keys.get("<key-id>");

pk.keys.update()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Update an API key.

pk.keys.update("<key-id>", { domains: [] });

pk.keys.delete()

⚠️ Restricted to private API keys, do NOT expose the private key to the browser.

Delete an API key.

pk.keys.delete("<key-id>");

⚖️ License

PlaceKit JavaScript Client is an open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.