Overview

Place search enables geographic discovery of points of interest (POIs) within a specified area. With access to over 200 million indexed places worldwide, you can search for businesses, landmarks, restaurants, and more — using either geographic coordinates or a location name.

Key Features

API Reference

Use Cases

Place Search is perfect for:

• Location-Based Apps: Build apps that help users discover nearby places
• Travel & Tourism: Find attractions, restaurants, and hotels in any destination
• Business Directories: Create local business listings and discovery features
• Mapping Applications: Populate maps with relevant points of interest
• Geofenced Recommendations: Suggest places based on user location

Basic Usage

Make a request to the Place Search endpoint with coordinates and an optional query:

curl "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/place_search?latitude=37.7749&longitude=-122.4194&q=coffee+shops&radius=1000" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: <YOUR_API_KEY>"

You can also use a location name instead of coordinates:

curl "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/place_search?location=san+francisco+ca+united+states&q=coffee+shops&radius=1000" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: <YOUR_API_KEY>"

The response includes a list of matching POIs with detailed information:

{
  "type": "locations",
  "query": {
    "original": "coffee shops",
    "altered": null,
    "spellcheck_off": false,
    "show_strict_warning": false
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "type": "location_result",
      "id": "loc4FNMQJNOOCVHEB7UBOLN354ZYIDIYJ3RPRETERRY=",
      "title": "Blue Bottle Coffee",
      "url": "https://bluebottlecoffee.com",
      "provider_url": "https://yelp.com/biz/blue-bottle-coffee-sf",
      "coordinates": [37.7825, -122.4095],
      "postal_address": {
        "type": "PostalAddress",
        "displayAddress": "66 Mint St, San Francisco, CA 94103",
        "streetAddress": "66 Mint St",
        "addressLocality": "San Francisco",
        "addressRegion": "CA",
        "postalCode": "94103",
        "country": "US"
      },
      "rating": {
        "ratingValue": 4.5,
        "bestRating": 5.0,
        "reviewCount": 1250
      },
      "opening_hours": {
        "current_day": [
          {
            "abbr_name": "Tue",
            "full_name": "Tuesday",
            "opens": "07:00",
            "closes": "18:00"
          }
        ]
      },
      "distance": {
        "value": 0.3,
        "units": "km"
      },
      "categories": ["Coffee & Tea", "Cafe"],
      "price_range": "$$",
      "thumbnail": {
        "src": "https://example.com/thumb.jpg",
        "original": "https://example.com/original.jpg"
      },
      "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles"
    }
  ],
  "location": {
    "coordinates": [37.7749, -122.4194],
    "name": "San Francisco",
    "country": "US"
  }
}

Request Parameters

Location (required — one of two options)

You must provide either coordinates (latitude + longitude) or a location string. Omitting both returns a 422 error.

Search (optional)

Locale and Preferences

Location String Format

When using the location parameter instead of coordinates, follow these conventions:

Explore Mode

If q is not provided, the endpoint returns general points of interest in the specified area, making it ideal for discovery-focused applications:

curl "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/place_search?latitude=40.7128&longitude=-74.0060&radius=2000&count=10" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: <YOUR_API_KEY>"

Fetching Additional POI Details

Each POI in the response includes an id field that you can use to fetch additional information. These IDs work with the same endpoints used for locations returned from Web Search:

Detailed POI Information

Use the /local/pois endpoint to get comprehensive details including photos, reviews, and profiles:

curl "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/pois?ids=loc4FNMQJNOOCVHEB7UBOLN354ZYIDIYJ3RPRETERRY=" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: <YOUR_API_KEY>"

AI-Generated Descriptions

Use the /local/descriptions endpoint to get AI-generated descriptions for locations:

curl "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/descriptions?ids=loc4FNMQJNOOCVHEB7UBOLN354ZYIDIYJ3RPRETERRY=" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: <YOUR_API_KEY>"

You can request details for up to 20 POIs in a single request by providing multiple ids parameters.

Response Fields

Top-Level Fields

LocationResult Fields

Each location result includes comprehensive information about the POI:

Example: Building a Nearby Places Feature

Here’s how you might implement a “places nearby” feature:

import requests

API_KEY = "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
BASE_URL = "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1"

def find_nearby_places(lat, lng, query="", radius=5000):
    """Search for POIs near a location."""
    params = {
        "q": query,
        "latitude": lat,
        "longitude": lng,
        "radius": radius,
        "count": 20
    }

    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/local/place_search",
        params=params,
        headers={"X-Subscription-Token": API_KEY}
    )
    return response.json()

def find_places_by_name(location, query="", country="US"):
    """Search for POIs using a location name instead of coordinates."""
    params = {
        "q": query,
        "location": location,
        "country": country,
        "count": 20
    }

    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/local/place_search",
        params=params,
        headers={"X-Subscription-Token": API_KEY}
    )
    return response.json()

def get_poi_details(poi_ids):
    """Fetch detailed information for POIs."""
    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/local/pois",
        params=[("ids", pid) for pid in poi_ids],
        headers={"X-Subscription-Token": API_KEY}
    )
    return response.json()

def get_poi_descriptions(poi_ids):
    """Fetch AI-generated descriptions for POIs."""
    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/local/descriptions",
        params=[("ids", pid) for pid in poi_ids],
        headers={"X-Subscription-Token": API_KEY}
    )
    return response.json()

# Find coffee shops near San Francisco using coordinates
places = find_nearby_places(37.7749, -122.4194, query="coffee")

# Or find museums in Paris using a location name
places = find_places_by_name("paris france", query="museums", country="FR")

# Get IDs from results
poi_ids = [p["id"] for p in places.get("results", []) if p.get("id")]

# Fetch additional details and descriptions
if poi_ids:
    details = get_poi_details(poi_ids[:20])
    descriptions = get_poi_descriptions(poi_ids[:20])

Rate Limits and Billing

Place Search requests are billed separately from Web Search. Check your subscription dashboard for current limits and usage.

Changelog

• 2026-01-15 Add Place Search endpoint for geographic POI discovery.