Data & Utilities

GeocodingPlace names ⇄ coordinates

The Helix Geocoding API converts place names to coordinates (forward geocoding) and coordinates back to place names (reverse geocoding). Returns name, country, region, latitude, longitude, timezone, and population — all in a clean structured response.

Free tier with 100 requests/month
Fast, cached responses
99.9% uptime target
Standard REST + JSON

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What is the Geocoding API?

How it works

1GET /search?q=Berlin&limit=5 returns matching places ranked by relevance.
2Each result includes lat/lon, country, country code, admin region, population, and IANA timezone.
3GET /reverse?lat=52.52&lon=13.40 returns the closest city, region, and country for a coordinate pair.
4Forward results use Open-Meteo's geocoding database; reverse results use BigDataCloud — both free and reliable.
5Useful for autocomplete, address validation, mapping, and 'near me' features.

Endpoints

2 REST endpoints, all returning consistent JSON.

GET

/search

Forward geocoding — place name to coordinates

GET

/reverse

Reverse geocoding — coordinates to address

Code in 5 languages

Copy and paste into your project. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your RapidAPI key.

// Geocoding API
const response = await fetch(
  "https://geocoding-by-helix-api.p.rapidapi.com/search"
  {
    headers: {
      "X-RapidAPI-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
      "X-RapidAPI-Host": "geocoding-by-helix-api.p.rapidapi.com"
    }
  }
);

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What developers build with this API

Real use cases from production deployments.

Location Autocomplete

Power a search field that suggests cities as the user types. Faster and richer than the built-in browser geolocation API.

Address Validation

Confirm a user-entered city is real and pin it to coordinates before submitting an order, booking, or signup.

Mapping & Routing Apps

Convert addresses to coordinates for plotting on Leaflet/Mapbox, then route between them using your routing service of choice.

Store Locators

Geocode the visitor's input, sort your store list by distance, and render the nearest five — common e-commerce pattern in 30 lines of code.

Pricing

All tiers include this API. No credit card for free tier.

BASIC

Free

✓ 100 reqs/month
✓ Hard limit
✓ All endpoints

PRO

$9.99/mo

✓ 10,000/month
✓ +$0.005 each
✓ All endpoints

ULTRA

$29.99/mo

✓ 100,000/month
✓ +$0.002 each
✓ All endpoints

MEGA

$99.99/mo

✓ 1M+/month
✓ +$0.001 each
✓ All endpoints

View all 20 APIs included →

Frequently asked questions

Real answers to questions developers ask before integrating.

How accurate is forward geocoding?

City-level accuracy worldwide; sub-city for major metros. For street-level accuracy use a specialist (Mapbox/Google Geocoding).

Is reverse geocoding free?

Yes — both endpoints are included in every Helix tier. No separate provider account needed.

Do I need to attribute the data?

Open-Meteo and BigDataCloud allow free use without attribution under typical product use. Always check upstream terms for your jurisdiction.

Can I get postal/zip codes?

Reverse geocoding returns locality and region; postal codes are available for most major cities via the locality field.

Does it support multiple languages?

Yes — pass language=de (or any ISO 639-1 code) on /search to return localized names.

Ready to integrate Geocoding?

Get started with 100 free requests. No credit card. Production-ready in minutes.

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