About the Places API (New)
AI-generated Key Takeaways
The Places API (New) offers Place Details, Place Photo, Nearby Search, Text Search, and Autocomplete APIs for comprehensive place information.
Place Details (New) provides detailed information about a place using its Place ID, including address, ratings, and reviews, and is more efficient than search APIs when you have the Place ID.
Text Search (New) allows searching for places using text strings like "restaurants near me," while Nearby Search (New) lets you find places within a specific geographic area.
Place Photo (New) grants access to Google's extensive photo database, enabling you to enhance your application with high-quality images of places.
Autocomplete (New) predicts places and queries as users type, using session tokens to track and manage user interactions for billing purposes.
Introduction
The Places API (New) includes the following APIs:
This document contains an overview of these new APIs.
Place Details (New)
Aplace ID uniquely identifies a place in the Google Places database and onGoogle Maps. With a place ID, you can request details about a particularestablishment or point of interest by initiating aPlace Details (New) request. A Place Details (New) requestreturns comprehensive information about the indicated place such as its completeaddress, phone number, user rating, and reviews.
Note: You can get the same details about a place from Place Details (New)that you can also get from Text Search (New) or Nearby Search (New).However, if you already have the place ID of a location, callingPlace Details (New) is less expensive than calling one of the search APIs.There are many ways to obtain a place ID. You can use:
Place Photos (New)
Place Photos (New) lets you add high quality photographic content toyour application by giving you access to the millions of photos stored in theGoogle Places database. Using the Place Photos (New) API, you can accessthe photos and resize the image to the optimal size for your application.
All requests to the Place Photos (New) API must include a photo resourcename, which uniquely identifies the photo to return. You can obtain the photoresource name by using:
To include the photo resource name in the response from aPlace Details (New), Text Search (New), or Nearby Search (New)request, make sure that you include thephotos field in the field mask of therequest.
Text Search (New) and Nearby Search (New)
The Places API includes two search APIs:
Lets you specify a text string on which to search for a place. For example:"Spicy Vegetarian Food in Sydney, Australia" or "Fine seafood dining nearPalo Alto, CA".
You can refine the search by specifying details such as price levels,current opening status, ratings, or specific place types. You can alsospecify to bias the results to a specific location, or restrict the searchto a specific location.
Lets you specify a region to search along with a list of place types.Specify the region as a circle defined by the latitude and longitudecoordinates of the center point and radius in meters.
Specify one or more place types that define the characteristics of theplace. For example, specify "
pizza_restaurant" and "shopping_mall" tosearch for a pizza restaurant located in a shopping mall in the specifiedregion.
The main difference between the two searches is that Text Search (New)lets you specify an arbitrary search string while Nearby Search (New)requires a specific area in which to search.
Autocomplete (New) and session tokens
Autocomplete (New) is a web service that returns place predictionsand query predictions in response to an HTTP request. In the request, specify atext search string and geographic bounds that controls the search area.
Session tokens are user-generated strings that track Autocomplete (New)calls as sessions. Autocomplete (New) uses session tokens to group thequery and selection phases of a user autocomplete search into a discrete sessionfor billing purposes.
New fields, attributes, and accessibility options
The Places API (New) includes new fields, attributes, and accessibilityoptions to provide users with more information about a place. These aspects aredescribed in the following sections.
Fields
The Places API (New) includes several new fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
regularSecondaryOpeningHours | Describes particular times for certain operations. Secondary opening hours are different from a business's main hours. For example, a restaurant can specify drive through hours or delivery hours as its secondary hours. |
paymentOptions | Payment options the place accepts. A place can accept more than one payment option. If payment option data is not available, the payment option field will be unset. Options include the following:
|
parkingOptions | Parking options provided by the place. Options include the following:
|
subDestinations | Unique places that are related to a particular place. For example, airport terminals are considered sub-destinations of an airport. |
fuelOptions | The most recent information about fuel options available at a gas station. This information is updated regularly. Options include the following:
|
evChargeOptions | Number of electric vehicle (EV) chargers at this station. While some EV chargers have multiple connectors, each charger can only charge one vehicle at a time; as a result, this field reflects the number of available EV chargers at a given time. |
shortFormattedAddress | A short, human-readable address for a place. |
primaryType | The primary type of the given result. For example, a place may be classified as acafe or anairport. A place can only have a single primary type. For the complete list of possible values, seeSupported types. |
primaryTypeDisplayName | The display name of the primary type, localized to the request language if applicable. For the complete list of possible values, seeSupported types. |
Attributes
The Places API (New) includes several new attributes:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
outdoorSeating | Place provides outdoor seating. |
liveMusic | Place provides live music. |
menuForChildren | Place has a children's menu. |
servesCocktails | Place serves cocktails. |
servesDessert | Place serves dessert. |
servesCoffee | Place serves coffee. |
goodForChildren | Place is good for children. |
allowsDogs | Place allows dogs. |
restroom | Place has a restroom. |
goodForGroups | Place accommodates groups. |
goodForWatchingSports | Place is suitable for watching sports. |
Accessibility options
The Places API (New) includes the following accessibility option fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
wheelchairAccessibleParking | Place offers wheelchair-accessible parking. |
wheelchairAccessibleEntrance | Place has a wheelchair-accessible entrance. |
wheelchairAccessibleRestroom | Place has a wheelchair-accessible restroom. |
wheelchairAccessibleSeating | Place has wheelchair-accessible seating. |
AI-powered summaries
Places API (New) AI-powered summaries use Gemini model capabilities toreturn summaries about places and areas that can help users decide where to go.
AI-powered summaries synthesize data from a variety of inputs to help users makemore informed decisions about a place. For example, if you are consideringtrying a new restaurant, an AI-powered summary can surface common menuhighlights, give you an idea of the vibe, or pull together themes from userreviews. If you are visiting a new city, an AI-powered summary can provide anoverview of nearby attractions and amenities.
Note: All AI-powered summaries displayed in your app must be accompanied by theappropriate attribution in accordance with Google's policies and standards. Formore information, seePolicies for PlacesAPI.AI-powered features added to the Places API (New)
AI-powered summaries are supported byPlace Details (New),Text Search (New),andNearby Search (New).The following AI-powered summaries are available in Places API (New)responses:
- Place summaries,which are short overview summaries related to a specific place.
- Review summaries,which are digestible summaries of what reviewers have said about a place.
- Area summaries,which provide overviews of nearby and popular places in the surroundingarea. These include neighborhood summaries and EV charging stationsummaries.
Google frequently regenerates these summaries to ensure that they are freshbased on the latest available information. When you make aPlaces API (New) request, you will display the freshest data in your app.
Migrate to the New Places APIs
If you are an existing Places API (New) customer and want to migrate your app touse the new APIs, see the following migration documentation:
- Migrate to Place Details (New)
- Migrate to Nearby Search (New)
- Migrate to Text Search (New)
- Migrate to Place Photos (New)
- Migrate to Autocomplete (New)
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-11-21 UTC.