Find places in a bounding box

Learn how to access the places service.

Find places in a bounding box using API key authentication

A bounding box search finds places within an extent using the places service. An extent typically represents the visible area of a map. To perform a bounding box search, you use the places package from ArcGIS REST JS.

Prerequisites

An ArcGIS Location Platform account.

Steps

Get the starter app

Select a type of authentication below and follow the steps to create a new application.

If you are using the CDN libraries, to get started.

Set up authentication

Create developer credentials in your portal for the type of authentication you selected.

Create a new API key credential with the correct privileges to access the resources used in this tutorial.

Go to the Create an API key tutorial and create an API key with the following privilege(s):
- Privileges:
  - Location services > Places
Copy the API key access token to your clipboard when prompted.

Set developer credentials

Use the API key or OAuth developer credentials so your application can access location services.

Update the accessToken variable to use your API key.

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    const accessToken = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";

In both the index.html and callback.html files, replace YOUR_CLIENT_ID and YOUR_REDIRECT_URL with the client ID and redirect URL of your OAuth credentials.

index.html
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    const authentication = await arcgisRest.ArcGISIdentityManager.beginOAuth2({
       clientId: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID", // Your client ID from OAuth credentials
       redirectUri: "YOUR_REDIRECT_URL", // The redirect URL registered in your OAuth credentials
       portal: "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest" // Your portal URL
    })

callback.html
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    arcgisRest.ArcGISIdentityManager.completeOAuth2({
      clientId: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID", // Your client ID from OAuth credentials
      redirectUri: "YOUR_REDIRECT_URL", // The redirect URL registered in your OAuth credentials
      portal: "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest" // Your portal URL
    })

Run the app and ensure you can sign in successfully.

If you are unable to sign in, make sure you have the correct redirect URL and port. This URL varies based on your application and typically takes the format of https://<server>[:port]/callback.html or http://my-arcgis-app:/auth. For example, if you are running an application on http://127.0.0.1:5500/, set http://127.0.0.1:5500/callback.html as your redirect URL in the index.html and callback.html file and your developer credential. They all have to match!

Make the request

Copy and paste the code below, following the steps to make a request to the Places service.

Reference the arcgis-rest-request and arcgis-rest-places libraries either through CDN, ES Modules, or Node JS.
Define the parameters needed for the request.
Call the Places service and handle the results.

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  <script>
    /* when including ArcGIS REST JS all exports are available
  from the same arcgisRest global */
    /* Use for API key authentication */

    const accessToken = "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN";
    const authentication = arcgisRest.ApiKeyManager.fromKey(accessToken);

    // or

    /* Use for user authentication */
    // const authentication = await arcgisRest.ArcGISIdentityManager.beginOAuth2({
    //   clientId: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID", // Your client ID from OAuth credentials
    //   redirectUri: "YOUR_REDIRECT_URL", // The redirect URL registered in your OAuth credentials
    //   portal: "https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest" // Your portal URL
    // })

    arcgisRest.findPlacesWithinExtent({
      xmin: -115.2, // Coordinates around the Las Vegas Strip
      ymin: 36.09,
      xmax: -115.1,
      ymax: 36.161,
      searchText: "Night Clubs", // Search for "Night Clubs"
      authentication,
      f: "geojson"
    })
      .then((response) => {
        console.log("Search results:", response.results);
        document.getElementById("result").textContent = JSON.stringify(response.results, null, 2);
      }).catch((error) => {
        document.getElementById("result").textContent += error
      });

  </script>
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The service will return a list of up to 20 nearby places that match the search criteria.

The places service returns a maximum of 20 search results at a time. To find more places that match your query, you can paginate through place results by making additional requests with a formatted URL. To learn more, go to Paginate search results.

Run the app

Run the app.

The result should look similar to this.

What's next?

Learn how to use additional ArcGIS location services in these tutorials:

Find nearby places and details

Find points of interest near a location and get detailed information about them

Find place addresses

Find coffee shops, gas stations, restaurants and other nearby places by accessing the Geocoding service.

Find a route and directions

Find a route and directions for an origin and destination by accessing the route service.