local-place-search

Place Search (Search API)

Requires API Key: Get one at https://api.search.brave.com Plan: Included in the Search plan (with locations option). See https://api-dashboard.search.brave.com/app/subscriptions/subscribe Standalone: Unlike local-pois and local-descriptions, this endpoint does not require POI IDs from a prior web search. You provide a location and an optional query directly.

Quick Start (cURL)

Search by Query + Coordinates

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/place_search" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}" \
  -G \
  --data-urlencode "q=coffee shops" \
  --data-urlencode "latitude=37.7749" \
  --data-urlencode "longitude=-122.4194" \
  --data-urlencode "radius=5000"

Search by Query + Location String

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/place_search" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}" \
  -G \
  --data-urlencode "q=sushi restaurants" \
  --data-urlencode "location=tokyo japan" \
  --data-urlencode "country=JP" \
  --data-urlencode "search_lang=en"

Browse General POIs (No Query)

curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/place_search" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}" \
  -G \
  --data-urlencode "latitude=48.8566" \
  --data-urlencode "longitude=2.3522" \
  --data-urlencode "radius=3000" \
  --data-urlencode "country=FR"

Endpoint

GET https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/place_search

Authentication: X-Subscription-Token: <API_KEY> header

Parameters

Location (optional but recommended)

Providing a geographic anchor improves precision. You can use coordinates (latitude + longitude) or a location string. Omitting both is allowed when a q is given — results are sourced globally and may be less precise. Omitting all three (q, latitude/longitude, and location) returns HTTP 422.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | |--|--|--|--|--| | latitude | float | Conditional | — | Latitude (-90.0 to 90.0). Required together with longitude | | longitude | float | Conditional | — | Longitude (-180.0 to 180.0). Required together with latitude | | location | string | No | — | Location string, alternative to coordinates. US: <city> <state> <country> (e.g., san francisco ca united states). Non-US: <city> <country> (e.g., tokyo japan). Case-insensitive, no commas needed. English or the most popular local language works best |

Search

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | |--|--|--|--|--| | q | string | No | — | Free-text query (e.g., coffee shops, pizza). Fully optional — if omitted, returns general POIs in the given area |

Additional Options

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | |--|--|--|--|--| | radius | float | No | — | Search radius bias around the provided coordinates, in meters. Not a hard cutoff — results may extend beyond it. No upper limit | | count | int | No | 20 | Total items returned across all buckets (1–100), not just results — an address query can spend the whole budget on addresses/streets | | geoloc | string | No | — | User geolocation as <latitude>x<longitude> (e.g., 40.7128x-74.0060), used to compute distance | | country | string | No | US | Search country (2-letter country code or ALL) | | search_lang | string | No | en | Language for search results (2+ char language code) | | ui_lang | string | No | en-US | UI language (locale code, e.g., en-US) | | units | string | No | metric | Measurement units: metric or imperial | | safesearch | string | No | strict | Safe search level: off, moderate, or strict | | spellcheck | bool | No | true | Whether to apply spellcheck to the query |

Response Format

Top-Level Fields

| Field | Type | Description | |--|--|--| | type | string | Always "locations" | | results | array | List of LocationResult objects (individual POIs) | | cities | array | Matched cities, type: "city" — see Geographic Place Fields | | countries | array | Matched countries, type: "country" | | regions | array | Matched regions, type: "region" | | neighborhoods | array | Matched neighborhoods, type: "neighborhood" | | addresses | array | List of AddressResult objects with type: "address" — specific street + number locations | | streets | array | List of AddressResult objects with type: "street" — entire streets | | mixed | array | ResultReference ordering hints describing how to interleave the buckets on a SERP | | location | object? | Resolved location info | | location.coordinates | [float, float] | [latitude, longitude] of the resolved center | | location.name | string | Resolved location name (e.g., "Helsinki") | | location.country | string | Two-letter country code (e.g., "FI") |

Treat a missing bucket as empty. For typical POI-style queries only results is populated, so clients that don't render rich SERPs can ignore the rest — except for address- or street-shaped queries, which can return an empty results and put every match in addresses/streets.

LocationResult Fields

Each item in results is a LocationResult:

| Field | Type | Description | |--|--|--| | type | string | Always "location_result" | | title | string | Business/POI name | | url | string | Canonical URL | | description | string? | Short description or category label (e.g., "Coffee Shop") | | provider_url | string | Provider page URL | | id | string? | Opaque POI identifier (valid ~8 hours, usable with local-pois and local-descriptions) | | coordinates | [float, float]? | [latitude, longitude] | | postal_address | object | displayAddress, plus optional streetAddress, addressLocality, addressRegion, postalCode, country | | contact.telephone | string? | Phone number | | contact.email | string? | Email address | | rating.ratingValue | float? | Average rating | | rating.bestRating | float? | Max possible rating | | rating.reviewCount | int? | Number of reviews | | rating.is_tripadvisor | bool | Whether the rating comes from Tripadvisor | | opening_hours.current_day | object[]? | Today's hours (abbr_name, full_name, opens, closes) | | opening_hours.days | object[][]? | Hours for each day of the week | | categories | string[] | Business categories (default []) | | price_range | string? | Price indicator, e.g. $, $$, $$ - $$$ | | serves_cuisine | string[]? | Cuisine types (restaurants) | | distance.value | float? | Distance from the search location | | distance.units | string? | Distance unit | | icon_category | string? | Icon category slug (e.g., cafe) | | thumbnail.src | string? | Thumbnail image URL | | thumbnail.original | string? | Original image URL | | pictures.results | object[]? | Additional images (src, original) | | profiles | object[]? | External profiles (name, url, long_name, img) | | timezone | string? | IANA timezone (e.g., America/Los_Angeles) | | zoom_level | int | Suggested map zoom level (default 7) |

Geographic Place Fields (cities, countries, regions, neighborhoods)

All four buckets share one shape, differing only by the type identifier. The published spec names them CityResult / CountryResult / RegionResult / NeighborhoodResult.

| Field | Type | Description | |--|--|--| | type | string | Bucket identifier: city, country, region, or neighborhood | | name | string | Place name | | country | string | Country code of the place | | coordinates | [float, float] | [latitude, longitude] | | thumbnail.src | string | Primary image URL |

AddressResult Fields (addresses and streets)

Same model is used for both buckets. Items in addresses have type: "address" (street + number); items in streets have type: "street" (entire street).

| Field | Type | Description | |--|--|--| | type | string | "address" (in addresses) or "street" (in streets) | | name | string | Display name of the address or street | | coordinates | [float, float] | [latitude, longitude] | | pois | object[] | LocationResult objects located at this address/street | | pois_nearby | object[] | LocationResult objects located nearby | | zoom_level | int | Suggested map zoom level (default 15) | | distance.value | float? | Distance from the search location | | distance.units | string? | Distance unit | | postal_address | object? | displayAddress, streetAddress, addressLocality, addressRegion, country |

Mixed Ordering (mixed)

mixed is an ordered list of ResultReference objects telling clients how to interleave items from the different buckets on a single SERP.

| Field | Type | Description | |--|--|--| | type | string | Bucket to draw from: results, cities, countries, regions, neighborhoods, addresses, or streets | | index | int? | 0-based index of the item within that bucket. May be null when all is true | | all | bool | When true, all remaining items from the named bucket should be placed at this position |

Clients that only render POIs can ignore mixed entirely and read results directly.

Example Response

{
  "type": "locations",
  "results": [
    {
      "type": "location_result",
      "title": "Blue Bottle Coffee",
      "url": "https://yelp.com/biz/blue-bottle-coffee-sf",
      "provider_url": "",
      "id": "loc4CQWMJWLD4VBEBZ62XQLJTGK6YCJEEJDNAAAAAAA=",
      "description": "Coffee Shop",
      "postal_address": {
        "type": "PostalAddress",
        "displayAddress": "315 Linden St, San Francisco, CA 94102"
      },
      "contact": { "telephone": "+15106533394" },
      "rating": {
        "ratingValue": 4.3,
        "bestRating": 5.0,
        "reviewCount": 1024,
        "is_tripadvisor": true
      },
      "opening_hours": {
        "current_day": [
          { "abbr_name": "Tue", "full_name": "Tuesday", "opens": "07:00", "closes": "18:00" }
        ],
        "days": [
          [{ "abbr_name": "Mon", "full_name": "Monday", "opens": "07:00", "closes": "18:00" }]
        ]
      },
      "coordinates": [37.7763, -122.4215],
      "categories": [],
      "serves_cuisine": ["Cafe", "Coffee Shop"],
      "price_range": "$$",
      "icon_category": "cafe",
      "thumbnail": {
        "src": "https://example.com/thumb.jpg",
        "original": "https://example.com/original.jpg"
      },
      "zoom_level": 7
    }
  ],
  "cities": [],
  "countries": [],
  "regions": [],
  "neighborhoods": [],
  "addresses": [],
  "streets": [],
  "mixed": [
    { "type": "results", "index": 0, "all": false }
  ],
  "location": {
    "coordinates": [37.7749, -122.4194],
    "name": "San Francisco",
    "country": "US"
  }
}

For a query that matches a city name, the response additionally surfaces a city entry in cities:

{
  "cities": [
    {
      "type": "city",
      "name": "San Francisco",
      "country": "US",
      "coordinates": [37.7749, -122.4194],
      "thumbnail": { "src": "https://example.com/sf.jpg" }
    }
  ],
  "mixed": [
    { "type": "cities", "index": 0, "all": false }
  ]
}

Enriching Results with POI Details and Descriptions

POI id values from results can be passed to sibling endpoints for richer data:

# Get full POI details (hours, reviews, photos, web result mentions)
curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/pois" -G \
  --data-urlencode "ids=loc4CQWMJWLD4VBEBZ62XQLJTGK6YCJEEJDNAAAAAAA=" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}"

# Get AI-generated descriptions
curl -s "https://api.search.brave.com/res/v1/local/descriptions" -G \
  --data-urlencode "ids=loc4CQWMJWLD4VBEBZ62XQLJTGK6YCJEEJDNAAAAAAA=" \
  -H "X-Subscription-Token: ${BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY}"

Use Cases

• Map-based exploration: Search for POIs within a visible map viewport using coordinates + radius. No prior query needed.
• Location-aware apps: Build "nearby" features — pass device GPS coordinates and a query to find relevant businesses.
• Travel planning: Search for attractions, restaurants, and hotels by location string (e.g., paris france) without needing exact coordinates.

Notes

• Finds places, not pages: This endpoint searches a geographic index of physical places. Use web search for general information retrieval.
• Choosing a radius: A tighter radius (below ~20 km) gives more focused results. Raise it to reach specific or well-known places further afield; for common category searches (e.g., restaurants), the default bias or tighter works best.