This article explains how to migrate the Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API to the Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API. The Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API is used to translate longitude and latitude coordinates into a human understandable street address.
Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API supports XML and JSON response formats. Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API supports the GeoJSON response format.
Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API uses coordinates in the latitude/longitude format. Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API uses coordinates in the longitude/latitude format, as defined by GeoJSON.
Unlike Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API, Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API doesn’t currently support address or street level data for China, Japan or South Korea.
Unlike Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API, Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API has a view input parameter, which is a string that represents an ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 region/country code. The view input parameter will alter geopolitical disputed borders and labels to align with the specified user region. For more information, see URI Parameters.
Unlike Bing Maps for Enterprise, Azure Maps is a global service that supports specifying a geographic scope, which allows you to limit data residency to the European (EU) or United States (US) geographic areas (geos). All requests (including input data) are processed exclusively in the specified geographic area. For more information, see Azure Maps service geographic scope.
The following table lists the Bing Maps Find a Location by Point request parameters and the Azure Maps equivalent:
Bing Maps request parameter
Bing Maps request parameter alias
Azure Maps request parameter
Required in Azure Maps
Azure Maps data type
Description
culture
c
Request Header: Accept-Language
False
string
In Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API, this is the language in which search results should be returned. This is specified in the Azure Maps request header. Please refer to Supported Languages for details.
include
incl
Not needed
Not needed
Not needed
In Bing Maps Find a Location by Point, the ‘include’ input parameter is required to get a two-letter ISO country code for the location result in the response. In Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API, the two-letter ISO country code is returned by default.
includeEntityTypes
resultTypes
False
query
includeNeighborhood
inclnb
Not needed
Not needed
Not needed
In Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API, neighborhood info is returned in the response by default, when available.
point
coordinates
True
number[]
In Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API, the coordinates in the request and the response are in latitude/longitude format, whereas Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API requires the coordinates in the request and the coordinates in the response use longitude/latitude format, as defined by GeoJSON.
userRegion
ur
view
False
string
A string that represents an ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 region/country code. This will alter geopolitical disputed borders and labels to align with the specified user region. By default, the View parameter is set to “Auto” even if you haven’t defined it in the request.
Please refer to Supported Views for details and to see the available Views.
verboseplacenames
vbpn
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API only supports returning adminDistricts short name (FL instead of Florida).
For more information about the Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API request parameters, see URI Parameters.
The following table lists the fields that can appear in the HTTP response when running the Bing Maps Find a Location by Point request and the Azure Maps equivalent:
In Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API, the coordinates in the response are in latitude/longitude format. In Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API the coordinates in the response use longitude/latitude, as defined by GeoJSON.
calculationMethod (JSON) CalculationMethod (XML)
properties: geocodePoints - calculationMethod
confidence (JSON) Confidence (XML)
properties: confidence
entityType (JSON) EntityType (XML)
properties: type
geocodePoints (JSON) GeocodePoint (XML)
properties: geocodePoints - coordinates
matchCodes (JSON) MatchCode (XML)
properties: matchCodes
name (JSON) Name (XML)
Not supported
Azure Maps formattedAddress provides a similar value to Bing Maps name
point (JSON) Point (XML)
features: coordinates
In Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API, the coordinates in the response are in latitude/longitude format. In Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API the coordinates in the response use longitude/latitude format, as defined by GeoJSON.
usageTypes (JSON) usageType (XML)
properties: geocodePoints: usageTypes
For more information about the Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API response fields, see Definitions.
Response examples
The following JSON sample shows what is returned in the body of the HTTP response when executing the Bing Maps Find a Location by Point request:
Like Bing Maps Find a Location by Point API, Azure Maps Get Reverse Geocoding API logs one billable transaction per request. For more information on Azure Maps transactions, see Understanding Azure Maps Transactions.
Learn about writing code to interact with Azure Maps. Develop and test a fun app using JavaScript and Visual Studio Code to find the best route for a truck, car, or bicycle. The route is from the west coast of the USA, to the east coast. You can see how routes change based on vehicle. And, for trucks, how routes vary if the contents are hazardous. You get the chance to add in your own locations.