Reference · built on requestCommons signalPlaces & geographic reference

Nominatim

Forward and reverse geocoding over OpenStreetMap data with structured place lookups via the Nominatim REST API.

Request accessPricing ↗

About

Nominatim is the open-source search engine and geocoding platform for OpenStreetMap data. It indexes global geographic features, named places, street networks, house numbers, and administrative boundaries contributed by the worldwide OpenStreetMap community. Through standard REST endpoints, applications perform forward text geocoding, reverse coordinate lookups, and direct OpenStreetMap object lookups in JSON and GeoJSON formats.

Through Fibric, an operator resolves street addresses to coordinates or translates device GPS coordinates to physical addresses, proposing address normalizations or reverse-geocoded place names for dispatch and delivery workflows.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from Nominatim and what it could propose, based on the publisher's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • Forward geocoding search results and bounding boxes via GET /search
  • Reverse geocoding resolving coordinates to structured street addresses from GET /reverse
  • Direct OpenStreetMap feature lookups by OSM node, way, or relation ID via GET /lookup
  • Structured address breakdowns into house number, road, neighbourhood, suburb, and city
  • Place rank and importance scoring to identify the most relevant geographic match

Proposed actions

Read-only. This feed informs operators; it changes nothing.

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Reverse geocode delivery driver vehicle telemetry

    Convert GPS coordinates from delivery vehicles into nearest physical street addresses, proposing clear location milestones in vehicle route logs.

    With Route Deviation, Field Dispatch

  • Geocode international customer delivery addresses

    Parse free-form international shipping addresses into structured city, postal code, and country coordinates, proposing address repair fixes prior to carrier booking.

    With Address Repair, Ship-To Change

  • Identify commercial landmarks near service locations

    Query named points of interest around customer addresses to propose navigation guidance and cross-street references for field technician work orders.

    With Field Dispatch

Requirements

  • A custom User-Agent header identifying your application contact per OpenStreetMap Foundation terms
  • Adherence to the maximum request rate of 1 request per second on public OSMF community servers
  • Local result caching to avoid repeating identical address or coordinate lookups
Authentication
None. Nominatim is open access. Requests must supply a valid HTTP User-Agent header identifying the requesting application under the OSMF usage policy.

Limits

  • The public OSMF community instance strictly enforces a 1 request per second rate limit
  • Address coverage reflects community contributions and can vary in completeness across rural regions
  • Heavy production batch geocoding workloads require deploying a private self-hosted Nominatim instance

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Public feed access is separate from Fibric integration. If you request this feed, your quote covers the build, usage, and support.

Request Nominatim ↗

Questions and answers

What is the usage policy for the public Nominatim instance?
The OpenStreetMap Foundation operates a public server with strict limits: maximum 1 request per second, valid contact User-Agent header, no bulk geocoding, and aggressive caching of results.
Can organizations self-host Nominatim for higher volume?
Yes. Nominatim is open-source software that can be deployed on private servers or cloud instances using PostgreSQL and PostGIS to support unlimited high-concurrency geocoding.
What output formats does Nominatim return?
Nominatim supports json, jsonv2, geojson, and geocodejson formats, configurable via the format query parameter.
Ask about Nominatim

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This Commons signal listing is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. It reads public data published by OpenStreetMap Foundation (nominatim.openstreetmap.org). Upstream agencies and projects are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy