Places Endpoints

The FamilySearch API provides a free and powerful way to standardize place references in your app or service.

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Features Include

A Single Source of Place Data

Simplify your app or service with a standard way for users to enter or edit locations.

Historical Context Over Time

Show how geographic place names have evolved over time due to jurisdiction changes.

Language Support

Provide your users with tools to work with place names in multiple languages.

Popular Endpoints

Places Search

This query matches a user-entered place-name to a standardized place-name. It can also retrieve certain types of places within a particular jurisdiction or search for places within a radius of a specified latitude or longitude point.

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Place

This query is used to read a place. It is a representation of the logical place and will have one or more place descriptions associated with it. Place descriptions can accommodate for a place existing in different jurisdictions at different times.

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Place Description

This query is used to read a description of a place at a given time, within a specific jurisdiction, and with a specific official name. Place descriptions have a unique, numeric identifier.

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Other Endpoint Options

Place-Names

Standardize the places in your app or service with a database of more than 6 million locations.

View Place-Names Guide

Record Hints

Help your users discover their own family in billions of searchable records from all over the world.

View Records Guide

User Trees

Offer a tree-building option that allows users to build a private pedigree with, or without, assistance from others.

View User Trees Guide

Photos and Stories

Access millions of family and ancestor photos, stories, and documents added by our users.

View Memories Guide