Improve Reverse Geocoding accuracy by snapping to Micro Point address

Micro Point Address (MPA) enhances reverse geocoding by returning highly precise address data—such as apartment units, suites, or offices—rather than just general point addresses. This is especially useful for applications like delivery services, navigation, and property management, where pinpoint accuracy is essential.

HERE Geocoding and Search supports Micro Point Addresses in the following countries: AUS, AUT, CAN, NZL, USA (with the territory of PRI).

This tutorial demonstrates how to use the feature on the /revgeocode endpoint.

Procedure

Let's take the query as an example:

GET https://revgeocode.search.hereapi.com/v1/
    revgeocode
    ?at=-27.6227974,153.0462133
    &lang=en-US
    &apiKey={YOUR_API_KEY}

The input location is near a building within a compound that contains multiple buildings, the address is "53 Perkins St, Calamvale QLD 4116, Australia".

However, the reverse geocode returns the address "12 Camplin Pl, Calamvale QLD 4116, Australia", which is the address closest to the input location but not part of the compound.

If activiating MPA feature on Reverse Geocode:

GET https://revgeocode.search.hereapi.com/v1/
    revgeocode
    ?at=-27.6227974,153.0462133
    &lang=en-US
    &with=MPA
    &showRelated=parentPA
    &showMapReferences=microPointAddress
    &apiKey={YOUR_API_KEY}

The following parameters are used:

at - Specify the center of the search context expressed as coordinates.
lang - (optional) Select the language to be used for result rendering from a list of BCP 47 compliant language codes.
with=MPA - Activates MPA results.
showRelated=parentPA - (optional) Allows enriching MPA results with related parent point address.
showMapReferences=microPointAddress - (optional) Includes MPA references in the response.
apiKey - Your API key.

📘
Note
This feature is released as RESTRICTED. See privilege. This request uses API key authentication. For more information about authentication options on the HERE platform, see the Identity & Access Management Guide.

For this request, the /revgeocode endpoint returns a result with resultType=houseNumber and houseNumberType=MPA, representing the micro point address “16” within the address “53 Perkins St.”:

{
    "items": [
        {
            "title": "16/53 Perkins St, Calamvale QLD 4116, Australia",
            "id": "here:af:streetsection:EBbg5LXwi4i8XKmLT8BoGA:ChYIBCCPve2eATIMCggIFCCm1qKgAxAEEAEaAjUz",
            "resultType": "houseNumber",
            "houseNumberType": "MPA",
            "address": {
                "label": "16/53 Perkins St, Calamvale QLD 4116, Australia",
                "countryCode": "AUS",
                "countryName": "Australia",
                "stateCode": "QLD",
                "state": "Queensland",
                "city": "Brisbane",
                "district": "Calamvale",
                "street": "Perkins St",
                "postalCode": "4116",
                "houseNumber": "53",
                "unit": "16"
            },
            "position": {"lat": -27.62276, "lng": 153.04622},
            "access": [{"lat": -27.62278, "lng": 153.04632}],
            "distance": 5,
            "mapView": {"west": 153.047, "south": -27.62335, "east": 153.0474, "north": -27.61942},
            "mapReferences": {
                "microPointAddress": {
                    "hmcId": "here:cm:micropointaddress:872983334",
                    "partitionId": "22868083"
                }
            },
            "related": [
                {
                    "relationship": "parentPA",
                    "title": "53 Perkins St, Calamvale QLD 4116, Australia",
                    "id": "here:af:streetsection:EBbg5LXwi4i8XKmLT8BoGA:CggIBCCPve2eARABGgI1Mw",
                    "resultType": "houseNumber",
                    "houseNumberType": "PA",
                    "address": {
                        "label": "53 Perkins St, Calamvale QLD 4116, Australia"
                    },
                    "position": {"lat": -27.62281, "lng": 153.04715},
                    "access": [{"lat": -27.62279, "lng": 153.04718}],
                    "distance": 93
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Additional information

For more information about the /revgeocode endpoints parameters, see the API Reference.