How to Restrict Place Search Results to a Specific Region

Summary
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To improve search precision, you may need to restrict place search results to a specific geographic region such as a country, city, or postal code. This can be achieved by applying location-based filters in your request.

Answer
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To limit search results to a defined geographic area, you should include location constraints or administrative filters in your API request.

For modern integrations, use the HERE Geocoding and Search API, which supports filtering by country, city, postal code, or geographic area.

Legacy systems using the HERE Places API can use the addressFilter parameter, but this API is no longer recommended for new implementations.

Symptoms
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You may encounter:

Search results that include locations from unintended regions
Irrelevant or geographically distant POIs
Difficulty restricting results to a country, city, or postal code

Root Cause
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By default, place search APIs return results based on:

Query relevance
Proximity to a specified location

Without explicit filtering:

The search scope may include multiple administrative regions

Solution
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### Option 1 — Recommended: Use HERE Geocoding and Search API

Use location filters such as:

in= → restricts search area (e.g., country, bounding box)
qq= → structured query for address components

Example:

<br />https://discover.search.hereapi.com/v1/discover?q=hotel∈=countryCode:FRA&apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY<br />

This limits results to France.

### Option 2 — Legacy: Using Places API addressFilter

For existing systems using the Places API:

<br />http://places.api.here.com/places/v1/discover/search?at=46.9333,7.4699&q=Hotel&addressFilter=countryCode=FRA&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY<br />

Example filters:

countryCode
city
zipCode

This approach restricts results to the specified administrative region

Impact
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| Scenario | Result |
| --- | --- |
| No region filter applied | Results may include multiple regions |
| Region filter applied | Results restricted to specified geography |

Recommended Actions
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Use HERE Geocoding and Search API for all new implementations
Apply:
+ country-level filters
+ postal code filters
+ bounding or location constraints
Avoid relying on legacy Places API for new development

Expected vs Unexpected Behavior
-------------------------------

| Situation | Expected |
| --- | --- |
| Results include nearby regions without filters | Yes |
| Results remain within defined region | Yes |
| Filters ignored or inconsistent | No (report issue) |

Notes
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The HERE Places API is part of legacy HERE services
HERE recommends using the Geocoding and Search API for place discovery and filtering
Administrative filtering is still supported conceptually but implemented differently in modern APIs

Related Information
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HERE Geocoding and Search API
https://docs.here.com/geocoding-and-search/docs/introduction-to-here-geocoding-search-api-v7

Keywords
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Places API, addressFilter, Geocoding and Search API, region filter, countryCode, zipCode, POI search, HERE location services