geo_lite_sf: Address search API with 'sf' output (free-form query)

In nominatimlite: Interface to the 'Nominatim' API

Address search API with sf output (free-form query)

Description

Geocodes addresses and returns the corresponding sf object. The query output is returned as an sf object. See geo_lite() for retrieving the data in tibble format.

Corresponds to the free-form query search described in the API endpoint.

Usage

geo_lite_sf(
  address,
  limit = 1,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  full_results = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  progressbar = TRUE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  custom_query = list(),
  points_only = TRUE
)

Arguments

address	character with a single-line address, for example "1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington", or a vector of addresses (c("Madrid", "Barcelona")).
limit	Maximum number of results to return per input address. Note that each query returns a maximum of 50 results.
return_addresses	Return input addresses with results if TRUE.
full_results	Return all available data from the Nominatim API. If FALSE (default), only address columns are returned. See also return_addresses.
verbose	If TRUE, detailed logs are output to the console.
progressbar	Logical. If TRUE displays a progress bar to indicate the progress of the function.
nominatim_server	URL of the Nominatim server to use. Defaults to "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/".
custom_query	Named list with API-specific parameters, for example list(countrycodes = "US"). See Details.
points_only	Logical TRUE/FALSE. Whether to return only point geometries (TRUE, which is the default) or potentially other shapes as returned by the Nominatim API (FALSE). See About geometry types.

Details

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Search/ for additional parameters to be passed to custom_query.

Value

An sf object with the results that match the query.

About geometry types

The parameter points_only specifies whether the function results will be points (all Nominatim results are guaranteed to have at least point geometry) or other geometry types.

Note that when points_only = FALSE, the type of geometry returned depends on the object being geocoded. Administrative areas, major buildings and the like will be returned as polygons, rivers, roads and similar features will be returned as lines, and amenities may still be returned as points.

This function is vectorized, allowing multiple addresses to be geocoded. With points_only = FALSE, multiple geometry types may be returned.

See Also

Geocoding: geo_address_lookup(), geo_address_lookup_sf(), geo_amenity(), geo_amenity_sf(), geo_lite(), geo_lite_struct(), geo_lite_struct_sf()

sf outputs: bbox_to_poly(), geo_address_lookup_sf(), geo_amenity_sf(), geo_lite_struct_sf(), reverse_geo_lite_sf()

Examples

# Map: points
library(ggplot2)

string <- "Statue of Liberty, NY, USA"
sol <- geo_lite_sf(string)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(sol))) {
  ggplot(sol) +
    geom_sf()
}

sol_poly <- geo_lite_sf(string, points_only = FALSE)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(sol_poly))) {
  ggplot(sol_poly) +
    geom_sf() +
    geom_sf(data = sol, color = "red")
}
# Several results

madrid <- geo_lite_sf("Comunidad de Madrid, Spain",
  limit = 2,
  points_only = FALSE, full_results = TRUE
)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(madrid))) {
  ggplot(madrid) +
    geom_sf(fill = NA)
}

nominatimlite documentation built on June 3, 2026, 9:06 a.m.