Location and Recognition Entity Types
Note
Bing Maps Location Recognition API retirement
Bing Maps Location Recognition API is deprecated and will be retired. Free (Basic) account customers can continue to use Bing Maps Location Recognition API until June 30th, 2025. Enterprise account customers can continue to use Bing Maps Location Recognition API until June 30th, 2028. To avoid service disruptions, all implementations using Bing Maps Location Recognition API will need to be updated to use Azure Maps by the retirement date that applies to your Bing Maps for Enterprise account type.
Azure Maps is Microsoft's next-generation maps and geospatial services for developers. Azure Maps has many of the same features as Bing Maps for Enterprise, and more. To get started with Azure Maps, create a free Azure subscription and an Azure Maps account. For more information about azure Maps, see Azure Maps Documentation. For migration guidance, see Bing Maps Migration Overview.
The response returned by the Location Recognition API contains one or more entity types. This article provides descriptions of the various fields associated with each entity type.
Businesses at Location
Entities like local businesses, offices, museums, parks, and points of interest are grouped under the businessesAtLocation
element in the response. Each businessesAtLocation
element contains the following fields.
Field Name | Description |
---|---|
BusinessLocationEntity |
Container element (XML only) for the businessAddress and businessInfo fields. |
businessesAddress |
Address of the business entity. Multiple entities can be situated at the input location, in such cases each entity has its own address. |
businessInfo |
Name, type and other information about the business entity. |
Example
The following example shows a businessesAtLocation
element in the Location Recognition API response.
"businessesAtLocation": [
{
"businessAddress": {
"latitude": 47.6427448210338,
"longitude": -122.12949670889715,
"addressLine": "1 Microsoft Way",
"locality": "Redmond",
"adminDivision": "WA",
"countryIso2": "US",
"postalCode": "98052",
"formattedAddress": "1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, US"
},
"businessInfo": {
"id": "873x2278110160718493824",
"entityName": "Microsoft",
"url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/",
"phone": "(425) 882-8080",
"typeId": 91600,
"otherTypeIds": [
91046,
90100
],
"type": "IndustrialStructure",
"otherTypes": [
"Information Technology Companies",
"B2B Business Services",
"Business-to-Business"
]
}
}
Business Address
A businessAddress
element contains the following fields.
Field Name | Description |
---|---|
latitude,longitude |
Latitude and longitude of the business or location. Note that business locations are approximate and aren't guaranteed to be accurate. |
Note
For the other fields in business address refer to Location and Area Types.
Business Information
A businessInfo
element contains the following fields.
Field Name | Description |
---|---|
entityName |
Name of the business entity. |
url |
Website URL of the business entity. |
phone |
Phone number of the business entity. |
type |
Type of business entity representing the primary nature of business of the entity. Refer to the Business Entity Types list for a full list of supported types. |
otherTypes |
List of types that represent the secondary nature of business of the entity. |
Business Entity Types
The list of supported entity types.
- Arts & entertainment
- Automotive
- Banking & finance
- Beauty & spa
- Business-to-business
- Education
- Food & drink
- Government
- Healthcare
- News & media
- Professional services
- Real estate
- Religion
- Retail
- Sports & recreation
- Travel
Note
Granular categories are available under these top-level categories (e.g. different cuisines are available under ‘restaurants’ which itself is under ‘Food & drink’).
Natural Points of Interest at Location
Natural entities like beaches, etc., are placed in the naturalPOIAtLocation
element. Each natural entity has the following fields.
Field Name | Description |
---|---|
entityName |
Name of the natural entity or point of interest. |
latitude,longitude |
Location coordinates of the entity. |
type |
Type of natural entity. See the following list of supported types. |
The complete list of supported natural entity types.
- Bay
- Beach
- Canal
- Forest
- Island
- Lake
- Mountain
- Plateau
- Reserve
- River
- Sea
- Valley