Geocoding

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This article describes how you can use the .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI) IGeocoding interface. This interfaces provides APIs to geocode a placemark to a positional coordinates and reverse geocode coordinates to a placemark.

The default implementation of the IGeocoding interface is available through the Geocoding.Default property. Both the IGeocoding interface and Geocoding class are contained in the Microsoft.Maui.Devices.Sensors namespace.

Get started

To access the Geocoding functionality the following platform-specific setup is required.

Android

No setup is required.

iOS/Mac Catalyst

No setup is required.

Windows

A Bing Maps API key is required to use geocoding functionality. Sign up for a free Bing Maps account. Under My account > My keys, create a new key and fill out information based on your application type, which should be Windows Application.

To enable geocoding functionality in your app, invoke the ConfigureEssentials method on the MauiAppBuilder object in the MauiProgram.cs file. Then, on the IEssentialsBuilder object, call the UseMapServiceToken method and pass your Bing Maps API key as the argument:

public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp()
{
    var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();

    builder
        .UseMauiApp<App>()
        .ConfigureFonts(fonts =>
        {
            fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
            fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Semibold.ttf", "OpenSansSemibold");
        })
        .ConfigureEssentials(essentials =>
        {
            essentials.UseMapServiceToken("YOUR-API-TOKEN");
        });

    return builder.Build();
}

Use geocoding

The following example demonstrates how to get the location coordinates for an address:

string address = "Microsoft Building 25 Redmond WA USA";
IEnumerable<Location> locations = await Geocoding.Default.GetLocationsAsync(address);

Location location = locations?.FirstOrDefault();

if (location != null)
    Console.WriteLine($"Latitude: {location.Latitude}, Longitude: {location.Longitude}, Altitude: {location.Altitude}");

The altitude isn't always available. If it isn't available, the Altitude property might be null, or the value might be 0. If the altitude is available, the value is in meters above sea level.

Reverse geocoding

Reverse geocoding is the process of getting placemarks for an existing set of coordinates. The following example demonstrates getting placemarks:

private async Task<string> GetGeocodeReverseData(double latitude = 47.673988, double longitude = -122.121513)
{
    IEnumerable<Placemark> placemarks = await Geocoding.Default.GetPlacemarksAsync(latitude, longitude);

    Placemark placemark = placemarks?.FirstOrDefault();

    if (placemark != null)
    {
        return
            $"AdminArea:       {placemark.AdminArea}\n" +
            $"CountryCode:     {placemark.CountryCode}\n" +
            $"CountryName:     {placemark.CountryName}\n" +
            $"FeatureName:     {placemark.FeatureName}\n" +
            $"Locality:        {placemark.Locality}\n" +
            $"PostalCode:      {placemark.PostalCode}\n" +
            $"SubAdminArea:    {placemark.SubAdminArea}\n" +
            $"SubLocality:     {placemark.SubLocality}\n" +
            $"SubThoroughfare: {placemark.SubThoroughfare}\n" +
            $"Thoroughfare:    {placemark.Thoroughfare}\n";

    }

    return "";
}

Get the distance between two locations

The Location and LocationExtensions classes define methods to calculate the distance between two locations. For an example of getting the distance between two locations, see Distance between two locations.