Geocoding your Data
Learn about the different Geocoders used by CARTO.
Why do you need this?
-
You have a dataset with an address, city, country, IP, postal code, etc. and you need to visualize it.
What is Geocoding?
Geocoding is the process of converting an address description (eg: the name of a city or a postal code) into geographic coordinates that CARTO can visualize. In order to get insights from a map, the first step of most CARTO users is geocoding their data.
How can I geocode my data?
You can geocode your data by using the “Gecoding Analysis” in Builder, or with one of the Geocoding Functions available in the Data Services API.
What are the different geocoders?
CARTO relies on two different types of geocoders. On the one hand, geocoding by latitude and longitude, country, administrative regions, IP addresses, or postal/zip codes uses CARTO Internal Geocoder, an open source solution based on open data.
Geocoding by city names and street addresses, on the other, uses external providers such as HERE or TomTom depending on your account plan.
The following table shows credit consumption, provider and row limit for each Builder gecodoing analysis.
| Geocoder | Geometry | Credit Consumption | Provider | Row Limit | Time Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latitude & longitude | Point | No | Internal | - | - |
| City names | Point | Yes | Tomtom, HERE | - | 30 min |
| Country names | Polygon | No | Internal | 500 | 5 min |
| Administrative Regions | Polygon | No | Internal | 1000 | 5 min |
| IP addresses | Point | No | Internal | - | 30 min |
| Street adresses | Point | Yes | Tomtom, HERE | - | 30 min |
| Postal Codes | Point | No | Internal | 1M | 5 min |
Does geocoding consume credits?
When you are using an external geocoder, credits are consumed.
What’s next?
Read this article to learn how Location Data Services work.
Read this article to learn how to bypass the row limits on certain geocoding analysis.
Read this article to learn how to send batches of geocoding queries.
Learn more about Geocoding Functions.