Geolocation API

POST Locate

Estimate a device's geographic position from radio network signal measurements. Submit one or more arrays of cellular or Wi-Fi measurements and receive a GeoJSON Point with accuracy estimates.

Resource URL

https://www.mapquestapi.com/geolocation/v1/locate

Resource Information

Response Formats	JSON
Authentication	Yes (Requires Key)
Rate Limited	Yes

Request Parameters

Request Parameter	Description	Required
key	The API Key, which is needed to make requests to MapQuest services.	Yes
altitude	When true, requests altitude and altitude accuracy in the response if the data is available.	optional, defaults to false

Request Body

The request body must contain at least one radio measurement array. The maximum request body size is 30 KB.

Field	Type	Description	Required
device	object	Device hardware and platform hints (manufacturer, model, os) used to improve positioning accuracy.	optional
gsm	array	GSM cell tower measurements. Max 16 entries.	At least one radio array is required
wcdma	array	WCDMA cell tower measurements. Max 16 entries.
tdscdma	array	TD-SCDMA cell tower measurements. Max 16 entries.
lte	array	LTE cell tower measurements. Max 16 entries.
lteCatM	array	LTE Cat-M cell tower measurements. Max 16 entries.
nbIot	array	NB-IoT cell tower measurements. Max 16 entries.
cdma	array	CDMA cell tower measurements. Max 16 entries.
wlan	array	Wi-Fi access point measurements. Max 256 entries.

Response Object

location	A GeoJSON Point geometry. The coordinates array is [longitude, latitude], or [longitude, latitude, altitude] when altitude is requested and available.
accuracy.horizontalInMeters	The horizontal accuracy radius in meters. Always present.
accuracy.verticalInMeters	The vertical accuracy in meters. Only present when altitude=true is requested and altitude data is available.

Error Responses

Errors are returned as application/problem+json.

Status	Description
400	The request body contains invalid measurement data.
422	No position could be estimated from the provided measurements. The request was valid but the measurements were insufficient.
503	The geolocation service is temporarily unavailable. Please retry.

Example Requests

POST https://www.mapquestapi.com/geolocation/v1/locate?key=KEY

LTE

{
  "lte": [
    {
      "mcc": 262,
      "mnc": 2,
      "cid": 2898945,
      "localId": { "earfcn": 6300, "pci": 123 },
      "nmr": [
        { "earfcn": 6300, "pci": 237 },
        { "earfcn": 6300, "pci": 442 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

GSM

{
  "gsm": [
    {
      "mcc": 262,
      "mnc": 1,
      "lac": 5126,
      "cid": 16504,
      "localId": { "bsic": 5, "bcch": 80 },
      "nmr": [
        { "bsic": 6, "bcch": 82 },
        { "bsic": 7, "bcch": 85 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

WCDMA

{
  "wcdma": [
    {
      "mcc": 262,
      "mnc": 7,
      "cid": 14674663,
      "localId": { "uarfcndl": 10780, "psc": 140 },
      "nmr": [
        { "uarfcndl": 10786, "psc": 149 },
        { "uarfcndl": 10762, "psc": 211 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

TD-SCDMA

{
  "tdscdma": [
    {
      "mcc": 460,
      "mnc": 0,
      "cid": 18563770,
      "localId": { "uarfcn": 10101, "cellParams": 56 },
      "nmr": [
        { "uarfcn": 10100, "cellParams": 86 },
        { "uarfcn": 10121, "cellParams": 14 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

LTE Cat-M

{
  "lteCatM": [
    {
      "mcc": 244,
      "mnc": 5,
      "cid": 1980678,
      "localId": { "earfcn": 6400, "pci": 42 },
      "nmr": [
        { "earfcn": 1825, "pci": 363 },
        { "earfcn": 100, "pci": 106 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

NB-IoT

{
  "nbIot": [
    {
      "mcc": 244,
      "mnc": 5,
      "cid": 1980678,
      "localId": { "earfcn": 6400, "pci": 42 },
      "nmr": [
        { "earfcn": 1825, "pci": 363 },
        { "earfcn": 100, "pci": 106 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

CDMA

{
  "cdma": [
    {
      "sid": 4162,
      "nid": 10,
      "bsid": 8583,
      "localId": { "channel": 0, "pnOffset": 247 },
      "nmr": [
        { "channel": 0, "pnOffset": 357 },
        { "channel": 0, "pnOffset": 366 }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

WLAN

{
  "wlan": [
    { "mac": "74:26:AC:1F:47:9F", "rss": -47 },
    { "mac": "74:26:AC:4C:5F:3E", "rss": -59 },
    { "mac": "7C:21:0E:A9:58:03", "rss": -55 }
  ]
}

With Device + Altitude

{
  "device": {
    "manufacturer": "Samsung",
    "model": "Galaxy S24",
    "os": { "name": "android", "version": "14.0" }
  },
  "lte": [
    {
      "mcc": 244,
      "mnc": 5,
      "cid": 145925,
      "rsrp": -52,
      "rsrq": -7
    }
  ]
}

The "With Device + Altitude" example above uses query parameter altitude=true:

POST https://www.mapquestapi.com/geolocation/v1/locate?key=KEY&altitude=true

Example Responses

Standard (2D)

{
  "location": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [23.864577, 61.4469302]
  },
  "accuracy": {
    "horizontalInMeters": 24
  }
}

With Altitude (3D)

{
  "location": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [23.864577, 61.4469302, 177]
  },
  "accuracy": {
    "horizontalInMeters": 24,
    "verticalInMeters": 36
  }
}