Announcing the General Availability of the Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API

sinnypan

Microsoft

Mar 04, 2026

The Wait is Over!

It was just last September that we were Introducing the Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API but now we’re excited to announce the general availability (GA) of the Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API, a production‑ready REST service that delivers fast, intelligent, and structured location suggestions.

After a successful public preview, we have integrated your feedback and this API is now fully supported for mission‑critical workloads, providing a modern, scalable successor to the Bing Maps Autosuggest REST API and empowering developers to deliver high‑quality, responsive location experiences.

Why This API Matters

Today’s applications increasingly rely on smart, real‑time location suggestions, whether for store locators, delivery routing, rideshare dispatch, address entry, or dynamic search UIs. The Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API brings:

Instant, relevant, typed‑ahead suggestions
Granular result type filtering for Place or Address categories or even subtypes of Place category
Structured, developer‑friendly outputs
Support for multilingual experiences and localized ranking
Proximity‑aware and popularity‑aware results

Whether you are modernizing an existing solution or building something new, this API gives you precision, flexibility, and performance at scale.

From Preview to GA: What’s New

✔ Stable GA API version

The service is now available on the 2026‑01‑01 GA version, offering a reliable, long‑term contract for production workloads.

✔ Improved suggestion ranking and language handling

This version introduces refined ranking logic and improved language handling, enabling more accurate, geo‑aware, and language‑appropriate suggestions across global markets.

✔ Updated documentation and samples

The GA release includes new and refreshed REST API documentation, updated samples, and improved how-to-guide to help developers build complete geocoding workflows and migrate from Bing Maps more easily.

What It Can Do

The Geocode Autocomplete API is purpose‑built to deliver accurate, structured suggestions as users type. Core capabilities include:

Entity suggestions: Places (e.g., administrative divisions, populated places, landmarks, postal codes) and Address (e.g., roads, point addresses) entities
Structured output: Consistent address components for easy downstream integration
Relevance‑based ranking: Popularity, proximity, and bounding‑box awareness
Multilingual support: Honor language preferences via Accept-Language
Flexible filtering: Target specific countries or entity types

These capabilities help you create intuitive, high‑quality user experiences across global applications.

How to Use It

Use the GA version of Geocode Autocomplete with the following endpoint:

https://atlas.microsoft.com/search/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2026-01-01&query={query}

Common optional parameters include:

coordinates – Bias suggestions near the provided location
bbox – Biases suggestions to entities that fall within the specified bounding box of the visible map area
top – Limit the number of returned suggestions
resultTypeGroups / resultTypes – Filter for Places or Addresses or its subtypes
countryRegion – Restrict to specific country/Region

A typical workflow:

Call Autocomplete as the user types
Use the selected suggestion with Azure Maps Geocoding service to retrieve coordinates and complete the interaction (e.g., map display, routing, address validation)

Example: Autocomplete for Place Entity Query

GET https://atlas.microsoft.com/search/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2026-01-01
&subscription-key={YourAzureMapsKey}
&coordinates={coordinates}
&query=new yo
&top=3

This request returns structured top 3 suggestions for the partial input “new yo,” helping users quickly find places like New York city or New York state based on user location.

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "typeGroup": "Place",
        "type": "PopulatedPlace",
        "geometry": null,
        "address": {
          "locality": "New York",
          "adminDistricts": [
            {
              "name": "New York",
              "shortName": "N.Y."
            }
          ],
          "countryRegions": {
            "ISO": "US",
            "name": "United States"
          },
          "formattedAddress": "New York, N.Y."
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "typeGroup": "Place",
        "type": "AdminDivision1",
        "geometry": null,
        "address": {
          "locality": "",
          "adminDistricts": [
            {
              "name": "New York",
              "shortName": "N.Y."
            }
          ],
          "countryRegions": {
            "ISO": "US",
            "name": "United States"
          },
          "formattedAddress": "New York"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "typeGroup": "Place",
        "type": "AdminDivision2",
        "geometry": null,
        "address": {
          "locality": "",
          "adminDistricts": [
            {
              "name": "New York",
              "shortName": "N.Y."
            },
            {
              "name": "New York County"
            }
          ],
          "countryRegions": {
            "ISO": "US",
            "name": "United States"
          },
          "formattedAddress": "New York County"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Example: Autocomplete for an Address Entity Query

GET https://atlas.microsoft.com/search/geocode:autocomplete?api-version=2026-01-01
&subscription-key={YourAzureMapsKey}
&bbox={bbox}
&query=One Micro
&top=3
&countryRegion=US

This request returns structured address suggestion for NE One Microsoft Way, categorized as an Address entity.

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "typeGroup": "Address",
        "type": "RoadBlock",
        "geometry": null,
        "address": {
          "locality": "Redmond",
          "adminDistricts": [
            {
              "name": "Washington",
              "shortName": "WA"
            },
            {
              "name": "King County"
            }
          ],
          "countryRegions": {
            "ISO": "US",
            "name": "United States"
          },
          "postalCode": "98052",
          "streetName": "NE One Microsoft Way",
          "addressLine": "",
          "formattedAddress": "NE One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, United States"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Example: Integrate with Web Application

Below sample shows user enter query and autocomplete service provide a series of suggestions based on user query and user location.

Web UI sample shows user enter query and autocomplete service provide a series of suggestions based on user query and user location.

Ready to Bring Autocomplete to Production?

The Azure Maps Geocode Autocomplete API is now fully production‑ready, giving you the stability, performance, and flexibility needed to power fast, intuitive location‑driven experiences. Whether you're migrating from Bing Maps Autosuggest or enhancing your existing address or search workflows, the GA release makes it easier to deliver high‑quality suggestions at scale.

If you're ready to upgrade your location experiences, now’s the perfect time to start. Explore the updated Azure Maps Autocomplete documentation, try the new endpoint, and let us know how it works for you. We’d love to hear your feedback. Let’s keep building great location intelligence experiences together.