Package {nominatimlite}

Type:	Package
Title:	Interface to the 'Nominatim' API
Version:	0.7.0
Description:	Provides a lightweight interface to the 'Nominatim' API https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/. It supports free-form and structured address searches, searches for addresses from coordinates, amenity lookup and address lookup by 'OpenStreetMap' object identifier. It returns results as 'tibble' data frames or 'sf' objects.
License:	MIT + file LICENSE
URL:	https://dieghernan.github.io/nominatimlite/, https://github.com/dieghernan/nominatimlite
BugReports:	https://github.com/dieghernan/nominatimlite/issues
Depends:	R (≥ 4.1.0)
Imports:	dplyr (≥ 1.0.0), jsonlite (≥ 1.7.0), sf (≥ 0.9.0), tools, utils
Suggests:	curl, ggplot2, knitr, quarto, testthat (≥ 3.3.0), tibble, withr
VignetteBuilder:	quarto
Config/Needs/website:	dieghernan/gitdevr, pak, tidyverse, leaflet, reactable, crosstalk, tidyr, htmltools, arcgeocoder, tidygeocoder
Config/roxygen2/markdown:	TRUE
Config/roxygen2/version:	8.1.0
Config/testthat/edition:	3
Config/testthat/parallel:	false
Copyright:	See file inst/COPYRIGHTS.
Encoding:	UTF-8
LazyData:	true
X-schema.org-applicationCategory:	cartography
X-schema.org-keywords:	r, openstreetmap, address, coordinates, nominatim, reverse-search, rstats, r-package, cran, api-wrapper, api, geocoder, geocoding, gis, reverse-geocoder, reverse-geocoding, shapefile, spatial
NeedsCompilation:	no
Packaged:	2026-08-25 10:16:18 UTC; diego
Author:	Diego Hernangómez [aut, cre, cph], Jindra Lacko [ctb, rev], Alex White [ctb], OpenStreetMap contributors [cph] (For the osm_amenities data)
Maintainer:	Diego Hernangómez <diego.hernangomezherrero@gmail.com>
Repository:	CRAN
Date/Publication:	2026-08-25 11:20:18 UTC

nominatimlite: Interface to the 'Nominatim' API

Description

Provides a lightweight interface to the 'Nominatim' API https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/. It supports free-form and structured address searches, searches for addresses from coordinates, amenity lookup and address lookup by 'OpenStreetMap' object identifier. It returns results as 'tibble' data frames or 'sf' objects.

Author(s)

Maintainer: Diego Hernangómez diego.hernangomezherrero@gmail.com (ORCID) [copyright holder]

Authors:

• Diego Hernangómez diego.hernangomezherrero@gmail.com (ORCID) [copyright holder]

Other contributors:

• Jindra Lacko (ORCID) [contributor, reviewer]

• Alex White [contributor]

• OpenStreetMap contributors (For the osm_amenities data) [copyright holder]

See Also

Useful links:

• https://dieghernan.github.io/nominatimlite/

• https://github.com/dieghernan/nominatimlite

• Report bugs at https://github.com/dieghernan/nominatimlite/issues

Convert a bounding box to an sfc POLYGON object

Description

Converts bounding box coordinates to an sfc object with POLYGON geometry.

Usage

bbox_to_poly(bbox = NA, xmin = NA, ymin = NA, xmax = NA, ymax = NA, crs = 4326)

Arguments

Details

Bounding boxes can be located using online tools such as https://boundingbox.klokantech.com/.

Value

An sfc object with POLYGON geometry and the coordinate reference system specified by crs.

See Also

sf::st_as_sfc() and sf::st_sfc().

Spatial helper and output functions: geo_address_lookup_sf(), geo_amenity_sf(), geo_lite_sf(), geo_lite_struct_sf(), reverse_geo_lite_sf()

Examples

# Convert the bounding box for Germany.
bbox_GER <- c(5.86631529, 47.27011137, 15.04193189, 55.09916098)

bbox_GER_sf <- bbox_to_poly(bbox_GER)

library(ggplot2)

ggplot(bbox_GER_sf) +
  geom_sf()

# Extract the bounding box of an `sf` object.
sfobj <- geo_lite_sf("seychelles", points_only = FALSE)

sfobj

# Require at least one non-empty object.
if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(sfobj))) {
  bbox <- sf::st_bbox(sfobj)

  bbox

  bbox_sfobj <- bbox_to_poly(bbox)

  ggplot(bbox_sfobj) +
    geom_sf(fill = "lightblue", alpha = 0.5) +
    geom_sf(data = sfobj, fill = "wheat")
}

Look up OpenStreetMap objects

Description

Looks up addresses and other details for one or more OpenStreetMap (OSM) objects, such as nodes, ways or relations. Results are returned as a tibble. Use geo_address_lookup_sf() to return an sf object instead.

Usage

geo_address_lookup(
  osm_ids,
  type = c("N", "W", "R"),
  lat = "lat",
  long = "lon",
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  custom_query = list()
)

Arguments

Details

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Lookup/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

A tibble with the results that match the query.

See Also

geo_lite() for finding objects when their OSM identifiers are unknown.

Address lookup functions: geo_address_lookup_sf()

Examples

ids <- geo_address_lookup(osm_ids = c(46240148, 34633854), type = "W")

ids

several <- geo_address_lookup(c(146656, 240109189), type = c("R", "N"))
several

Look up OpenStreetMap objects and return sf objects

Description

Looks up addresses and other details for one or more OpenStreetMap (OSM) objects, such as nodes, ways or relations. Results are returned as an sf object. Use geo_address_lookup() to return a tibble instead.

Usage

geo_address_lookup_sf(
  osm_ids,
  type = c("N", "W", "R"),
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  custom_query = list(),
  points_only = TRUE
)

Arguments

Details

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Lookup/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

An sf object with the results that match the query.

About geometry types

The points_only argument controls whether the results contain only points. All Nominatim results have at least a point geometry.

When points_only = FALSE, the geometry type depends on the matching feature. Administrative areas and major buildings are returned as polygons, rivers and roads are returned as lines and amenities may still be returned as points.

This function is vectorized, allowing multiple addresses to be searched. With points_only = FALSE, multiple geometry types may be returned.

See Also

Address lookup functions: geo_address_lookup()

Spatial helper and output functions: bbox_to_poly(), geo_amenity_sf(), geo_lite_sf(), geo_lite_struct_sf(), reverse_geo_lite_sf()

Examples

# Look up Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

NotreDame <- geo_address_lookup_sf(osm_ids = 201611261, type = "W")

# Require at least one non-empty object.
if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(NotreDame))) {
  library(ggplot2)

  ggplot(NotreDame) +
    geom_sf()
}

NotreDame_poly <- geo_address_lookup_sf(201611261,
  type = "W",
  points_only = FALSE
)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(NotreDame_poly))) {
  ggplot(NotreDame_poly) +
    geom_sf()
}

# Look up multiple OSM objects.

several <- geo_address_lookup_sf(c(146656, 240109189), type = c("R", "N"))
several

Look up OpenStreetMap amenities

Description

Looks up OpenStreetMap amenities within a bounding box of the form ⁠(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax)⁠. Results are returned as a tibble. Use geo_amenity_sf() to return an sf object instead.

Usage

geo_amenity(
  bbox,
  amenity,
  lat = "lat",
  long = "lon",
  limit = 1,
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  progressbar = TRUE,
  custom_query = list(),
  strict = FALSE
)

Arguments

Details

Bounding boxes can be located using online tools such as https://boundingbox.klokantech.com/.

For a full list of valid amenities, see https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:amenity and osm_amenities.

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Search/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

A tibble with the results that match the query.

See Also

bbox_to_poly() for converting bounding box coordinates to a sf polygon.

Amenity lookup functions and data: geo_amenity_sf(), osm_amenities

Examples

# Define a bounding box around Times Square, New York.
bbox <- c(
  -73.9894467311, 40.75573629,
  -73.9830630737, 40.75789245
)

geo_amenity(
  bbox = bbox,
  amenity = "restaurant"
)

# Search for multiple amenities.
geo_amenity(
  bbox = bbox,
  amenity = c("restaurant", "pub")
)

# Increase `limit` and use strict filtering.
geo_amenity(
  bbox = bbox,
  amenity = c("restaurant", "pub"),
  limit = 10,
  strict = TRUE
)

Look up OpenStreetMap amenities and return sf objects

Description

Looks up OpenStreetMap amenities within a bounding box of the form ⁠(xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax)⁠. Results are returned as an sf object. Use geo_amenity() to return a tibble instead.

Usage

geo_amenity_sf(
  bbox,
  amenity,
  limit = 1,
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  progressbar = TRUE,
  custom_query = list(),
  strict = FALSE,
  points_only = TRUE
)

Arguments

Details

Bounding boxes can be located using online tools such as https://boundingbox.klokantech.com/.

For a full list of valid amenities, see https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:amenity and osm_amenities.

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Search/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

An sf object with the results that match the query.

About geometry types

The points_only argument controls whether the results contain only points. All Nominatim results have at least a point geometry.

When points_only = FALSE, the geometry type depends on the matching feature. Administrative areas and major buildings are returned as polygons, rivers and roads are returned as lines and amenities may still be returned as points.

This function is vectorized, allowing multiple addresses to be searched. With points_only = FALSE, multiple geometry types may be returned.

See Also

Amenity lookup functions and data: geo_amenity(), osm_amenities

Spatial helper and output functions: bbox_to_poly(), geo_address_lookup_sf(), geo_lite_sf(), geo_lite_struct_sf(), reverse_geo_lite_sf()

Examples

# Retrieve the Usera district in Madrid.

library(ggplot2)
mad <- geo_lite_sf("Usera, Madrid, Spain", points_only = FALSE)

# Search for restaurants, pubs and schools.

rest_pub <- geo_amenity_sf(mad, c("restaurant", "pub", "school"),
  limit = 50
)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(rest_pub))) {
  ggplot(mad) +
    geom_sf() +
    geom_sf(data = rest_pub, aes(color = query, shape = query))
}

Search for addresses with free-form queries

Description

Searches for addresses supplied as a character vector and returns matching results as a tibble. Use geo_lite_sf() to return an sf object instead.

This function performs the free-form address search described in the API endpoint.

Usage

geo_lite(
  address,
  lat = "lat",
  long = "lon",
  limit = 1,
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  progressbar = TRUE,
  custom_query = list()
)

Arguments

Details

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Search/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

A tibble with the results that match the query.

See Also

reverse_geo_lite() for reverse geocoding coordinates, geo_address_lookup() for looking up known OpenStreetMap identifiers and geo_amenity() for searching amenities within a bounding box.

Address search functions: geo_lite_sf(), geo_lite_struct(), geo_lite_struct_sf()

Examples

geo_lite("Madrid, Spain")

# Search for multiple addresses.
geo_lite(c("Madrid", "Barcelona"))

# Restrict the search to the United States and return all fields.
geo_lite(c("Madrid", "Barcelona"),
  custom_query = list(countrycodes = "US"),
  full_results = TRUE
)

Search for addresses with free-form queries and return sf objects

Description

Searches for addresses supplied as a character vector and returns matching results as an sf object. Use geo_lite() to return a tibble instead.

This function performs the free-form address search described in the API endpoint.

Usage

geo_lite_sf(
  address,
  limit = 1,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  full_results = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  progressbar = TRUE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  custom_query = list(),
  points_only = TRUE
)

Arguments

Details

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Search/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

An sf object with the results that match the query.

About geometry types

The points_only argument controls whether the results contain only points. All Nominatim results have at least a point geometry.

When points_only = FALSE, the geometry type depends on the matching feature. Administrative areas and major buildings are returned as polygons, rivers and roads are returned as lines and amenities may still be returned as points.

This function is vectorized, allowing multiple addresses to be searched. With points_only = FALSE, multiple geometry types may be returned.

See Also

Address search functions: geo_lite(), geo_lite_struct(), geo_lite_struct_sf()

Spatial helper and output functions: bbox_to_poly(), geo_address_lookup_sf(), geo_amenity_sf(), geo_lite_struct_sf(), reverse_geo_lite_sf()

Examples

# Return point geometries.
library(ggplot2)

string <- "Statue of Liberty, NY, USA"
sol <- geo_lite_sf(string)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(sol))) {
  ggplot(sol) +
    geom_sf()
}

sol_poly <- geo_lite_sf(string, points_only = FALSE)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(sol_poly))) {
  ggplot(sol_poly) +
    geom_sf() +
    geom_sf(data = sol, color = "red")
}
# Return multiple matches.

madrid <- geo_lite_sf("Comunidad de Madrid, Spain",
  limit = 2,
  points_only = FALSE, full_results = TRUE
)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(madrid))) {
  ggplot(madrid) +
    geom_sf(fill = NA)
}

Search for addresses with structured queries

Description

Searches for addresses already split into components and returns matching results as a tibble. Use geo_lite_struct_sf() to return an sf object instead.

This function performs the structured address search described in the API endpoint. To perform a free-form search, use geo_lite().

Usage

geo_lite_struct(
  amenity = NULL,
  street = NULL,
  city = NULL,
  county = NULL,
  state = NULL,
  country = NULL,
  postalcode = NULL,
  lat = "lat",
  long = "lon",
  limit = 1,
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  custom_query = list()
)

Arguments

Details

A structured address search accepts an address already split into components. Each argument represents an address field. All components are optional, so provide only those relevant to the address you want to find.

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Search/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

A tibble with the results that match the query.

See Also

Address search functions: geo_lite(), geo_lite_sf(), geo_lite_struct_sf()

Examples

pl_mayor <- geo_lite_struct(
  street = "Plaza Mayor", country = "Spain",
  limit = 50, full_results = TRUE
)

dplyr::glimpse(pl_mayor)

Search for addresses with structured queries and return sf objects

Description

Searches for addresses already split into components and returns matching results as an sf object. Use geo_lite_struct() to return a tibble instead.

This function performs the structured address search described in the API endpoint. To perform a free-form search, use geo_lite_sf().

Usage

geo_lite_struct_sf(
  amenity = NULL,
  street = NULL,
  city = NULL,
  county = NULL,
  state = NULL,
  country = NULL,
  postalcode = NULL,
  limit = 1,
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_addresses = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  custom_query = list(),
  points_only = TRUE
)

Arguments

Details

A structured address search accepts an address already split into components. Each argument represents an address field. All components are optional, so provide only those relevant to the address you want to find.

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Search/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

An sf object with the results that match the query.

About geometry types

The points_only argument controls whether the results contain only points. All Nominatim results have at least a point geometry.

When points_only = FALSE, the geometry type depends on the matching feature. Administrative areas and major buildings are returned as polygons, rivers and roads are returned as lines and amenities may still be returned as points.

This function is vectorized, allowing multiple addresses to be searched. With points_only = FALSE, multiple geometry types may be returned.

See Also

Address search functions: geo_lite(), geo_lite_sf(), geo_lite_struct()

Spatial helper and output functions: bbox_to_poly(), geo_address_lookup_sf(), geo_amenity_sf(), geo_lite_sf(), reverse_geo_lite_sf()

Examples

# Search with a structured address.

pl_mayor <- geo_lite_struct_sf(
  street = "Plaza Mayor",
  county = "Comunidad de Madrid",
  country = "Spain", limit = 50,
  full_results = TRUE, verbose = TRUE
)

# Retrieve an administrative boundary.
ccaa <- geo_lite_sf("Comunidad de Madrid, Spain", points_only = FALSE)

library(ggplot2)

if (any(!sf::st_is_empty(pl_mayor), !sf::st_is_empty(ccaa))) {
  ggplot(ccaa) +
    geom_sf() +
    geom_sf(data = pl_mayor, aes(shape = addresstype, color = addresstype))
}

Check access to the Nominatim API

Description

Checks whether R can access a Nominatim API server.

Usage

nominatim_check_access(
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/"
)

Arguments

Value

A single logical value: TRUE if the API is available and FALSE otherwise.

See Also

geo_lite() for submitting search requests and the Nominatim status endpoint for server status details.

Examples

nominatim_check_access()

OpenStreetMap amenities

Description

A dataset of amenity values available on OpenStreetMap.

Format

A tibble with 140 rows and three columns:

category

Amenity category.

amenity

Amenity value.

comment

Brief description of the amenity type.

Note

The data were extracted on July 11, 2026. See inst/COPYRIGHTS for copyright and license details.

Source

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:amenity

See Also

Amenity lookup functions and data: geo_amenity(), geo_amenity_sf()

Examples

data("osm_amenities")

osm_amenities

Reverse geocode coordinates

Description

Reverse geocodes latitude and longitude coordinates and returns matching results as a tibble. Latitude values must be in \left[-90, 90 \right] and longitudes in \left[-180, 180 \right]. Use reverse_geo_lite_sf() to return an sf object instead.

Usage

reverse_geo_lite(
  lat,
  long,
  address = "address",
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_coords = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  progressbar = TRUE,
  custom_query = list()
)

Arguments

Details

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Reverse/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

A tibble with the results that match the query.

About zooming

Set custom_query = list(zoom = 3) to adjust the output. Selected zoom levels correspond to these address details:

See Also

geo_lite() for geocoding addresses.

Reverse geocoding functions: reverse_geo_lite_sf()

Examples

reverse_geo_lite(lat = 40.75728, long = -73.98586)

# Reverse geocode multiple coordinate pairs.
reverse_geo_lite(lat = c(40.75728, 55.95335), long = c(-73.98586, -3.188375))

# Set the zoom to the country level.
sev <- reverse_geo_lite(
  lat = c(40.75728, 55.95335), long = c(-73.98586, -3.188375),
  custom_query = list(zoom = 0, extratags = TRUE),
  verbose = TRUE, full_results = TRUE
)

dplyr::glimpse(sev)

Reverse geocode coordinates and return sf objects

Description

Reverse geocodes latitude and longitude coordinates and returns matching results as an sf object. Latitude values must be in \left[-90, 90 \right] and longitude values in \left[-180, 180 \right]. Use reverse_geo_lite() to return a tibble instead.

Usage

reverse_geo_lite_sf(
  lat,
  long,
  address = "address",
  full_results = FALSE,
  return_coords = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  nominatim_server = "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
  progressbar = TRUE,
  custom_query = list(),
  points_only = TRUE
)

Arguments

Details

See https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Reverse/ for additional parameters to pass to custom_query.

Value

An sf object with the results that match the query.

About zooming

Set custom_query = list(zoom = 3) to adjust the output. Selected zoom levels correspond to these address details:

About geometry types

The points_only argument controls whether the results contain only points. All Nominatim results have at least a point geometry.

When points_only = FALSE, the geometry type depends on the matching feature. Administrative areas and major buildings are returned as polygons, rivers and roads are returned as lines and amenities may still be returned as points.

This function is vectorized, allowing multiple addresses to be searched. With points_only = FALSE, multiple geometry types may be returned.

See Also

Reverse geocoding functions: reverse_geo_lite()

Spatial helper and output functions: bbox_to_poly(), geo_address_lookup_sf(), geo_amenity_sf(), geo_lite_sf(), geo_lite_struct_sf()

Examples

library(ggplot2)

# Define the Colosseum coordinates.
col_lon <- 12.49309
col_lat <- 41.89026

# Return the Colosseum as a polygon.
col_sf <- reverse_geo_lite_sf(
  lat = col_lat,
  long = col_lon,
  points_only = FALSE
)

dplyr::glimpse(col_sf)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(col_sf))) {
  ggplot(col_sf) +
    geom_sf()
}

# Return the city of Rome by using the same coordinates with zoom 10.

rome_sf <- reverse_geo_lite_sf(
  lat = col_lat,
  long = col_lon,
  custom_query = list(zoom = 10),
  points_only = FALSE
)

dplyr::glimpse(rome_sf)

if (!all(sf::st_is_empty(rome_sf))) {
  ggplot(rome_sf) +
    geom_sf()
}