/browse EV Charging Stations using HERE Geocoding and Search API

In the previous blog, we delved into the intricacies of using the /discover endpoint of the Geocoding and Search API to search for Points of Interest (POIs). In this blog, we are shifting gears to explore a new facet of location-based searches – finding Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations. We will uncover how to leverage the power the /browse endpoint in the Geocoding and Search API to pinpoint these essential charging spots on the map. 

Browse Endpoint

The /browse endpoint provides a structured search by filtering items by category and name at a given geo-position in a radius of 250km. Items returned are places, streets, or localities, ranked by increasing distance. The Search center is defined by the geo-position specified in the input query parameter at. Items distances are calculated with respect to this search center.

Additionally to the implicit filter of 250km around the search center, /browse supports 2 additional geographic filters through the query parameter in:

• a circle through the in parameter type circle

• a bounding box through the in parameter type bbox

• a list of upper-case ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country codes through the in parameter type countryCode

HERE Places Category

/browse allows you to retrieve places at a given position for a specific HERE Places category or HERE Places cuisine. For the purpose of EV charging station, we are going to use HERE Places category, HERE Places categories can be specified as values for the categories field at any of their 3 levels:

• level 1 for a high level (ex: 700 for places of business and services)

• level 2 for intermediate granularity (ex: 700-7600 for fueling station places) or

• level 3 for fine-grained categories (ex: 700-7600-0322 for EV charging station places or 700-7600-0325 for EV battery swap station places),

Sample Request

For example, browsing EV charging station and EV battery swap station, and using the category id 700-7600-0322,700-7600-0325 as value for the categories parameter of a /browse query:

GET https://browse.search.hereapi.com/v1/
    browse
    ?at=45.52,-122.68
    &limit=20
    &categories=700-7600-0322,700-7600-0325
    &apiKey={YOUR_API_KEY}

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Response

The expected result for this query would be the following:

{
	"items": [{
		"title": "Tesla",
		"id": "here:pds:place:840c20fbqenk6-aGVyZS1ldjplY29tb3ZlbWVudDoxNDUzNjMyNjk2",
		"language": "en",
		"resultType": "place",
		"address": {
			"label": "Tesla, 750 SW Alder St, Portland, OR 97205, United States",
			"countryCode": "USA",
			"countryName": "United States",
			"stateCode": "OR",
			"state": "Oregon",
			"county": "Multnomah",
			"city": "Portland",
			"district": "Downtown",
			"street": "SW Alder St",
			"postalCode": "97205",
			"houseNumber": "750"
		},
		"position": {
			"lat": 45.51999,
			"lng": -122.68005
		},
		"access": [{
			"lat": 45.52019,
			"lng": -122.67994
		}],
		"distance": 4,
		"categories": [{
			"id": "700-7600-0322",
			"name": "EV Charging Station",
			"primary": true
		}],
		"chains": [{
			"id": "25875",
			"name": "Tesla"
		}],
		"contacts": [{
			"phone": [{
				"value": "+18777983752"
			}],
			"www": [{
				"value": "https://www.tesla.com"
			}]
		}]
	}, 
	... // more items
	]
}

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HERE Maps API for Javascript Implementation

To implement this using the same HERE Maps API for Javascript sample application from the previous blog, the code would change to something like this:

function browseGeocode(platform) {
  var geocoder = platform.getSearchService(),
      browseParameters = {
        categories: '700-7600-0322,700-7600-0325',
        at: '45.52,-122.68',
        limit: 20
      };

  geocoder.browse(
    browseParameters,
    onSuccess,
    onError
  );
}

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Sample Application

Below is the sample application using the same codebase as the previous blog using the above code. You can access the source code in this Github repo. 

Cruising Along the route

And the journey doesn't stop there. If you are eager to reveal EV charging stations along your route, /browse like /autosuggest and /discover supports search along the route through the addition of a route parameter to the at parameter. For detailed implementation steps, dive into Implementing Search along the route for specifics.