Gov Bc Ca Geocoder REST API
Browse all Gov Bc Ca APIs✓ Official Vendor SpecMaps GeolocationGeocodingapiKey16 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Geocode and reverse-geocode British Columbia addresses, occupants, and intersections, with proximity search around a coordinate.
Use for: Geocode the address '1234 Government Street, Victoria BC', Find the nearest BC site to latitude 49.28 longitude -123.12, List occupants near a coordinate in downtown Vancouver, Reverse geocode a point to the nearest intersection
Not supported: Does not handle routing, turn-by-turn directions, or addresses outside British Columbia — use for BC address geocoding, reverse geocoding, and proximity search only.
The BC Address Geocoder REST API cleans, corrects, completes, geocodes, and reverse geocodes British Columbia physical addresses, intersections, and the occupants associated with them. It exposes single-address geocoding, bulk autocomplete, and proximity searches such as nearest site, occupants near a point, and intersections near a point. Several endpoints accept a path-level outputFormat extension (such as .json or .geojson). Authentication is by API key passed in the apikey header.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Geocoder REST API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Geocoder REST API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Geocoder REST API.
Geocode a single BC physical or intersection address into coordinates
Reverse geocode a coordinate to the nearest BC site, occupant, or intersection
Find sites, occupants, or intersections within a radius of a point
Find sites, occupants, or intersections inside a polygon or bounding box
Look up occupants tied to a BC physical address
Return geocoding results in JSON, GeoJSON, or other supported output formats
Validate and standardise BC street addresses before storing them
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Geocoder REST API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Address Validation at Form Submission
When a user submits a BC service request form, validate and standardise the address before storing it. GET /addresses.{outputFormat} accepts a free-form address string and returns the cleaned, geocoded result with confidence scores. This prevents downstream failures when the address is later used for routing or service delivery.
Geocode '4730 Kingsway, Burnaby BC' as JSON and return the latitude, longitude, and match confidence score.
Nearest Service Centre Locator
Help a user find the nearest BC government service site to their current location. GET /sites/nearest.{outputFormat} accepts a coordinate and returns the closest registered site, while GET /occupants/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the closest occupant such as a specific business or office. Useful for self-service tools embedded in BC web properties.
Find the nearest occupant to latitude 48.428 longitude -123.366 and return its name and the distance in metres.
Spatial Query for Outreach
Identify every site or occupant inside a polygon for a targeted outreach campaign. GET /sites/within.{outputFormat} and GET /occupants/within.{outputFormat} accept polygon geometry and return matching records. The same endpoints support a near-point variant for radius queries within an outreach zone.
List all sites within 500 metres of latitude 49.282 longitude -123.115 and return their addresses.
AI Agent Address Resolver
An AI agent built on Jentic resolves user-submitted BC addresses into canonical coordinates and standardised street strings. The agent searches Jentic for 'geocode a bc address', loads the GET /addresses operation, and executes with the user input. The apikey header is injected by Jentic so the secret stays in the vault.
Use Jentic to search 'geocode a bc address' and resolve '800 Hornby St Vancouver' to coordinates and a cleaned address.
Key Endpoints
16 endpoints — the bc address geocoder rest api cleans, corrects, completes, geocodes, and reverse geocodes british columbia physical addresses, intersections, and the occupants associated with them.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/addresses.{outputFormat}
Geocode a free-form BC address
GET
/occupants/addresses.{outputFormat}
Look up occupants tied to a BC address
GET
/sites/nearest.{outputFormat}
Find the nearest BC site to a coordinate
GET
/occupants/nearest.{outputFormat}
Find the nearest occupant to a coordinate
GET
/intersections/nearest.{outputFormat}
Find the nearest intersection to a coordinate
GET
/sites/within.{outputFormat}
Find all sites inside a polygon
GET
/sites/near.{outputFormat}
Find sites within a radius of a point
GET
/addresses.{outputFormat}
Geocode a free-form BC address
GET
/occupants/addresses.{outputFormat}
Look up occupants tied to a BC address
GET
/sites/nearest.{outputFormat}
Find the nearest BC site to a coordinate
GET
/occupants/nearest.{outputFormat}
Find the nearest occupant to a coordinate
GET
/intersections/nearest.{outputFormat}
Find the nearest intersection to a coordinate
GET
/sites/within.{outputFormat}
Find all sites inside a polygon
GET
/sites/near.{outputFormat}
Find sites within a radius of a point
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
BC Geocoder apikey credentials live in Jentic's encrypted vault. Jentic injects the apikey header on each call and rotates the key when the vault is updated, so the agent never reads or stores the key.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g., 'geocode a bc address' or 'find nearest occupant') and Jentic returns the matching geocoder operation with its outputFormat path parameter typed correctly.
Time to first call
Direct integration: 2-4 hours for apikey handling, outputFormat path quirks, and parsing the response. Through Jentic: 30 minutes from sign-up to a working geocode call.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
Alternative
Positionstack API
Positionstack offers global forward and reverse geocoding rather than BC-authoritative results
Choose Positionstack when global coverage matters and BC-authoritative parcel and occupant data does not
FAQs
Specific to using Geocoder REST API through Jentic.
What authentication does the BC Geocoder API use?
The BC Geocoder API uses an API key passed in the apikey header. Keys are issued through the BC API Directory and tied to a GitHub or IDIR account. When called through Jentic, the apikey is held in Jentic's encrypted vault and injected into the apikey header at request time.
Can I reverse geocode a coordinate with the BC Geocoder API?
Yes. GET /sites/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the nearest BC site to a supplied coordinate, GET /occupants/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the nearest occupant, and GET /intersections/nearest.{outputFormat} returns the nearest street intersection. All three are reverse-geocoding shapes with different result types.
What are the rate limits for the BC Geocoder API?
Specific limits are not declared in the OpenAPI spec. The BC API Directory documents tier-based throttling tied to the issued API key, so plan for modest sustained throughput per key and back off on HTTP 429 responses.
How do I geocode a BC address through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'geocode a bc address', load the GET /addresses.{outputFormat} operation, and execute with the address string and outputFormat path parameter (typically json or geojson). With pip install jentic the call returns coordinates and the cleaned address.
Does the BC Geocoder API support spatial queries inside a polygon?
Yes. GET /sites/within.{outputFormat}, GET /occupants/within.{outputFormat}, and GET /intersections/within.{outputFormat} accept polygon or bounding-box geometry and return all matching records inside it. Pair with /sites/near for radius queries around a point.
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