Data sources
Exclude reported datasets from primary geocoding results.
Geocode, search, reverse geocoding, and autocomplete accept exclude_sources. Over HTTP it is a comma-separated list; in the SDKs it is an array of source names:
curl --get "$GEOCODING_BASE_URL/v1/geocode" \
--header "apikey: $GEOCODING_API_KEY" \
--data-urlencode "street=11 Wall Street" \
--data-urlencode "city=New York" \
--data-urlencode "exclude_sources=osm,county-custom"
Omit the parameter (or use an empty SDK array) to keep all sources. Source names are trimmed and compared without regard to case. Custom source names are supported.
| Alias | Canonical comparison name |
|---|---|
osm | openstreetmap |
oa | openaddresses |
wof | whosonfirst |
gn | geonames |
At most 32 entries are allowed. Each normalized name must contain 1–64 bytes. Canonical names are used for comparisons and length validation; results retain the original source string. Unknown names have no effect.
Filtering behavior
The API filters matching results and does not always fetch replacements, so you can receive fewer than limit results or an empty array even if other eligible records exist in the dataset.
Geocode confidence is calculated after filtering, so removing competing results can affect scores. Remaining results retain their order. Filtering every result returns HTTP 200, an empty features array, and X-Geocoding-Outcome: no_match.
For autocomplete, filtering every suggestion returns an empty result with no_match and can trigger an SDK no_results fallback. Place lookup and SDK resolution do not accept exclude_sources or reapply exclusions. Keep the suggestion returned by your filtered search for selection.
The SDK applies exclusions only to primary datasets. If filtering leads to no results or low confidence, configured SDK fallbacks can run, and Google/HERE results are not filtered using this setting. See fallback selection.
source describes the reported record source, not the provenance of every contributing field. Excluding a source is not an attribution or licensing guarantee.