Locator Great Britain
BetaRank British outward postcodes by distance from a postcode or coordinates. Coverage is England.
https://api.pro6pp.nl/v2/locator/gbOverview
Returns your list of outward postcodes ordered by distance from an outward
postcode or a lat/lng origin. Coverage is England.
Accepts outward postcodes such as B11 or SW1A, case-insensitive.
Sectors such as B11 1 and complete unit postcodes such as B11 1AA are invalid.
Each outward postcode is represented by the mean coordinates of its unit
postcodes. Administrative labels are included only when every unit postcode
shares the same non-null value for that field.
Supply either postalCode or both lat and lng. An outward postcode takes
precedence over coordinates. straight measures from the supplied origin;
road uses the origin's outward postcode, or the nearest outward centroid
for a coordinate origin, and includes driving time. Results are ordered by
distance unless orderBy=input is supplied.
ParametersQuery string
Outward postcodes to rank, case-insensitive. For GET, separate them with commas,
for example BS1,SW1A. For POST, supply a JSON array such as ["BS1", "SW1A"].
Sectors and complete unit postcodes are invalid.
- Example
["BS1","SW1A"]
An outward postcode such as B11 or SW1A, case-insensitive.
Sectors such as B11 1 and complete unit postcodes such as B11 1AA are invalid.
Supply either postalCode or both lat and lng. When both are supplied,
the outward postcode's centroid is used as the origin.
- Example
B1- Pattern
^[A-Za-z]{1,2}[0-9][0-9A-Za-z]?$
The latitude.
The longitude.
The order in which to return the results: distance (default) or input (keeps the input ordering).
- Default
"distance"
The amount of results returned, a number between 1 and 999. Default value is 10.
- Default
10- Min
1- Max
999
Specifies the algorithm for calculating distance and time.
Available Algorithms:
straight: Calculates the distance in a straight line.road: Calculates the actual traveling distance and time using the drive time matrix (shortest route) over the actual road network.- Availability of
roaddepends on your subscription level.
- Availability of
- Example
straight- Default
"straight"- One of
straightroad
Responses
| Field | Type | Example value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| distance | number | 123600 | Distance in metres, using the selected algorithm. |
| duration | number | not in example | Driving time in minutes, included for the road algorithm. |
| lat | number | 51.453 | Mean latitude of the outward postcode's unit postcodes. |
| lng | number | -2.594 | Mean longitude of the outward postcode's unit postcodes. |
| postalCode | string | "BS1" | The outward postcode, in uppercase. |
| county | string | not in example | The ceremonial county or unitary authority. |
| district | string | not in example | The local authority district or borough. |
| civil_parish | string | not in example | The civil parish. |
| town | string | not in example | The town-level administrative area, present only where one exists. |
| settlement | string | not in example | The city, town or village name. |
[
{
"distance": 123600,
"lat": 51.453,
"lng": -2.594,
"postalCode": "BS1"
},
{
"distance": 163138,
"lat": 51.505,
"lng": -0.132,
"postalCode": "SW1A"
}
]Errors
Fields of an error response
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| error_id | string | The reason the request failed, such as |
| errors | array of object | One entry per problem found in the request. |
| errors[].message | string | A readable explanation of the problem, in English. |
| errors[].help | string | A link to the documentation section that covers the problem. |
| errors[].parameter | any | The parameter the problem is about. Usually its name; a list when several parameters are involved, or a name with the values to choose from when the request must select one. |
| errors[].value | any | The value the request sent for |
MISSING_PARAMETERA parameter that other parameters depend on is missing. errors has one entry per missing parameter.
A parameter that other parameters depend on is missing. errors has one entry per missing parameter.
{
"error_id": "MISSING_PARAMETER",
"errors": [
{
"message": "Required parameter lat is missing",
"help": "https://pro6pp.nl/docs/v2/redoc",
"parameter": "lat"
}
]
}INVALID_PARAMETER_TYPEA value has the wrong type, such as text for a number.
A value has the wrong type, such as text for a number.
{
"error_id": "INVALID_PARAMETER_TYPE",
"errors": [
{
"message": "parameter: lat has invalid 1,0, should be number",
"help": "https://pro6pp.nl/docs/v2/redoc",
"parameter": "lat"
}
]
}INVALID_VALUEA required parameter is missing, or a value is malformed, out of bounds or cannot be found.
A required parameter is missing, or a value is malformed, out of bounds or cannot be found.
{
"error_id": "INVALID_VALUE",
"errors": [
{
"message": "value is invalid",
"help": "https://pro6pp.nl/docs/v2/redoc",
"parameter": "postalCode",
"value": "invalid"
}
]
}UNAUTHORIZEDThe API key is missing, unknown, revoked or expired, its subscription is not active, the request does not match the key's allowlist, or the subscription does not include this call.
The API key is missing, unknown, revoked or expired, its subscription is not active, the request does not match the key's allowlist, or the subscription does not include this call.
{
"error_id": "UNAUTHORIZED",
"errors": [
{
"message": "No authorization token provided",
"help": "https://pro6pp.nl/docs/v2/redoc#section/Authentication"
}
]
}Code examples
curl "https://api.pro6pp.nl/v2/locator/gb?targetPostalCodes=BS1%2CSW1A&postalCode=B1&algorithm=straight&authKey=YOUR_API_KEY"We encourage you to request example code in the language you prefer.
Step by step
Set up a quick form to try out the Great Britain Locator functionality by following the steps below.
Build the HTML page
We start by creating an empty HTML page, containing a minimal web page structure. Create a new
.htmlfile namedpro6pp_great-britain_locator.html. Add the following code between the<body>and</body>tags. It adds the input fields for entering the address.<form class="form" id="form"> <div>Call</div> <div> <label for="targetPostalCodes">targetPostalCodes:</label> <input id="targetPostalCodes" class="targetPostalCodes" placeholder="BS1,SW1A"/> <label for="postalCode">postalCode:</label> <input id="postalCode" class="postalCode" placeholder="B1"/> <label for="lat">lat:</label> <input id="lat" class="lat" placeholder=""/> <label for="lng">lng:</label> <input id="lng" class="lng" placeholder=""/> <label for="orderBy">orderBy:</label> <input id="orderBy" class="orderBy" placeholder=""/> <label for="maxResults">maxResults:</label> <input id="maxResults" class="maxResults" placeholder=""/> <label for="algorithm">algorithm:</label> <input id="algorithm" class="algorithm" placeholder="straight"/> </div> <div> <span style="color: red" class="message"></span> </div> <div> <button type="submit">Submit</button> </div> <br /> <div>Response</div> <br /> <div>Full Response</div> <pre class="jsonResponse"></pre> </form>Add interaction
Add the following JavaScript code in a separate
pro6pp_great-britain_locator.jsfile. The IDs and Class names of the HTML elements should match with the ones specified in this JavaScript file in order to get the correct results.document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() { const pro6ppAuthKey = "AUTH_KEY"; // Replace with your actual authorization key let messageSpan = document.querySelector(".message"); let jsonResponseSpan = document.querySelector(".jsonResponse"); const BASE_URL = "https://api.pro6pp.nl/v2"; function fetchAddress(authKey) { const queryParams = { targetPostalCodes: document.getElementById("targetPostalCodes").value, authKey: authKey }; const optionalQueryParams = [ "postalCode", "lat", "lng", "orderBy", "maxResults", "algorithm", ]; for (const name of optionalQueryParams) { const value = document.getElementById(name).value; if (value !== "") { queryParams[name] = value; } } let encodedUrl = new URL(`${BASE_URL}/locator/gb`); encodedUrl.search = new URLSearchParams(queryParams); fetch(encodedUrl) .then(async (response) => { const data = await response.json(); if (data) { messageSpan.textContent = ""; jsonResponseSpan.textContent = JSON.stringify(data, null, 2); } }) .catch((error) => { console.error("Error fetching: ", error); messageSpan.textContent = error.message; }); } const form = document.getElementById("form"); form.onsubmit = function (event) { event.preventDefault(); fetchAddress(pro6ppAuthKey); } });Make it work
Link the JavaScript file inside the
pro6pp_great-britain_locator.htmlright before closing the</body>tag.... <script src="pro6pp_great-britain_locator.js"></script> </body> </html>To access the Pro6PP web service, you need to request your personal authorization key. This key is emailed to you right after signing up. Replace the above placeholder
AUTH_KEYwith your personal authorization key.If you don’t have an account yet, sign up for a free 2-month trial. After creating your account, go to your Subscription details and copy your
AUTH_KEY. You’ll need this key to authenticate your requests.See it in action
Once you’ve completed the previous steps, it’s time to run the form locally in your browser. You should now have two files in the same folder on your computer:
pro6pp_great-britain_locator.html- the HTML page with the form.pro6pp_great-britain_locator.js- the JavaScript file that handles the interaction.
You can now open the HTML file in your browser by simply double-clicking it in your file explorer (e.g., Finder on macOS or File Explorer on Windows). Alternatively, you can open it manually in the browser using the full
file:///path. For example:file:///C:/Users/YourName/Documents/pro6pp_great-britain_locator.html file:///Users/yourname/Desktop/pro6pp_great-britain_locator.htmlOnce the page opens, start typing in the form fields and hit Submit to see the API response displayed in the “Full Response” section.