We use Pelias for geocoding. Pelias is a modular, open-source search engine for geographic data, powered completely by open data and available freely to everyone.

The geocoding service uses Pelias Placeholder, which provides natural language parsing for geographic text. It takes unstructured input text like “Neutral Bay North Sydney New South Wales” and deduces the geographic area by:

  1. Scanning the text and establishing logical token groups
  2. Using a reductive algorithm to ensure token groups are logically valid in geographic context
  3. Working from right to left to verify containment relationships
  4. Returning the best estimation as IDs or detailed JSON

The service runs as a Docker container and requires no external dependencies, making it ideal for local development and testing.

Data StructuresGeocode Location