📄 / / root / ceo / workspace / claude-seo / skills / seo / references / maps-free-apis.md

Free Maps APIs for claude-seo

Source Key

Docs: Official API documentation for each service
Policy: Official usage policies and terms

Overpass API (Best Free Option for Competitor Discovery)

Base URL: https://overpass-api.de/api/interpreter Docs: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Overpass_API License: ODbL (attribution required: "Data from OpenStreetMap")

Rate Limits

Slot-based: ~2 concurrent queries per IP
Guideline: ~10,000 requests/day, ~1 GB/day download
Default timeout: 180 seconds, 512 MiB memory per query
Use [timeout:25] for lighter queries

Query Templates

Restaurants within 5km radius:

curl -s "https://overpass-api.de/api/interpreter" \
  --data-urlencode 'data=[out:json][timeout:25];(node["amenity"="restaurant"](around:5000,LAT,LNG);way["amenity"="restaurant"](around:5000,LAT,LNG););out body;>;out skel qt;'

All businesses on a street:

curl -s "https://overpass-api.de/api/interpreter" \
  --data-urlencode 'data=[out:json][timeout:25];way["name"="STREET_NAME"]["addr:city"="CITY"];(._;>;);out body;'

Competitor POIs by category in bounding box:

curl -s "https://overpass-api.de/api/interpreter" \
  --data-urlencode 'data=[out:json][timeout:25];(node["amenity"="dentist"](SOUTH,WEST,NORTH,EAST);way["amenity"="dentist"](SOUTH,WEST,NORTH,EAST););out body;>;out skel qt;'

Key OSM Tags for Local SEO

Category	OSM Tag	Examples
Food & Drink	`amenity=restaurant`, `amenity=cafe`, `amenity=fast_food`	Restaurants, cafes, takeaway
Healthcare	`amenity=dentist`, `amenity=doctors`, `amenity=pharmacy`	Dental, medical, pharmacy
Legal	`office=lawyer`, `office=notary`	Law firms, notaries
Home Services	`craft=plumber`, `craft=electrician`, `craft=hvac`	Trades, contractors
Retail	`shop=supermarket`, `shop=clothes`, `shop=car`	All retail types
Automotive	`shop=car`, `shop=car_repair`, `amenity=fuel`	Dealers, repair, gas
Hospitality	`tourism=hotel`, `tourism=motel`, `tourism=guest_house`	Accommodation
Financial	`amenity=bank`, `office=insurance`, `office=accountant`	Banks, insurance, accounting

Response Fields

Each element returns: id, lat, lon, tags object containing name, phone, website, opening_hours, addr:street, addr:housenumber, addr:city, addr:postcode, cuisine, brand, etc.

Limitations

No reviews, ratings, or popularity data
No GBP-specific information
Data quality varies by region (excellent in Europe, inconsistent elsewhere)
Volunteer-contributed data; may be outdated
Interactive tester: https://overpass-turbo.eu/

Geoapify Places API (Structured POI Search)

Base URL: https://api.geoapify.com/v2/places Docs: https://apidocs.geoapify.com/docs/places/ Pricing: https://www.geoapify.com/pricing

Free Tier

3,000 credits/day (1 credit = 20 places returned)
5 requests/second
Requires API key (free registration, no credit card)
Caching and storage explicitly permitted (unlike Google)

Query Template

curl -s "https://api.geoapify.com/v2/places?categories=catering.restaurant&filter=circle:LNG,LAT,5000&limit=20&apiKey=YOUR_KEY"

Category Hierarchy

Uses dot-separated categories: catering.restaurant, commercial.supermarket, healthcare.dentist, service.financial.accounting, commercial.vehicle.car_dealer

Response Format

GeoJSON FeatureCollection. Each feature has properties: name, city, state, postcode, country, street, housenumber, phone, website, categories, lat, lon, place_id, formatted (full address string)

Advantages Over Raw Overpass

Cleaner, structured responses
Aggregated data (OSM + OpenAddresses + WhosOnFirst + GeoNames)
Hierarchical category taxonomy
No rate limit surprises (clear credit system)

Nominatim (Geocoding Only)

Base URL: https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org Docs: https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/api/Overview/ Policy: https://operations.osmfoundation.org/policies/nominatim/

Rate Limits (STRICT)

1 request/second (absolute)
Must include valid User-Agent header (stock library agents rejected)
Auto-complete queries forbidden
Bulk geocoding forbidden on public instance
Repeated identical queries trigger bans (cache results)

Forward Geocoding

curl -s "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=123+Main+St+Austin+TX&format=json&addressdetails=1" \
  -H "User-Agent: claude-seo/1.7.0"

Reverse Geocoding

curl -s "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/reverse?lat=40.7128&lon=-74.0060&format=json" \
  -H "User-Agent: claude-seo/1.7.0"

Response Fields

place_id, lat, lon, display_name, importance, category, type, address object (house_number, road, city, state, postcode, country)

Best Use

Address-to-coordinates conversion for geo-grid center point
Reverse geocoding to validate business addresses
NOT suitable for business listing discovery (use Overpass or Geoapify)

Rate Limit Enforcement Pattern

# Nominatim: enforce 1 req/sec with sleep
for addr in "${addresses[@]}"; do
  curl -s "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=${addr}&format=json" \
    -H "User-Agent: claude-seo/1.7.0"
  sleep 1.1
done

# Overpass: no explicit rate limit, but use reasonable timeouts
# If HTTP 429 returned, implement exponential backoff

# Geoapify: 5 req/sec on free tier, no explicit enforcement needed

Comparison Table

Feature	Overpass	Geoapify	Nominatim
Business discovery	Yes (tags)	Yes (categories)	Limited
Reviews/ratings	No	No	No
Geocoding	No	Yes	Best
Rate limit	~10k/day	3k credits/day	1 req/sec
Auth required	No	API key	No
Caching allowed	Yes	Explicitly	Required
Data quality	Regional	Aggregated	Regional
Best for	Radius competitor search	Structured POI search	Address resolution