November 05, 2025

Migrating from Google

Comprehensive migration guides for moving from Google Places to Woosmap Localities APIs.

1. Migration Checklist
2. API Service Equivalence
3. API Endpoint Path Changes
4. Code Example: JavaScript Autocomplete
5. Key Parameter and Response Changes

Migrating from Google Places to Woosmap Localities is a straightforward process. This guide provides a direct comparison and actionable steps to update your implementation, focusing on the most common use case: an address autocomplete form.

Migration Checklist

Here are the key steps you’ll need to take:

• Update Your API Endpoint: Switch from Google’s API endpoint to the Woosmap Localities API endpoint.
• Swap Identifiers: Replace all instances and logic using Google’s place_id with Woosmap’s public_id.
• Adjust Authentication: Use your Woosmap public key for client-side calls or private_key for server-side calls.
• Update Response Parsing: Modify your code to handle the Woosmap JSON response structure (e.g., predictions array becomes localities).

API Service Equivalence

Woosmap offers direct, one-to-one replacements for the core Google Places services.

Google Places API	Woosmap Localities API	Description
Places Autocomplete	Localities Autocomplete	Provides location suggestions as a user types.
Place Details	Localities Details	Retrieves detailed information about a location.
Geocoding API	Localities Geocoding	Converts addresses to coordinates and vice-versa.
Nearby Search	Localities Nearby	Finds points of interest within a specified area.

API Endpoint Path Changes

To migrate your backend requests, you’ll need to update the base URL and paths for each service.

Autocomplete

• Google: maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/autocomplete/
• Woosmap: api.woosmap.com/localities/autocomplete/

Details

• Google: maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/details/
• Woosmap: api.woosmap.com/localities/details/

Geocoding

• Google: maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/
• Woosmap: api.woosmap.com/localities/geocode/

Nearby

• Google: maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/nearbysearch/
• Woosmap: api.woosmap.com/localities/nearby/

Code Example: JavaScript Autocomplete

Here’s a practical example of migrating a client-side JavaScript implementation for an address search input.

Before: Google Places SDK

A typical Google implementation uses AutocompleteService to get predictions and PlacesService to get details.

javascript

        // 1. Get Autocomplete suggestions
const autocompleteService = new google.maps.places.AutocompleteService();
autocompleteService.getPlacePredictions({input: "10 downing"}, (predictions, status) => {
    if (status === "OK" && predictions) {
        // predictions[0].place_id would be used to get details
        const firstPlaceId = predictions[0].place_id;
        getDetails(firstPlaceId);
    }
});

// 2. Get Place Details
function getDetails(placeId) {
    const placesService = new google.maps.places.PlacesService(document.createElement('div'));
    placesService.getDetails({placeId: placeId}, (place, status) => {
        if (status === "OK" && place) {
            console.log(place.formatted_address);
            console.log(place.geometry.location.lat());
        }
    });
}

    

After: Woosmap Map JS API

The Woosmap equivalent uses the unified woosmap.map.LocalitiesService for both autocomplete and details, simplifying the process.

javascript

        // Initialize the service once
const localitiesService = new woosmap.map.LocalitiesService();

// 1. Get Autocomplete suggestions
localitiesService
    .autocomplete({input: "10 downing"})
    .then(response => {
        // Note: the array is called 'localities' not 'predictions'
        if (response.localities && response.localities.length > 0) {
            // Use 'public_id' instead of 'place_id'
            const firstPublicId = response.localities[0].public_id;
            getDetails(firstPublicId);
        }
    })
    .catch(err => console.error(err));

// 2. Get Locality Details
function getDetails(publicId) {
    localitiesService
        .getDetails({publicId: publicId})
        .then(response => {
            const result = response.result;
            console.log(result.formatted_address);
            console.log(result.geometry.location.lat); // Note: lat is a property, not a function
        })
        .catch(err => console.error(err));
}

    

Key Parameter and Response Changes

Parameter Mapping

Most request parameters have direct equivalents. The most critical change is place_id to public_id.

Feature	Google Places	Woosmap Localities	Notes
Place Identifier	place_id	public_id	This is the most important change.
Authentication	key	key or private_key	Use public key on the client, private_key on the server.
Autocomplete Text	input	input	The user’s typed input string.
Country Filtering	components=country:XX	components=country:XX	Restricts results to specified countries.
Search Center Point	location	location	The latitude,longitude to bias results.

Core Differences to Note

• Identifier: You’ll need to store and use Woosmap’s public_id instead of Google’s place_id.
• Authentication: Woosmap uses two key types: a public key for client-side use and a private_key for server-side use.
• Response Structure: The JSON response structure is different. You must update your parsing logic.
  • Autocomplete: Google’s response contains a predictions array. Woosmap’s contains a localities array.
  • Details Geometry: Google returns geometry.location.lat() as a function. Woosmap returns geometry.location.lat as a property.
• Usage Limits: The Localities API has a default limit of 50 queries per second (QPS) per project.

‹ Tuning Your Localities Results Locality Types ›

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