---
title: "search places · RUAL Documentation"
description: "One search box over both points of interest and settlements, with a single ranking across the two. Handles accents (Bréda finds Breda), typos (amsterdm…"
canonical: https://docs.rual.nl/block-types/places/places_search
language: en
---

# search places

This block is part of the [`places`](https://docs.rual.nl/block-types/places) group and was last modified in core [`v15.0.0`](https://docs.rual.nl/core-versions/150000).

One search box over both points of interest and settlements, with a single ranking across the two. Handles accents (`Bréda` finds `Breda`), typos (`amsterdm centraal`), partial words as you type, and collapses duplicate records for the same real place. Settlements outrank businesses, so `Breda` resolves to the municipality rather than to one of the ~2000 business names containing it. Pass `near` to bias results towards the current viewport. Each result carries `kind`, `subtitle` and `score`, so a dropdown renders straight from them.

- query required `v15.0.0` `value` What the user typed.

- near `v15.0.0` `geo_point` Bias results towards this point : normally the map centre. Empty ranks without any geographic bias.

- bias radius (m) `v15.0.0` `number` How far the `near` boost reaches, in metres. Empty uses 25000.

- kinds `v15.0.0` `array` Restrict to `poi` and/or `settlement`. Empty searches both.

- categories `v15.0.0` `array` Array or comma-separated list of category groups. Accepts group ids (`primary_education`) or Dutch synonyms (`basisschool`, `kroegen`). Empty searches every category. Use `places_categories` to list them.

- limit `v15.0.0` `number` Maximum number of results. Empty uses 10.

- typo tolerance `v15.0.0` `number` Maximum edit distance for a fuzzy match. Empty uses 2; 0 disables typo tolerance. Short words never fuzzy-match, so `bar` cannot match `car`.

- min confidence `v15.0.0` `number` Drop results below this Overture confidence (0–1). The signal is **uncalibrated** : median 0.80 across the Dutch dataset : so filtering may hide coverage as easily as it removes noise. Empty applies no filter.

- dedup `v15.0.0` `condition` Collapse duplicate records for the same real place. On by default: Overture is not conflated, so one station can appear three times under name variants (`Station Breda Centraal`, `Gare de Bréda`, `NS Station Breda`). Merged results report `merged_count` and `merged_names`.

- results `v15.0.0` `array` Ranked results, best first. Each carries `kind` (`poi` or `settlement`), `name`, `subtitle`, `geo_point`, `score`, `category_group` and `merged_count`.

- best `v15.0.0` `object` The top result, for convenience. Empty when nothing matched.

- count `v15.0.0` `number` Number of results returned.

- success `v15.0.0` `condition` True when the query ran. An empty result is still a success.

- error `v15.0.0` `value` Error code when the query could not run: `PLACES_NOT_AVAILABLE`, `QUERY_REQUIRED`.

### Core Releases