By the geoamcan data team · Reviewed 2026-10-26
Start with longitude and latitude
The lookup endpoint accepts lat and lon in decimal degrees. This guide uses Los Angeles. Validate input order and coordinate ranges before calling the API; reversed coordinates can point to a different continent.
Select the geography you need
A coordinate can fall inside several geographic levels. Choose the returned county, tract or block group explicitly and preserve its geography vintage. ZIP Code Tabulation Areas describe Census geography and are not identical to postal delivery routes.
Join to observations
Use the selected geoid and geo_type with a demographic or employment endpoint. Review availability before assuming every dataset exists at the smallest returned level. Canadian geographic discovery uses the separate Canadian endpoints.
Start with a verified dataset request
Install the Python requests package in your application environment, then set GEOAMCAN_API_KEY on the server. This bounded example demonstrates retrieval; the sections above describe how to extend the workflow.
import os
import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://api.geoamcan.com/v1/geography/lookup',
params={'lat': 34.0522, 'lon': -118.2437},
headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["GEOAMCAN_API_KEY"]},
timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
result = response.json()
print(result)curl --fail --get "https://api.geoamcan.com/v1/geography/lookup?lat=34.0522&lon=-118.2437" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $GEOAMCAN_API_KEY"Saved response excerpt
{
"requested_area": {
"lat": 34.0522,
"lon": -118.2437
},
"geographies": [
{
"geo_type": "block_group",
"geoid": "060372074001",
"vintage": "2026",
"name": "060372074001",
"land_m2": 862957,
"water_m2": 6458,
"release": "2026 + native 2024/2020",
"source": "Census Bureau"
}
],
"rural_classifications": [
{
"metrics": {
"Population_2020": 10014009
},
"flags": {},
"vintage": "2023",
"geo_type": "county",
"geoid": "06037",
"release": "RUCC 2023 / RUCA 2020",
"source": "USDA Economic Research Service"
}
],
"availability": "available"
}Captured 2026-10-26. Excerpt omits pagination credentials and may shorten nested records. Download verified source responses.
Production checklist
- Keep the bearer key out of browser code and logs.
- Preserve source, release, period, geographic vintage and units.
- Handle 401, 422, 429 and temporary server failures explicitly; respect Retry-After.
- Validate coverage and empty results before generating conclusions.
- Use documented pagination and checkpoint contracts for larger workloads.