# orbit Geo & Time: Forward Geocoding

> orbit Geo & Time: Forward Geocoding is a paid API for AI agents from orbit-geo.orbit-builder.workers.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.001/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-29).

Converts a place name or address string into up to 5 geocoded matches with lat/lon coordinates, bounding box, and structured address components via OpenStreetMap Nominatim

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://orbit-geo.orbit-builder.workers.dev/v1/geocode?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.001/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-29
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/orbit-geo-time-forward-geocoding-2c08f303
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_DGQ84Y6dX3zVDJQYE1tn_

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability orbit-geo-time-forward-geocoding-2c08f303
```

Example prompt: Can you find the latitude and longitude for the Eiffel Tower in Paris? I'd like the top 3 matches with their full address details.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need to convert a human-readable place name or address into geographic coordinates (lat/lon) with structured address data, especially when OpenStreetMap coverage is sufficient and cost per call ($0.001 USDC) is a factor. Prefer this over paid geocoding APIs (Google Maps, HERE) for open-data use cases, OSM-licensed projects, or high-volume lookups where cost matters. It returns up to 5 candidate matches, making it useful for disambiguation.

## Known failure modes

- 404 returned when no match found for the query string (not charged)
- Ambiguous or misspelled place names may return unexpected or low-relevance results
- Limit parameter outside 1-5 range may cause validation error
- Missing required 'q' parameter returns an error or runs example input
- Rural or very obscure locations may not be in OpenStreetMap data

## How this service works

Location and time data for agents: weather now + 7-day forecast (MET Norway), geocoding and reverse geocoding (OpenStreetMap Nominatim), sunrise/sunset, world time-zone conversion and public holidays (Nager.Date). Real open data fetched at call time, attribution included. $0.001 per call. By orbit-builder.

## Output

A JSON array of up to 5 geocode matches, each containing latitude, longitude, full display name, place type and class, importance score, bounding box, and a structured address object with fields like road, city, state, postcode, country, and country code. Returns 404 (not billed) if no match is found.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "q"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "q": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "place name or address"
      },
      "limit": {
       "type": "integer",
       "description": "1-5 (default 3)"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object"
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "query": "Eiffel Tower, Paris",
  "results": [
   {
    "lat": 48.8583,
    "lon": 2.2945,
    "name": "Tour Eiffel, … Paris, France",
    "type": "attraction",
    "address": {
     "city": "Paris",
     "country": "France",
     "country_code": "fr"
    }
   }
  ]
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/orbit-geo-time-forward-geocoding-2c08f303/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from orbit-geo.orbit-builder.workers.dev](https://www.zero.xyz/host/orbit-geo.orbit-builder.workers.dev/llms.txt)