Data Services API v2

Introduction

The CARTO Data Services API offers a set of location based services that can be used to programatically customize subsets of data for your visualizations.

The contents described in this document are subject to CARTO’s Terms of Service

Authentication

Data Services API, like any other CARTO platform’s component, requires using an API Key. From your CARTO dashboard, click Your API keys from the avatar drop-down menu to view your uniquely generated API Key for managing data with CARTO Engine.

Learn more about the basics of authorization, or dig into the details of Auth API, if you want to know more about this part of CARTO platform.

The examples in this documentation may include a placeholder for the API Key. Ensure that you modify any placeholder parameters with your own credentials.

Versioning

Data Services API uses Semantic Versioning. View our Github repository to find tags for each release.

Error handling

Most of the errors fired by the API are handled by the API itself. It triggers a CartoError every time an error happens.

A cartoError is an object containing a single message field with a string explaining the error.

Geocoding Functions

The geocoder functions allow you to match your data with geometries on your map. This geocoding service can be used programatically to geocode datasets via the CARTO SQL API. It is fed from Open Data and it serves geometries for countries, provinces, states, cities, postal codes, IP addresses and street addresses. CARTO provides functions for several different categories of geocoding through the Data Services API.

Warning: This service is subject to quota limitations and extra fees may apply. View the Quota Information section for details and recommendations about to quota consumption.

The following example displays how to geocode a single country:

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('USA')&api_key={api_key}

In order to geocode an existent CARTO dataset, an SQL UPDATE statement must be used to populate the geometry column in the dataset with the results of the Data Services API. For example, if the column where you are storing the country names for each one of our rows is called country_column, run the following statement in order to geocode the dataset:

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('USA')&api_key={api_key}

Notice that you can make use of Postgres or PostGIS functions in your Data Services API requests, as the result is a geometry that can be handled by the system. For example, suppose you need to retrieve the centroid of a specific country, you can wrap the resulting geometry from the geocoder functions inside the PostGIS ST_Centroid function:

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = ST_Centroid(cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('USA'))&api_key={api_key}

The following geocoding functions are available, grouped by categories.

Country Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into country border geometries. It recognizes the names of the different countries either by different synonyms (such as their English name or their endonym), or by ISO (ISO2 or ISO3) codes.

cdb_geocode_admin0polygon(_country_name text)

Geocodes the text name of a country into a country_name geometry, displayed as polygon data.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon({country_column})

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_admin0_polygon('France')

Level-1 Administrative Regions Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into polygon geometries for Level 1, or NUTS-1, administrative divisions (or units) of countries. For example, a “state” in the United States, “départements” in France, or an autonomous community in Spain.

cdb_geocode_admin1polygon(_admin1_name text)

Geocodes the name of the province/state into a Level-1 administrative region, displayed as a polygon geometry.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon({province_column})

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon('Alicante')

cdb_geocode_admin1polygon(_admin1_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes the name of the province/state for a specified country into a Level-1 administrative region, displayed as a polygon geometry.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon({province_column}, {country_column})

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_admin1_polygon('Alicante', 'Spain')

City Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into point geometries for names of cities. It is recommended to use geocoding functions that require more defined parameters — this returns more accurate results when several cities have the same name. If there are duplicate results for a city name, the city name with the highest population will be returned.

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text)

Geocodes the text name of a city into a named place geometry, displayed as point data.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Select

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_namedplace_point({city_column})

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('Barcelona')

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes the text name of a city for a specified country into a named place point geometry.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_namedplace_point({city_column}, 'Spain')

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('Barcelona', 'Spain')

cdb_geocode_namedplace_point(city_name text, admin1_name text, country_name text)

Geocodes your data into a named place point geometry, containing the text name of a city, for a specified province/state and country. This is recommended for the most accurate geocoding of city data.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_namedplace_point({city_column}, {province_column}, 'USA')

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_namedplace_point('New York', 'New York', 'USA')

Postal Code Geocoder

These functions geocode your data into point, or polygon, geometries for postal codes. The postal code geocoder covers the United States, France, Australia and Canada; a request for a different country will return an empty response.

Note: For the USA, US Census Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTA) are used to reference geocodes for USPS postal codes service areas. This is not a CARTO restriction, this is a US Government licensing protection of their zip code data source; which is not publicly available. Additionally, zip codes are considered service areas and are not actually geometric areas. As a solution, the US Census provides ZCTA data, which tabulates GIS postal codes for USPS locations by aggregating census blocks. For details about how ZCTAs are created, see ZIP Code™ Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs™). If you are geocoding data and your zip codes fail, ensure you are using ZCTAs for the postal code.

cdb_geocode_postalcode_polygon(postal_code text, country_name text)

Geocodes the postal code for a specified country into a polygon geometry.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (polygon, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_postalcode_polygon({postal_code_column}, 'USA')

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_postalcode_polygon('11211', 'USA')

cdb_geocode_postalcode_point(code text, country_name text)

Geocodes the postal code for a specified country into a point geometry.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_postalcode_point({postal_code_column}, 'USA')

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_postalcode_point('11211', 'USA')

IP Addresses Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into point geometries for IP addresses. This is useful if you are analyzing location based data, based on a set of user’s IP addresses.

cdb_geocode_ipaddress_point(ip_address text)

Geocodes a postal code from a specified country into an IP address, displayed as a point geometry.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_ipaddress_point('102.23.34.1')

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_ipaddress_point('102.23.34.1')

Street-Level Geocoder

This function geocodes your data into a point geometry for a street address. CARTO uses several different service providers for street-level geocoding, depending on your platform. If you access CARTO on a Google Cloud Platform, Google Maps geocoding is applied. All other platform users are provided with Mapbox geocoding services. Contact us if you have any specific questions or requirements about the location data service provider being used with your account._.

This service is subject to quota limitations, and extra fees may apply. View the Quota information for details and recommendations about quota consumption.

cdb_geocode_street_point(search_text text, [city text], [state text], [country text])

Geocodes a complete address into a single street geometry, displayed as point data.

Arguments

Returns

Geometry (point, EPSG 4326) or null

Example

Update the geometry of a table to geocode it

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UPDATE {tablename} SET the_geom = cdb_geocode_street_point({street_name_column})

Insert a geocoded row into a table

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INSERT INTO {tablename} (the_geom) SELECT cdb_geocode_street_point('651 Lombard Street', 'San Francisco', 'California', 'United States')

Isoline Functions

Isolines are contoured lines that display equally calculated levels over a given surface area. This enables you to view polygon dimensions by forward or reverse measurements. Isoline functions are calculated as the intersection of areas from the origin point, measured by distance (isodistance) or time (isochrone). For example, the distance of a road from a sidewalk. Isoline services through CARTO are available by requesting a single function in the Data Services API.

This service is subject to quota limitations and extra fees may apply. View the Quota Information section for details and recommendations about to quota consumption.

You can use the isoline functions to retrieve, for example, isochrone lines from a certain location, specifying the mode and the ranges that will define each of the isolines. The following query calculates isolines for areas that are 5, 10 and 15 minutes (300, 600 and 900 seconds, respectively) away from the location by following a path defined by car routing and inserts them into a table.

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=INSERT INTO {table} (the_geom) SELECT  the_geom FROM cdb_isodistance('POINT(-3.70568 40.42028)'::geometry, 'car', ARRAY[300, 600, 900]::integer[])&api_key={api_key}

The following functions provide an isoline generator service, based on time or distance. This service uses the isolines service defined for your account. The default service limits the usage of displayed polygons represented on top of Mapbox maps.

cdb_isodistance(source geometry, mode text, range integer[], [options text[]])

Displays a contoured line on a map, connecting geometries to a defined area, measured by an equal range of distance (in meters).

Arguments

Returns

Examples

Calculate and insert isodistance polygons from a point into another table

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INSERT INTO {table} (the_geom) SELECT  the_geom FROM cdb_isodistance('POINT(-3.70568 40.42028)'::geometry, 'walk', ARRAY[300, 600, 900]::integer[])

or equivalently:

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INSERT INTO {table} (the_geom) SELECT (cdb_isodistance('POINT(-3.70568 40.42028)'::geometry, 'walk', ARRAY[300, 600, 900]::integer[])).the_geom

Calculate and insert the generated isolines from points_table table to another table

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INSERT INTO {table} (the_geom) SELECT (cdb_isodistance(the_geom, 'walk', string_to_array(distance, ',')::integer[])).the_geom FROM {points_table}

cdb_isochrone(source geometry, mode text, range integer[], [options text[]])

Displays a contoured line on a map, connecting geometries to a defined area, measured by an equal range of time (in seconds).

Arguments

This function uses the same parameters and information as the cdb_isodistance function, with the exception that the range is measured in seconds instead of meters.

Examples

Calculate and insert isochrone polygons from a point into another table

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INSERT INTO {table} (the_geom) SELECT  the_geom FROM cdb_isochrone('POINT(-3.70568 40.42028)'::geometry, 'car', ARRAY[300, 900, 12000]::integer[], ARRAY['mode_traffic=enabled','quality=3']::text[])

or equivalently:

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INSERT INTO {table} (the_geom) SELECT (cdb_isochrone('POINT(-3.70568 40.42028)'::geometry, 'car', ARRAY[300, 900, 12000]::integer[], ARRAY['mode_traffic=enabled','quality=3']::text[])).the_geom

Calculate and insert the generated isolines from points_table table into another table

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INSERT INTO {table} (the_geom) SELECT (cdb_isochrone(the_geom, 'walk', string_to_array(time_distance, ',')::integer[])).the_geom FROM {points_table}

Optional isoline parameters

The optional value parameters must be passed using the format: option=value.

Demographic Functions

The Demographic Snapshot enables you to collect demographic reports around a point location. For example, you can take the coordinates of a coffee shop and find the average population characteristics, such as total population, educational attainment, housing and income information around that location. You can use raw street addresses by combining the Demographic Snapshot with CARTO’s geocoding features. If you need help creating coordinates from addresses, see the Geocoding Functions documentation.

Note: The Demographic Snapshot functions are only available for the United States.

OBS_GetDemographicSnapshot( point geometry )

Fields returned include information about income, education, transportation, race, and more. Not all fields will have information for every coordinate queried.

Arguments

Returns

The Demographic Snapshot contains a broad subset of demographic measures in the Data Observatory. Over 80 measurements are returned by a single API request. For each demographic measure, the API returns the following values.

For example the “Female Population” measure returns

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obs_getdemographicsnapshot: {
   "value": 32.5395066379175,
   "name": "Female Population",
   "tablename": "obs_1a098da56badf5f32e336002b0a81708c40d29cd",
   "aggregate": "sum",
   "type": "Numeric",
   "description": "The number of people within each geography who are female."
}

For details, see the Glossary of Demographic Measures.

Examples

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT * FROM
OBS_GetDemographicSnapshot()

####### Get the Geographic Snapshot of a Demographic

Get the Demographic Snapshot at Camp David

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT * FROM
OBS_GetDemographicSnapshot(CDB_LatLng(39.648333, -77.465))

Get the Demographic Snapshot in the Upper West Side

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT * FROM
OBS_GetDemographicSnapshot(CDB_LatLng(40.80, -73.960))

Glossary of Demographic Measures

This list contains the demographic measures and response names for results from the OBS_GetDemographicSnapshot function.

Routing Functions

Routing is the navigation from a defined start location to a defined end location. The calculated results are displayed as turn-by-turn directions on your map, based on the transportation mode that you specified. Routing services through CARTO are available by using the available functions in the Data Services API.

cdb_route_point_to_point(origin geometry(Point), destination geometry(Point), mode text, [options text[], units text])

Returns a route from origin to destination.

Arguments

Returns

Examples

Insert the values from the calculated route in your table

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INSERT INTO <TABLE> (duration, length, the_geom) SELECT duration, length, shape FROM cdb_route_point_to_point('POINT(-3.70237112 40.41706163)'::geometry,'POINT(-3.69909883 40.41236875)'::geometry, 'car')

Update the geometry field with the calculated route shape

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UPDATE <TABLE> SET the_geom = (SELECT shape FROM cdb_route_point_to_point('POINT(-3.70237112 40.41706163)'::geometry,'POINT(-3.69909883 40.41236875)'::geometry, 'car', ARRAY['mode_type=shortest']::text[]))

cdb_route_with_waypoints(waypoints geometry(Point)[], mode text, [options text[], units text])

Returns a route that goes from origin to destination and whose path travels through the defined locations.

Arguments

Returns

Note: A request to the function cdb_route_with_waypoints(waypoints geometry(Point)[], mode text, [options text[], units text]) with only two points in the geometry array are automatically defined as origin and destination. It is equivalent to performing the following request with these two locations as parameters: cdb_route_point_to_point(origin geometry(Point), destination geometry(Point), mode text, [options text[], units text]).

Examples

Insert the values from the calculated route in your table

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INSERT INTO <TABLE> (duration, length, the_geom) SELECT duration, length, shape FROM cdb_route_with_waypoints(Array['POINT(-3.7109 40.4234)'::GEOMETRY, 'POINT(-3.7059 40.4203)'::geometry, 'POINT(-3.7046 40.4180)'::geometry]::geometry[], 'walk')

Update the geometry field with the calculated route shape

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UPDATE <TABLE> SET the_geom = (SELECT shape FROM cdb_route_with_waypoints(Array['POINT(-3.7109 40.4234)'::GEOMETRY, 'POINT(-3.7059 40.4203)'::geometry, 'POINT(-3.7046 40.4180)'::geometry]::geometry[], 'car', ARRAY['mode_type=shortest']::text[]))

Optional routing parameters

The optional value parameters must be passed using the format: option=value. Not all are available for all the routing providers

Segmentation Functions

The Segmentation Snapshot functions enable you to determine the pre-calculated population segment for a location. Segmentation is a method that divides a populations into subclassifications based on common traits. For example, you can take the a store location and determine what classification of population exists around that location. If you need help creating coordinates from addresses, see the Geocoding Functions documentation.

Note: The Segmentation Snapshot functions are only available for the United States. Our first release (May 18, 2016) is derived from Census 2010 variables. Our next release will be based on Census 2014 data. For the latest information, see the Open Segments project repository.

OBS_GetSegmentSnapshot( Point Geometry )

Arguments

Returns

The segmentation function returns two segment levels for the point you requests, the x10_segment and x55_segment. These segmentation levels contain different classifications of population within with each segment. The function also returns the quantile of a number of census variables. For example, if total_poulation is at 90% quantile level then this tract has a higher total population than 90% of the other tracts.

An example response appears as follows:

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obs_getsegmentsnapshot: {
  "x10_segment": "Wealthy, urban without Kids",
  "x55_segment": "Wealthy city commuters",
  "us.census.acs.B01001001_quantile": "0.0180540540540541",
  "us.census.acs.B01001002_quantile": "0.0279864864864865",
  "us.census.acs.B01001026_quantile": "0.016527027027027",
  "us.census.acs.B01002001_quantile": "0.507297297297297",
  "us.census.acs.B03002003_quantile": "0.133162162162162",
  "us.census.acs.B03002004_quantile": "0.283743243243243",
  "us.census.acs.B03002006_quantile": "0.683945945945946",
  "us.census.acs.B03002012_quantile": "0.494594594594595",
  "us.census.acs.B05001006_quantile": "0.670972972972973",
  "us.census.acs.B08006001_quantile": "0.0607567567567568",
  "us.census.acs.B08006002_quantile": "0.0684324324324324",
  "us.census.acs.B08006008_quantile": "0.565135135135135",
  "us.census.acs.B08006009_quantile": "0.638081081081081",
  "us.census.acs.B08006011_quantile": "0",
  "us.census.acs.B08006015_quantile": "0.900932432432432",
  "us.census.acs.B08006017_quantile": "0.186648648648649",
  "us.census.acs.B09001001_quantile": "0.0193513513513514",
  "us.census.acs.B11001001_quantile": "0.0617972972972973",
  "us.census.acs.B14001001_quantile": "0.0179594594594595",
  "us.census.acs.B14001002_quantile": "0.0140405405405405",
  "us.census.acs.B14001005_quantile": "0",
  "us.census.acs.B14001006_quantile": "0",
  "us.census.acs.B14001007_quantile": "0",
  "us.census.acs.B14001008_quantile": "0.0609054054054054",
  "us.census.acs.B15003001_quantile": "0.0314594594594595",
  "us.census.acs.B15003017_quantile": "0.0403378378378378",
  "us.census.acs.B15003022_quantile": "0.285972972972973",
  "us.census.acs.B15003023_quantile": "0.214567567567568",
  "us.census.acs.B16001001_quantile": "0.0181621621621622",
  "us.census.acs.B16001002_quantile": "0.0463108108108108",
  "us.census.acs.B16001003_quantile": "0.540540540540541",
  "us.census.acs.B17001001_quantile": "0.0237567567567568",
  "us.census.acs.B17001002_quantile": "0.155972972972973",
  "us.census.acs.B19013001_quantile": "0.380662162162162",
  "us.census.acs.B19083001_quantile": "0.986891891891892",
  "us.census.acs.B19301001_quantile": "0.989594594594595",
  "us.census.acs.B25001001_quantile": "0.998418918918919",
  "us.census.acs.B25002003_quantile": "0.999824324324324",
  "us.census.acs.B25004002_quantile": "0.999986486486486",
  "us.census.acs.B25004004_quantile": "0.999662162162162",
  "us.census.acs.B25058001_quantile": "0.679054054054054",
  "us.census.acs.B25071001_quantile": "0.569716216216216",
  "us.census.acs.B25075001_quantile": "0.0415",
  "us.census.acs.B25075025_quantile": "0.891702702702703"
}

The possible segments are:

Examples

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT * FROM
OBS_GetSegmentSnapshot()

Get the Geographic Snapshot of a Segmentation

Get the Segmentation Snapshot around the MGM Grand

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT * FROM
OBS_GetSegmentSnapshot(CDB_LatLng(36.10222, -115.169516))

Get the Segmentation Snapshot at CARTO’s NYC HQ

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https://{username}.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT * FROM
OBS_GetSegmentSnapshot(CDB_LatLng(40.704512, -73.936669))