Geo Coordinate Search
The /connections/find endpoint allows users to search for available connections based on departure and arrival locations. The search can be performed also using geo coordinates which enables searching based on latitude and longitude with a defined radius.
The geo coordinate search can be useful in 2 cases:
- Your users have their exact location defined as part of the search flow e.g. they search using a hotel or an exact address as reference.
- You don't want to map stations between Distribusion and your database, and instead want to use the stored latitude and longitude of your list of stations in each search request.
Geo coordinate search is best used for specific locations rather than whole cities. The search radius is limited to 20km, so searching by a city's central coordinates may exclude stations located in the outer districts of larger metropolitan areas. For example, if a user selects Tokyo as a departure city and you use the central point of Tokyo to initiate the geo coordinate search, some of the stations in Tokyo will not appear in the search results.
Examples
The search workflow allows you to search from geo coordinate point to geo coordinate point, but also to combine a geo coordinate for departure with an arrival station, for example in case a user is searching how to go from their hotel to an airport.
Coordinate to Coordinate
Coordinate to Station
Parameters
departure[type] arrival[type] | Yes | Value should be set to |
departure[value] arrival[value] | Yes | Latitude and longitude coordinates (decimal degrees) representing the departure/arrival point. Format: {latitude},{longitude} with exactly 6 decimal places. |
departure[radius] arrival[radius] | Yes | Radius (in meters) around the departure/arrival location to search for stations. Max 20000 meters (20 km) and min 10 meters. |
Walking Steps
To get information about the walking distance and time from the specified geo coordinate to the station in the response add the parameter include=connections.steps.walking to the request.
In this case the API response will return a segments array and a new steps array. The segments array will continue to represent traditional segments, such as bus or train rides. The steps array, however, will include additional segments that represent intermediate walking distances, such as walking from the departure coordinate to the departure station or from the arrival station to the final destination.
Let's look at this sample request:
Steps of a Connection
In the response, below the standard segments of a connection, you will find the walking segments represented as steps. The first step STEP-DEPARTURE-GBLONLHB corresponds to the walking distance from the arrival station to the final coordinate, while the second step STEP-ARRIVAL-GBLONLPB represents the walking distance from the initial coordinate to the departure station.
{
"attributes": {
"arrival_time": "2025-07-31T09:31",
"booked_out": false,
"cheapest_fare_class_code": "FARE-5",
"cheapest_total_adult_price": 2562,
"co2_kg": 2.1942505836486816,
"co2e_kg": 2.510593891143799,
"co2e_savings": 0.7929726243019104,
"departure_time": "2025-07-31T09:10",
"duration": 1272,
"electronic_ticket_available": false,
"leg_type": "outbound",
"offer_bundle": null,
"offer_id": null,
"total_seats_left": null
},
...
"steps": {
"data": [
{
"id": "STEP-DEPARTURE-GBLONLHB",
"type": "steps"
},
{
"id": "STEP-ARRIVAL-GBLONLPB",
"type": "steps"
}
]
}
},
"type": "connections"
}
},Step Details
Each step is assigned a unique ID. Below are the basic attributes of a step:
travel_mode: Currently, only "WALKING" is supporteddistance: The total distance of the step in metersduration: The estimated walking time in secondsdeparture_location: Contains the location ID, which refers to latitude, longitude, and station ID for the starting pointarrival_location: Contains the location ID, which refers to latitude, longitude, and station ID for the ending point
Here is how the details of a step will be represented in the response related to the experience of the passenger from their starting point to the departure station GBLONLPB:
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- Geo Coordinate Search