# Azure Maps (slim)

> Microsoft Azure's mapping service. Its REST APIs at atlas.microsoft.com cover geocoding, reverse geocoding, place search, routing with traffic, map tiles, time zones and weather, with access by subscription key, SAS token or Microsoft Entra ID.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-maps.md (~9,100 tokens) · this version ~1,880 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-maps.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-maps
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

**B · 67.9/100 · rank #196 of 722 · #5 in Maps, geocoding & places · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Azure Maps publishes OpenAPI documents for every service, per-service rate limits, a 99.9 per cent SLA and written rules on storing results, and Entra ID roles can limit a caller to one service. Place search exists only in Search 1.0, which the newer version has superseded, and the REST client libraries are all beta.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Microsoft Azure · category: Maps, geocoding & places · legal entity: Microsoft Corporation · provenance 78/100
- Endpoint: `https://atlas.microsoft.com` (HTTP)
- Auth: OAuth or key · pricing: Freemium · x402: no · licence: Proprietary service under Microsoft's Product Terms. The Azure SDK client libraries are MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Services: Search (2026-01-01 and 1.0), Route (2025-01-01), Render (2024-04-01), Traffic (2025-01-01), Weather (1.1), Timezone and Geolocation (1.0)
- Search 2026-01-01: Geocoding, geocode autocomplete, reverse geocoding, batch forms of up to 100 queries and boundary polygons. GeoJSON responses. `top` from 1 to 20, default 5
- Place search: Search 1.0 only. POI by name, by category, nearby, along a route and inside a geometry, with `limit` up to 100 and `ofs` paging
- Route 2025-01-01: Directions for car, truck and walking, matrix (sync and async), reachable range and snap to roads, with batches of up to 100
- Rate limits: Per second, per account. Search 500, reverse geocoding 250, autocomplete 100, routing 50, batch 10, road tiles 500, satellite tiles 250, static maps 50, traffic 50, weather 50. No daily cap
- Credentials: Subscription key (two per account), SAS token (24 hours at most, rate cap, allowed regions) or Microsoft Entra ID with Azure roles
- Roles: Azure Maps Search and Render Data Reader, Data Reader, Data Contributor, Data Read and Batch, or a custom role per service such as `Microsoft.Maps/accounts/services/search/read`
- Free amount: Each month 5,000 transactions for Search, Geolocation, Timezone, base map tiles and traffic tiles, and 1,000 for Routing, Traffic, Weather, imagery tiles and static images
- Billing rules: 15 tiles, 4 matrix cells or 10 autocomplete requests make one transaction. 5xx, 401, 403, 408 and 429 responses are not billed
- Storage terms: Geocodes may be stored while the Azure account is active. Other results for the header's validity period or six months, whichever is shorter, and only to cut latency
- Data location: `eu.atlas.microsoft.com` and `us.atlas.microsoft.com` keep requests in that geography. Korean addresses need consent to processing in Korea Central
- SLA: 99.9 per cent per API, with 10 per cent credit below that and 25 per cent below 99 per cent (SLA for Online Services, 1 October 2026)
- Client libraries: Python `azure-maps-search` 2.0.0b2 (12 December 2024), JavaScript `@azure-rest/maps-search` 2.0.0-beta.4 (22 August 2025), .NET `Azure.Maps.Search` 2.0.0-beta.5 and Java. All beta
- Usage records: Azure Monitor metrics for usage, errors and availability, kept 93 days
- Prices: Search (geocoding, reverse geocoding, places) $4.50 per 1,000 requests; Routing $4.50 per 1,000 requests; Base map tiles $4.50 per 1,000 requests; Traffic $4.50 per 1,000 requests; Weather $4.50 per 1,000 requests; Static map images $4.50 per 1,000 requests

- Scores: Reliability 81, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 83, Agent ergonomics 73, Security & auth 66, Payments & pricing 20, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 67, Transparency & trust 74 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Hosted reading. · Schema & documentation, OpenAPI 2.0 documents for each service are public in `Azure/azure-rest-api-specs`, generated from TypeSpec since April 2026 (25). · Agent ergonomics, API reading of the checklist. · Security & auth, Microsoft Entra ID OAuth tokens with Azure roles, SAS tokens limited to 24 hours with a rate cap and allowed regions, and two subscription k… · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, Read as a closed service with official SDKs. · Transparency & trust, Closed service under Microsoft's Product Terms, which carry a section of Azure Maps rules on storage, navigation and attribution, with MIT c…
- Sources: 28, open questions: 8, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places, geo.routing, geo.tiles, weather.current, weather.forecast
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/azure-maps.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/azure-maps.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-maps from a page on microsoft.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/Azure/azure-rest-api-specs, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Send the key in the `subscription-key` header, or use `Authorization: Bearer` with `x-ms-client-id`. The key also works as a URL parameter, which leaks into logs.
2. Call `GET /geocode?api-version=2026-01-01` for addresses. It can return 200 with no results, so check `confidence`, `matchCodes` and the entity type before use.
3. Use Search 1.0 (`/search/poi/json`, `/search/nearby/json`, `/search/fuzzy/json`) for places. The 2026-01-01 version has no place search.
4. Use `eu.atlas.microsoft.com` or `us.atlas.microsoft.com` to keep request data in that geography.
5. Don't store route or tile results beyond six months, and never for serving several users. The product terms allow keeping geocodes while the account is active.

## Connect

```bash
pip install azure-maps-search   # or: npm i @azure-rest/maps-search
```

```bash
curl "https://atlas.microsoft.com/geocode?api-version=2026-01-01&query=15127%20NE%2024th%20Street%2C%20Redmond%2C%20WA" \
  -H "subscription-key: $AZURE_MAPS_KEY"
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/azure-maps

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Mapbox APIs + MCP | BB | 75 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places, geo.routing, geo.tiles | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mapbox.min.md |
| Amazon Location Service | BB | 74.1 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places, geo.routing, geo.tiles | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-location.min.md |
| Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP | B | 68.2 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places, geo.routing, geo.tiles | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-maps-platform.min.md |
| ArcGIS Location Platform | B | 65.4 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places, geo.routing, geo.tiles | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/arcgis.min.md |
| Stadia Maps | B | 65.2 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places, geo.routing, geo.tiles | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stadia-maps.min.md |


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