BC Geographical Names Web Service - REST API

gov · Government

Government No Auth Free & Open open_data

This REST API provides searchable access to information about geographical names in the province of British Columbia, including name status and details about the corresponding geographic feature. Please note that you may experience issues when submitting requests to the delivery or test environment if using this [OpenAPI specification](https://github.com/bcgov/api-specs) in other API console viewers.

Authentication

No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.

Sample Requests

GET Get all feature categories

Gets a list of all feature categories used by the BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS). Note: there are three levels of classification in the BCGNIS feature taxonomy: classes, categories and types. A type is a subset of a category, and a category is a subset of a class.

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureCategories?outputFormat=json

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureCategories?outputFormat=json"

import requests
params = {
    "outputFormat": "json"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureCategories",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureCategories');
url.searchParams.set('outputFormat', 'json');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureCategories")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("outputFormat", "json")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureCategories")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "outputFormat" => "json"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureCategories?" . http_build_query([
    "outputFormat" => "json"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get all feature classes

Gets a list of all feature classes used by the BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS). Note: there are three levels of classification in the BCGNIS feature taxonomy: classes, categories and types. A type is a subset of a category, and a category is a subset of a class.

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureClasses?outputFormat=json

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureClasses?outputFormat=json"

import requests
params = {
    "outputFormat": "json"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureClasses",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureClasses');
url.searchParams.set('outputFormat', 'json');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureClasses")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("outputFormat", "json")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureClasses")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "outputFormat" => "json"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureClasses?" . http_build_query([
    "outputFormat" => "json"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get all feature types

Gets a list of all feature types used by the BC Geographical Names Information System (BCGNIS). Note: there are three levels of classification in the BCGNIS feature taxonomy: classes, categories and types. A type is a subset of a category, and a category is a subset of a class.

https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureTypes?outputFormat=json

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureTypes?outputFormat=json"

import requests
params = {
    "outputFormat": "json"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureTypes",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureTypes');
url.searchParams.set('outputFormat', 'json');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureTypes")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("outputFormat", "json")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureTypes")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "outputFormat" => "json"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.apis.guru/v2/specs/gov.bc.ca/bcgnws/3.x.x/featureTypes?" . http_build_query([
    "outputFormat" => "json"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

See official documentation for authentication and setup.

What can you build with BC Geographical Names Web Service - REST API?

BC Geographical Names Web Service - REST API is a Government API. Developers commonly use government APIs for:

surfacing public datasets in citizen-facing apps
building transparency and civic engagement tools
accessing legislation, court records, and official data
powering research and journalism tools
creating compliance and regulatory monitoring dashboards

No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. BC Geographical Names Web Service - REST API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide · Learn about API keys · What is REST?

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