I built askplaces: Find nearby places using natural language in Node.js 🌍
What if your users could find nearby places without selecting categories, filling out filters, or knowing exactly what to search for? Imagine someone opening your application and asking: "I'm hungry, find restaurants near me." "I'm in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower. Where can I get coffee?" "Where is the nearest pharmacy?" "Find parking around this location." And your backend turns those questions…
Askplaces is a Node.js library that leverages natural language processing and OpenStreetMap data to find nearby places based on user queries. Users can input plain language questions like "I'm hungry, find restaurants near me" and the backend processes these queries to return structured JSON containing relevant place information.
The package uses an LLM to interpret the user's intent, Nominatim to geocode place names, Overpass to find nearby locations, and Valhalla to calculate routes and travel times. It supports various LLM providers and can be easily integrated into applications such as AI city assistants, travel apps, local services platforms, messaging bots, delivery services, and neighborhood guides.
The package is designed for backend use, requiring Node.js 22 or newer, and does not require a Google Maps API key. Developers should remember to include required OpenStreetMap attribution when displaying results.
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