Formulayt gates can enhance data collection by integrating with Google Places API to provide location autocomplete functionality. This allows users to quickly search for and select businesses or addresses, automatically populating form fields with accurate location data.
The integration supports two search types: business establishments (companies) and standard addresses, each providing relevant location information to enrich your form submissions.
Integration requirements
Google Maps API setup
To use Google Places with Formulayt, you'll need to obtain a Google Maps API key. Follow these steps:
Sign into your Google Cloud Console
Create a new project or select an existing one
Enable the Places API for your project
Navigate to APIs & Services > Credentials
Click Create credentials and select API key
Copy your API key for use in Formulayt
Formulayt configuration
Once you have your API key, configure the integration in the Apps area:
API key: Your Google Maps API key
Search type: Choose between:
Company: Search for business establishments
Address: Search for residential addresses
Target field: Select which form field should trigger the Google Places search
Field mapping
Google Places provides extensive location data that can be mapped to your Formulayt form fields. The available fields vary based on your search type selection.
Suggested fields
Some fields are computed from the raw Google Places data:
Address Line 1: Combines street number and route into a single address line
Address Line 2: sublocality_level_1
Town/City: Uses postal town if available, otherwise falls back to locality
Postal Code: postal_code
State: administrative_area_level_1 - Long name
State Code: administrative_area_level_1 - Short name
Country: country - Long name
Country Code: country - Short name
Company exclusive fields
When searching for business establishments, the following additional fields are available:
Business name
Phone number (formatted)
Website URL
Business status (operational, closed temporarily, etc.)
Rating and review count
Price level
Address and company search fields
The following fields are available for both address and company searches:
Full formatted address
Individual address components:
Street number
Street name (route) - both long and short names
Unit/apartment number (subpremise) - both long and short names
City/town (locality) - both long and short names
Suburb/district (sublocality level 1)
County (administrative area level 2) - both long and short names
State/province (administrative area level 1) - both long and short names
Postal town
Postal code
Postal code suffix
Country - both long and short names
Geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude)
Google Place ID
How it works
When a user begins typing in the designated target field, Google Places autocomplete suggestions appear
Upon selecting a suggestion, a confirmation dialog displays the selected location details
Once confirmed, the mapped fields are automatically populated with the corresponding data
Users can cancel the selection to search for a different location
Location biasing
The integration automatically attempts to bias search results based on:
Browser geolocation: If available, results are biased to locations within 10km of the user
Country restrictions: If a country field exists on your form, searches are restricted to that country
Troubleshooting
Autocomplete not appearing
Verify your API key is valid and has the Places API enabled
Ensure the target field is correctly configured
Missing data in mapped fields
Not all locations have complete data (e.g., some businesses may not have websites)
Verify field mappings are correctly configured