diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index e77bc3a2..d499c283 100644
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ var sanitisers = {};
 sanitisers.doc      = require('./sanitiser/doc');
 sanitisers.suggest  = require('./sanitiser/suggest');
 sanitisers.search   = sanitisers.suggest;
+sanitisers.coarse   = require('./sanitiser/coarse');
 sanitisers.reverse  = require('./sanitiser/reverse');
 
 /** ----------------------- controllers ----------------------- **/
@@ -37,6 +38,9 @@ app.get( '/suggest', sanitisers.suggest.middleware, controllers.suggest() );
 app.get( '/suggest/nearby', 
 		sanitisers.suggest.middleware, 
 		controllers.suggest(undefined, undefined, require('./helper/queryMixer').suggest_nearby) );
+app.get( '/suggest/coarse', 
+		sanitisers.suggest.middleware, 
+		controllers.suggest(undefined, undefined, require('./helper/queryMixer').coarse) );
 
 // search API
 app.get( '/search', sanitisers.search.middleware, controllers.search() );
@@ -44,6 +48,8 @@ app.get( '/search', sanitisers.search.middleware, controllers.search() );
 // reverse API
 app.get( '/reverse', sanitisers.reverse.middleware, controllers.search(undefined, require('./query/reverse')) );
 
+// coarse API
+app.get( '/search/coarse', sanitisers.coarse.middleware, controllers.search() );
 
 /** ----------------------- error middleware ----------------------- **/
 
diff --git a/helper/queryMixer.json b/helper/queryMixer.json
index e3becfba..c22670dd 100644
--- a/helper/queryMixer.json
+++ b/helper/queryMixer.json
@@ -24,5 +24,16 @@
       "precision": [],
       "fuzzy": "AUTO"
     }
+  ],
+  "coarse": [
+    {
+      "layers": ["admin0","admin1","admin2","neighborhood"],
+      "precision": [5, 3, 1]
+    },
+    {
+      "layers": ["admin0","admin1","admin2","neighborhood"],
+      "precision": [3],
+      "fuzzy": "AUTO"
+    }
   ]
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sanitiser/coarse.js b/sanitiser/coarse.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..da07de7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sanitiser/coarse.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+
+var logger = require('../src/logger'),
+    _sanitize = require('../sanitiser/_sanitize'),
+    sanitizers = {
+      input: require('../sanitiser/_input'),
+      size: require('../sanitiser/_size'),
+      layers: function( req ) {
+        req.query.layers = 'admin';
+        var layers = require('../sanitiser/_layers');
+        return layers(req);
+      },
+      latlonzoom: require('../sanitiser/_geo')
+    };
+
+var sanitize = function(req, cb) { _sanitize(req, sanitizers, cb); };
+
+// export sanitize for testing
+module.exports.sanitize = sanitize;
+
+// middleware
+module.exports.middleware = function( req, res, next ){
+  sanitize( req, function( err, clean ){
+    if( err ){
+      res.status(400); // 400 Bad Request
+      return next(err);
+    }
+    req.clean = clean;
+    next();
+  });
+};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/unit/run.js b/test/unit/run.js
index ee45800b..20a5960d 100644
--- a/test/unit/run.js
+++ b/test/unit/run.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ var tests = [
   require('./service/suggest'),
   require('./sanitiser/suggest'),
   require('./sanitiser/doc'),
+  require('./sanitiser/coarse'),
   require('./query/indeces'),
   require('./query/suggest'),
   require('./query/search'),
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitiser/coarse.js b/test/unit/sanitiser/coarse.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f626141b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/sanitiser/coarse.js
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+
+var coarse  = require('../../../sanitiser/coarse'),
+    _sanitize    = coarse.sanitize,
+    middleware   = coarse.middleware,
+    valid_layers = [ 'admin0', 'admin1', 'admin2', 'neighborhood' ],
+    sanitize = function(query, cb) { _sanitize({'query':query}, cb); };
+
+module.exports.tests = {};
+
+module.exports.tests.interface = function(test, common) {
+  test('sanitize interface', function(t) {
+    t.equal(typeof sanitize, 'function', 'sanitize is a function');
+    t.equal(sanitize.length, 2, 'sanitize interface');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('middleware interface', function(t) {
+    t.equal(typeof middleware, 'function', 'middleware is a function');
+    t.equal(middleware.length, 3, 'sanitizee has a valid middleware');
+    t.end();
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.tests.layers = function(test, common) {
+  test('valid layers', function(t) {
+    sanitize({ input: 'test', lat: 0, lon: 0 }, function( err, clean ){
+      t.equal(err, undefined, 'no error');
+      t.deepEqual(clean.layers, valid_layers, 'layers set correctly');
+    });
+    t.end();
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.tests.middleware_failure = function(test, common) {
+  test('middleware failure', function(t) {
+    var res = { status: function( code ){
+      t.equal(code, 400, 'status set');
+    }};
+    var next = function( message ){
+      var defaultError = 'invalid param \'input\': text length, must be >0';
+      t.equal(message, defaultError);
+      t.end();
+    };
+    middleware( {}, res, next );
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.tests.middleware_success = function(test, common) {
+  test('middleware success', function(t) {
+    var req = { query: { input: 'test', lat: 0, lon: 0 }};
+    var next = function( message ){
+      var defaultClean = { 
+        input: 'test',
+        size: 10,
+        layers: [ 'admin0', 'admin1', 'admin2', 'neighborhood' ],
+        lat: 0,
+        lon: 0,
+        zoom: 10 
+      };
+      t.equal(message, undefined, 'no error message set');
+      t.deepEqual(req.clean, defaultClean);
+      t.end();
+    };
+    middleware( req, undefined, next );
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.all = function (tape, common) {
+
+  function test(name, testFunction) {
+    return tape('SANTIZE /coarse ' + name, testFunction);
+  }
+
+  for( var testCase in module.exports.tests ){
+    module.exports.tests[testCase](test, common);
+  }
+};
\ No newline at end of file