For now, the `/place` endpoint returns exactly the same data that any other would. However, in the future, we plan to allow more information, perhaps [geometries](https://github.com/pelias/whosonfirst/issues/19#issuecomment-370545690) to be returned here.
The `/place` endpoint accepts Pelias `gid` strings that get returned for every exactly matched record in query responses. These `gid` strings should not be built manually, but rather used directly as-is to lookup additional details on the location that `gid` refers to.
Note that you need an actual `gid` value to make a `/place` search. For example, if you search for an address and the result is [interpolated](addresses.md#address-interpolation), then there is no discrete `gid` to use for a `/place` search because interpolated results may be from multiple data sources.
To search for more than one `/place` in a request, join multiple values together and separate them with a comma. For example, this `/place` query looks up the Eiffel Tower in OpenStreetMap and the borough of Manhattan in Who's on First:
If you enter a valid `gid` that cannot be found or has "expired" due to a newer build, you may get empty results. The request will NOT return an error.
Keep in mind that if you enter a `gid` that cannot be found in a list of multiple IDs, then the `features` array in the response contains a different number of elements than the number of requests. For example, your request may have three IDs requested but only two results returned. The reason for this is that the `features` section of the response is GeoJSON-compliant, and JSON does not allow a way to convey an exception condition (not even an empty JSON element, `{}`). For this reason, if your application is dependent upon the results mapping directly to the individual input requests in order, then you'll have to do your own bookkeeping to handle exception conditions.
Due to the ever-changing nature of most open-datasets used by Pelias, some `gids` can change merely by importing newer data.
Both Geonames and Who's on First have excellent, stable IDs and should not cause trouble. However, OpenAddresses and OpenStreetMap do _not_ have stable IDs. Be careful.
