# Glossary
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/glossary/index.md

## Glossary {#glossary}

Definitions of the terms and data concepts used across the Places API documentation, request
payloads, and responses.

### Core terms {#core-terms}

|               Term               |                                                                                                                                                   Definition                                                                                                                                                   |
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| **Places**                       | Mastercard's global point-of-interest dataset describing merchant locations that accept Mastercard, both physical and online.                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **Location ID**                  | The unique, numeric Mastercard identifier for a single merchant location. Returned as `locationId` by `POST /places/searches` and used as the path parameter for `GET /places/{locationId}`. Example: `1234567890`.                                                                                            |
| **Merchant Location**            | A single, physically or digitally distinct outlet of a merchant. A merchant brand may have many merchant locations.                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| **Scrubbing**                    | Mastercard's process of improving the readability of raw data --- removing whitespace and extraneous characters.                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| **Cleansing**                    | Mastercard's proprietary process of enhancing a field's value by matching against third-party sources, standardization, and data-science rules.                                                                                                                                                                |
| **Cleansed Merchant Name**       | The merchant name after the cleansing process, presented as the customer-recognisable brand name rather than the raw acquirer-supplied descriptor. Field: `cleansedMerchantName`. Example: raw `FAMOUS FTWR #1234` → cleansed `Famous Footwear`.                                                               |
| **Geocode**                      | The latitude/longitude pair assigned to a merchant location (WGS-84). Fields: `latitude`, `longitude`.                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| **Geocode Quality Indicator**    | A code describing how precisely a location was geocoded (for example, rooftop vs. street vs. postal-centroid level). See [Geocoding Quality Definitions](https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/data-elements/index.md#geocoding-quality-definitions).                     |
| **Channel of Distribution**      | A single-character code describing how the merchant primarily sells: `b` brick-and-mortar, `n` non-store retail, `o` online. See [Channel of Distribution Definitions](https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/data-elements/index.md#channel-of-distribution-definitions). |
| **Industry Code**                | Mastercard's merchant industry classification, retrievable from `GET /merchant-industry-codes/industries`. Example: `EAT` (Eating Places).                                                                                                                                                                     |
| **MCC (Merchant Category Code)** | The ISO 18245 four-digit code assigned by the acquirer describing the merchant's line of business. Example: `5812` --- Eating Places/Restaurants.                                                                                                                                                              |
| **Payment Facilitator**          | A registered entity that enables sub-merchants to accept card payments under its own acquiring relationship. Counted over rolling windows in `payFacCount30Days` ... `payFacCount365Days`.                                                                                                                     |
| **Radius Search**                | A `POST /places/searches` mode (`radiusSearch: true`) that returns all locations within `distance` of the supplied coordinates, measured in `unit` (`MILE` or `KM`).                                                                                                                                           |
| **Sandbox**                      | The non-production environment returning static test data. Base URL: `https://sandbox.api.mastercard.com`.                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| **Production**                   | The live environment returning real Places data. Base URL: `https://api.mastercard.com`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| **Free Trial Access**            | A time-boxed entitlement granting up to 10,000 Production API calls during the first 28 days.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **OAuth 1.0a**                   | The request-signing scheme used by all Mastercard APIs; each request is signed with the project's private key from the `.p12` keystore.                                                                                                                                                                        |
| **Consumer Key**                 | The public identifier of a Mastercard developer project, sent in the OAuth `oauth_consumer_key` parameter.                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| **Correlation ID**               | The per-request identifier returned in the response headers. Always quote it when contacting [Support](https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/support/index.md).                                                                                                                                |

### Field-level reference {#field-level-reference}

Full field-by-field definitions, parameters, and examples are maintained in
[Data Elements](https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/data-elements/index.md):

* [Places Response Fields](https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/data-elements/index.md#places-response-fields)
* [Geocoding Quality Definitions](https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/data-elements/index.md#geocoding-quality-definitions)
* [Channel of Distribution Definitions](https://developer.mastercard.com/places/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/data-elements/index.md#channel-of-distribution-definitions)