HERE geocode returns empty response on multi-word search term

Question

I'm using the following GET request:

https://geocode.search.hereapi.com/v1/geocode?q=ground+zero&apiKey=12345

and the response is:

{
    "items": []
}

I tried different formats for the query parameter(q) but nothing works. To note, it does work with a single-word query and it does work with an address (when + is replacing spaces) but places do not work if they're multi-word. Only if they're single-word. Using the same multi-word place here https://wego.here.com/search/ground%2520zero does recognize the place (though multiple options exist).

Answer 1

Past few days, the https://geocode.search.hereapi.com/v1/geocode? endpoint is responding with abnormally high EMPTY responses, just like the OP here. Straightforward, tightly constrained search like the following for Plano, Texas, USA will return an empty result set occasionally. Seems to be a timing-related race condition on the API service: cache-hits are served OK but cache-miss situations lead to service responding with empty payload. Subsequent requests are usually OK - so that indicates a cache related regression.

https://geocode.search.hereapi.com/v1/geocode?apiKey=<key>&in=countryCode%3AUSA&lang=en&limit=1&qq=city%3DPlano%3Bstate%3DTX