"Buffalo" query fails to return "Buffalo Exchange" from /discover endpoint - geocoding

Question

NOTE: this question is specifically for support staff of the HERE Developer API because they ask freemium users to post support questions on Stack Overflow rather than trying to contact them directly. If you're not a member of their staff and you're unable to help or if the question is unclear to you, don't worry about it. :)
For some reason the /discover endpoint doesn't return the "Buffalo Exchange" place that's at my specified coordinates, but only returns 2 localities that are much further away. This is the query that I'm using: https://discover.search.hereapi.com/v1/discover?at=34.003975%2C-118.484823&q=Buffalo&limit=20&apiKey=<insert API KEY>. These are the results I currently receive:
{
"items": [
{
"title": "Buffalo, NY, United States",
"id": "here:cm:namedplace:21018816",
"resultType": "locality",
"localityType": "city",
"address": {
"label": "Buffalo, NY, United States",
"countryCode": "USA",
"countryName": "United States",
"stateCode": "NY",
"state": "New York",
"county": "Erie",
"city": "Buffalo",
"postalCode": "14202"
},
"position": {
"lat": 42.88544,
"lng": -78.87846
},
"distance": 3551940,
"mapView": {
"west": -78.9168,
"south": 42.82603,
"east": -78.79492,
"north": 42.96651
}
},
{
"title": "Buffalo City, Eastern Cape, South Africa",
"id": "here:cm:namedplace:23402337",
"resultType": "locality",
"localityType": "city",
"address": {
"label": "Buffalo City, Eastern Cape, South Africa",
"countryCode": "ZAF",
"countryName": "South Africa",
"state": "Eastern Cape",
"county": "Buffalo City",
"city": "Buffalo City",
"postalCode": "5201"
},
"position": {
"lat": -33.0148,
"lng": 27.9038
},
"distance": 16910944,
"mapView": {
"west": 27.15745,
"south": -33.28749,
"east": 28.08053,
"north": -32.674
}
}
]
}
You can see that for both places the resultType is "locality".
Now compare that to the first result of a similar query that searches for the term "Exchange" instead of "Buffalo". All other query params are the same. This is the URL: https://discover.search.hereapi.com/v1/discover?at=34.003975%2C-118.484823&q=Exchange&limit=20&apiKey=<insert API KEY>, and this is how the results begin (not shown fully because there are many results):
{
"items": [
{
"title": "Buffalo Exchange",
"id": "here:pds:place:8403fv6k-b15f290ec4f409deea99318f7388bbd6",
"resultType": "place",
"address": {
"label": "Buffalo Exchange, 2449 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405, United States",
"countryCode": "USA",
"countryName": "United States",
"stateCode": "CA",
"state": "California",
"county": "Los Angeles",
"city": "Santa Monica",
"district": "City of Santa Monica",
"street": "Main St",
"postalCode": "90405",
"houseNumber": "2449"
},
"position": {
"lat": 34.00342,
"lng": -118.48483
},
"access": [
{
"lat": 34.00331,
"lng": -118.48493
}
],
"distance": 61,
"categories": [
{
"id": "600-6800-0090",
"name": "Women's Apparel",
"primary": true
},
{
"id": "600-6800-0000",
"name": "Clothing & Accessories"
},
{
"id": "600-6800-0089",
"name": "Men's Apparel"
},
{
"id": "600-6900-0251",
"name": "Used/Second-hand Merchandise Stores"
}
],
"references": [
{
"supplier": {
"id": "core"
},
"id": "1211447153"
},
{
"supplier": {
"id": "yelp"
},
"id": "5PzeN6hGLBPmJpCJ2ZmfCQ"
}
],
"contacts": [
{
"phone": [
{
"value": "[phone]"
},
{
"value": "[phone]",
"categories": [
{
"id": "600-6800-0000"
}
]
}
],
"fax": [
{
"value": "[phone]",
"categories": [
{
"id": "600-6800-0000"
}
]
}
],
"www": [
{
"value": "http://www.buffaloexchange.com",
"categories": [
{
"id": "600-6800-0000"
},
{
"id": "600-6900-0251"
}
]
}
],
"email": [
{
"value": "contact#bufex.com",
"categories": [
{
"id": "600-6800-0000"
}
]
}
]
}
],
"openingHours": [
{
"categories": [
{
"id": "600-6800-0000"
}
],
"text": [
"Mon-Sun: 11:00 - 20:00"
],
"isOpen": false,
"structured": [
{
"start": "T110000",
"duration": "PT09H00M",
"recurrence": "FREQ:DAILY;BYDAY:MO,TU,WE,TH,FR,SA,SU"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"id": "600-6800-0090"
},
{
"id": "600-6900-0251"
}
],
"text": [
"Mon-Sat: 11:00 - 20:00",
"Sun: 11:00 - 19:00"
],
"isOpen": false,
"structured": [
{
"start": "T110000",
"duration": "PT09H00M",
"recurrence": "FREQ:DAILY;BYDAY:MO,TU,WE,TH,FR,SA"
},
{
"start": "T110000",
"duration": "PT08H00M",
"recurrence": "FREQ:DAILY;BYDAY:SU"
}
]
}
]
},
...
}
You can see that the first result has the name "Buffalo Exchange" and the "resultType" is "place". This is the result I want. The question is why does this result fail to show up when the search query is "Buffalo"? Of course with the /discover endpoint I can't specify the category IDs I want to search, that's only available via the /browse endpoint. But with the /browse endpoint I can't specify a specific search term like "Buffalo" or "Exchange".
Update: this problem also happens with the "Bison" query in Alberta, Canada. The query for this is https://discover.search.hereapi.com/v1/discover?at=56.745531%2C-111.351341&q=Exchange&limit=20&apiKey=<insert API KEY>. This query yields only 10 results, and only 4 of them have resultType of "place".

Answer 1

We recommend application developers to use both Autosuggest and Discover, you get the nearby Buffalo Exchange because Autosuggest considers that the query is incomplete. Note that Discover considers the query to be complete.
As HERE Geocoding and Search is meant to provide relevant responses to user queries.
Geocoding Search Api (Autosuggest): https://developer.here.com/documentation/geocoding-search-api/dev_guide/topics/endpoint-autosuggest-brief.html
Geocoding Search Api (Discover): https://developer.here.com/documentation/geocoding-search-api/dev_guide/topics/endpoint-discover-brief.html
The above-mentioned user guide can help modify the query for accurate results.