Pitney Bowes MapXtreme - Manual (Page 258)

Chapter 13: Finding Locations
Functional Overview of Find
MapXtreme v7.1 265 Developer Guide
• Edit the abbreviations file with a text editor to add your specific abbreviations. The mapinfow.abb
is located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\MapInfo\MapXtreme\7.x.x. For more information
about editing the abbreviations file, see
Fine Tuning the Find Process .
Matching Address Numbers
MapXtreme can match when the address number precedes the street name (as in North American
addresses) or when it follows the street name (common in European addresses). By default
MapXtreme assumes the address number precedes the street name. You must set a property when
the address number follows the street name.
MapXtreme compares the input address number to a range of address numbers .Typically the table
contains address number ranges that correspond to the portion of the street the range covers.
Address ranges can be matched to the exact side of the street, since often address ranges are
odd-numbered on one side of the street and even-numbered on the other.
In cases where MapXtreme cannot match the address range exactly, you may be willing to settle for
a close match in which the closest range would be considered a match. You would use the stricter
exact match requirement only for very precise finds. Often that level of precision isn’t necessary. A
close match is usually acceptable.
Matching with a Refining Boundary Table
MapXtreme can also find an address in one table in which there may be more than one possible
match. To avoid finding the wrong address, you specify a refining table and column to focus the
match to a smaller area.
This is useful, for example, when searching a table of streets that cover an entire county and you are
looking for Main St. It’s likely that more than one town in the county will have a Main St. By providing
a refining table of town boundaries, you can specify that you are looking for the Main St. only in Town
A.
You can use any type of refining boundary table you wish, for example, postal code boundaries or
census regions. Additionally, you can specific a second refining boundary in which to conduct a Find.
Find Results
MapXtreme returns either an exact match, one or more close matches, or a failed match. The results
depend on a number of factors including the quality of the input data and the conditions set for the
operation. Information is also returned that explains how well each portion of the address matched
(or failed to match).