Pitney Bowes MapXtreme - Manual (Page 332)

Chapter 18: Geocoding
Understanding the Geocoding Model
MapXtreme v7.1 339 Developer Guide
• Is your goal to geocode as many records as possible?
The answers to these questions are driven by how you intend to use the geocoded records. For
example, perhaps you are determining the location of a new retail store and need to know the
distribution of current and potential customers. In this case, you want to geocode as many of these
customers as possible and do not need an exact street address match for each one. Geocoding to
postal code centroid is fine for your analysis.
On the other hand, if you, as a utility service coordinator, need to know where your customers are in
relation to neighborhood gas lines, the positional accuracy of each customer is of critical importance
to you. Geocoding to street level with strict matching preferences is your best strategy.
A Few Words About Addresses
The quality of the address data is of utmost importance in geocoding. A clean input address that
follows standard address conventions for the locale, will yield better results than incomplete or
poorly formed addresses.
This section is an overview of address quality for both the input addresses as well as the matching
reference address. To get the most out of geocoding, it’s important to understand the address
structure of your data and the data to which you are matching.
Input Addresses
Input addresses are those addresses you wish to geocode. These are addresses that do not contain
geographic coordinates and thus cannot be located on a map.
Input addresses are made up of several components that the geocode server examines to
determine a match. Address number, street name and street prefixes and suffixes can be contained
in an input address. Prefixes are commonly directional in nature, such as North or South and exist
only for some addresses. Suffixes are typically the type of street, Street, Road, Avenue Other
information you might find in an input address is an apartment or route number.
Input addresses can contain a full or partial address and can contain spelling variations. For
example, LaSalle Street as input will match to LaSalle St. However LaSalle without a street suffix
may not because the address could really be LaSalle Ave.
The MapXtreme geocoding client can use so-called “dirty” data and incomplete addresses. This
client accommodates both U.S. and non-U.S. addresses, provided the server contains the
appropriate reference addresses.
Reference Addresses
Reference addresses are those that the server matches against the input addresses. These records
contain the geographic coordinates required to locate the address on a map. Reference addresses
are maintained on the server and are updated regularly through maintenance programs to
accommodate new addresses. They have been standardized based on conventions of the locale.
For example, in North America, street numbers precede the street name. In other parts of the world,
the street number may follow the street name.