Street Geocoder Tool
Geocoding associates geographic coordinates with input addresses, letting you pinpoint locations and carry out geography-based analyses. The Street Geocoder tool places a point object based on address interpolation by converting a multi-line address into a normalized form, with latitude and longitude, spatial object, and additional fields specific to the coding process. The full list of available fields is listed below.
The Street Geocoder tool requires a separate installation located on the Core Data Bundle installation Disk.
CASS certification
Even though the Street Geocoder tool performs a type of address standardization, the results are not CASS certified. If you require CASS certification, consider licensing the CASS Tool, or use the Geocoder Suite US, a macro CASS certifies and Geocodes a number of different ways to ensure the best possible match.
Configure the tool
- Select A Geocoder: Select a geocoder. All supported geocoders are selectable from this list.
- Input Field Names: Select the appropriate field from your file for the following inputs:
- Address: First line address typically contains the number and street.
- City or Last Line: Last Line is used if you have a field that combines City, State and ZIP Code fields all in one field
- State or Province: State or Province of the address.
- Post Code: the ZIP Code or Postal Code field.
- When there is a multiple match: Specify how the geocoder should handle multiple matches. This setting only applies to geocoders that support multiple matches.
- Prompt to select: Each time a Multiple Match is found, a dialog box provides options to handle the matches.
- First to all: Returns the first match with the highest Score for all matches found.
- None to all: Returns no selection for all matches found.
- OK: Select the appropriate match and click OK to accept. The selection registers for each match found.
- Cancel: Cancels the Geocoding process.
- Return [None]: No match is returned. Reference the Match Status field which indicates whether a failed record has a multiple match.
- Return 1st Candidate: The first match with the highest Score is returned.
- Return All Candidates: All matches are returned. In the case of multiple matches, a record for each match is returned. Therefore the number of records inputted into the Geocoder may be a different number than the amount of records coming out of the Geocoder. Reference the Match Status field which will indicate whether a matched record had a multiple match.
The Input Field Names are optional, but any missing fields or missing data within those fields have a negative impact on the score of the geocode.
View the output
Check the boxes next to the appropriate fields to append to the geocoded data table. Options on the right allow to Select All, Select Defaults, or to Clear All.
The output variables available depend on the geocoder product being used. Third party geocoders will output similar variables.
Defaults
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| MatchStatus |
The type of match the record was assigned to; results can be: Exact: The geocoder found an exact match. It does not mean this match is an actual location. The exact match could be matching to a zip code for instance . Consult GeoLevel to see what the match. None: The geocoder could not find a geography to match the record to. Multiple: The geocoder found multiple match possibilities. When the geocoder comes to a record where it finds multiple possibilities to match the record to, a dialog displays asking the user to interactively select the appropriate match. |
| Score |
A 1-100 value is appended based on the confidence of the match level. Score of 0.0 is returned for the Canadian Geocoder and Centroid Coder. |
| SpatialObj | The spatial (point) object to the assigned to the address record. This is the physical location of the geocoded address. |
| CensusID |
Depending on the GeoLevel the record was geocoded to, the CensusID will go to that level of granularity. Census Block Code being the most granular level. CensusID is not returned from the Canadian Centroid coder. |
Additional variables
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Latitude |
The Latitude (Y) coordinate of the assigned point for the address record. |
| Longitude |
The Longitude (X) coordinate of the assigned point for the address record. |
| FirstLine |
The address # along with the street name are concatenated into a single field. |
| LastLine |
The city, state and ZIP Code values are concatenated into a single field. |
| City |
Assigns the City of the address record. |
| Province |
Assigns the Province (State) of the address record. |
| PostalCode |
Assigns the postal code (ZIP Code) of the address record. |
| GeoLevel |
The geography level the record was geocoded to. In order of ideal match: Street: Address is assigned to its interpolated street location. Intersection: Address is assigned to the intersection of multiple streets. Extrapolate: When an input address is out of range, the Geocoder assigns the address to the closest known valid street segment. Main street has valid addresses
in the range 1-100. The input address is 127 main street. Its
not a valid address, but it would get assigned somewhere near
100 main street and the resulting GeoLevel==Extrapolate.
Zip 5: Address is assigned to the ZIP Code centroid. When Geocoding a PO Box, a ZIP 5 centroid is the best match possible. The ZIP code that gets matched is, in most cases, the point location of the Post Office building. NULL: The input address failed to Geocode. |
| HouseNumber |
Parses out the house number into its own field. In the case of an intersection, the first street name’s house number will be listed here. 123 N King St returns 123
|
| StreetPreDir |
Parses out the street direction of the address when it appears at the beginning of the address before the geocode process (i.e. N, S, E, W). In the case of an intersection, the first streetname’s pre direction will be listed here. 123 N King St returns N
|
| Streetname |
Parses out the street name of the address during the geocode process. In the case of an intersection, the first street’s name will be listed here. 123 N King St returns King
|
| StreetPostType |
Parses out the street type of the address when it appears after the street name. In the case of an intersection, the first street name’s post type will be listed here. 123 King St N returns St
|
| StreetPostDir |
Parses out the street direction of the address when it appears at the end of the address during the geocode process (i.e. N, S, E, W). In the case of an intersection, the first street name’s post direction will be listed here. 123 King St N returns N
|
| UnitDesignator |
Parses out the Unit designator: BOX, #, BLDG, etc. 123 King St N, #2B returns #
|
| UnitNumber |
Parses out the Unit number following the designator. 123 King St N, #2B returns2B
|
| StateAbbrev |
Assigns the 2 or 3 character state/province abbreviation. |
| ClusterLevelID |
Depending on the GeoLevel the record was geocoded to, the ClusterLevelID will go to that level of granularity. Census Block Code being the most granular level. In all US instances this is the same as the CensusID. |
US Geocoder only
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| IntersectingHouseNumber |
Parses out the house number of the second street in the intersection into its own field. |
| IntersectingStreetPreDir |
Appends the intersecting street direction information (i.e. N, S, E, W) before the geocoding process. |
| IntersectingStreetName |
Appends the intersecting street information (where .applicable, else NULL) after the geocoding process |
| IntersectingStreetPostType |
Appends the intersecting street type after the geocoding process (i.e. ST, AVE, BLVD). |
| IntersectingPostDir |
Appends the intersecting street direction after the geocoding process. |
| MFPreDirChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, Pre-Directional changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Firstline and Lastline fields. |
| MFStreetNameChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, Street Name changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Firstline field. |
| MFStreetPreChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, the Street Prefix changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Firstline field. |
| MFStreetPostChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, the Street Suffix changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Firstline field. |
| MFPostDirChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, the Post-Directional changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Firstline field. |
| MFUnitDesAssumed |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating an assumption was made with respect to the input data. A Separate Number/Letter with no Unit Descriptor was assumed to be a Unit Number in the Geocoding process to assign a match. |
| MFAddNumberOutOfRange |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating a problem with the input data, the Address Number is out of range. |
| MFAddLetterMovedToUnitNum |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating an assumption was made with respect to the input data. A letter in Address Number moved to Unit Number. The matched value will be in the Firstline field. |
| MFEvenOddAddDiffer |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating that Address number in the input data was different than expected. The Geocoder was expecting the number be even when it was odd, or vice versa. |
| MFSuppliedCity |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating missing input data was supplied by the Geocoder, a City was supplied; The supplied value will be in the Lastline field. |
| MFSuppliedState |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating missing input data was supplied by the Geocoder, a State was supplied; The supplied value will be in the Lastline field. |
| MFSuppliedPostCode |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating missing input data was supplied by the Geocoder, a Postal Code was supplied; The supplied value will be in the Lastline field. |
| MFCityChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, the City was changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Lastline field. |
| MFStateChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, the State was changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Lastline field. |
| MFPostCodeChanged |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, the Postal Code was changed in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Lastline field. |
| MFUsedCityAlias |
Boolean Match Flag field indicating the input data, City Alias was used in the Geocoding process to assign a match. The matched value will be in the Lastline field. |
Candian Geocoder only
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| FSA |
Forward Sortation Area: a geographical region in which all postal codes start with the same three characters. |
| LDU | Local Delivery Unit: the last 3 characters of a postal code which denotes a specific address or range of addresses. |