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Street Geocoder Tool Icon 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.

Warning

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

  1. Select A Geocoder: Select a geocoder. All supported geocoders are selectable from this list.

  2. 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.

    • 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.

  3. When there is a multiplematch: 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 select 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 number of records coming out of the Geocoder. Reference the Match Status field which will indicate whether a matched record had a multiple match.

View the Output

Check the boxes next to the appropriate fields to append to the geocoded data table. Options on the right allow you to Select All, Select Defaults, or Clear All.

The output variables available depend on the geocoder product being used. Third-party geocoders output similar variables.

Defaults

Field Name

Description

MatchStatus

The type of match the record was assigned to. The 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.

    Example: Main street has valid addresses in the range 1-100. The input address is 127 main street. It's 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 is listed here.

Example: 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 street name’s pre-direction is listed here.

Example: 123 N King St returns 123

Streetname

Parses out the street name of the address during the geocode process. In the case of an intersection, the first street’s name is listed here.

Example: 123 N King St returns 123

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 is listed here.

Example: 123 N King St returns 123

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 is listed here.

Example: 123 N King St returns 123

UnitDesignator

Parses out the Unit designator: BOX, #, BLDG, etc.

Example: 123 N King St returns 123

UnitNumber

Parses out the Unit number following the designator.

Example: 123 N King St returns 123

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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 that denotes a specific address or range of addresses.