Address Collection - How to Make Sense of Your Data

Address collection can seem like a daunting task. Whether you're collecting addresses for weddings, parties, or holiday cards, it's essential to have clean data.

Valid addresses help businesses save time and money. Incorrect addresses result in rejected mail, fees, and missed opportunities. Address verification tools help reduce costs by ensuring addresses are properly entered.

ArcGIS Solutions for State and Local Government

Address collection is crucial for local government and is an essential element of managing geospatial data. Many governments are struggling to manage authoritative address repository. They require simple workflows to help capture the physical location of an address earlier in the development process, standard map products to inform decision-makers and the general public about the quality of their addresses, as well as tools to share authoritative addresses with other agencies.

To meet these needs Local government officials are using Esri solutions. These pre-built apps and maps are customised to specific workflows. This makes it simple for local government employees of any size and level of geospatial expertise, to adopt them.

According to Scott Oppmann, State and Local Government Solutions Team Lead, Esri, solutions are divided into categories that reflect "the most common needs in state and local government." To see the full list of solutions available, click here.

Address Field Inventory, for instance, comes with an array of tasks to assist you in creating an address layer that is based on a list of verified sites that are collected through an online form. The feature layers can be used to create USNG coordinates as well as a mailing address. The solution allows you to split a street at any specific point, calculate a municipal boundaries, and then update address attributes in the master road table.

Managing Address Field Operations is another Esri solution that can be used to assist address authority staff collect inaccurate or missing information from internal and outside stakeholders. It allows office staff assign tasks to their field employees to use the address crowdsourcing app on their mobile devices. They then can verify the addresses submitted and record any new addresses they find when they are out in the field. The information is then automatically entered into the appropriate database tables for further processing and publication.

The solution also enables office staff to assign a task with the option of confirming an existing set of address data using an established accuracy threshold which helps them identify errors such as duplicates and duplicate addresses in the database. This information can then be transferred to the master address database to improve the data quality and make the dataset more accurate.

Reverse Geocode Geoprocessing Tool

Reverse geocoding is a method to make sense of data when you're trying determine the location of a business or simply want to know which areas are most profitable. Many mobile apps, including Uber or Lyft, use reverse geocoding to turn raw GPS coordinates into something that drivers can understand. Retail chains utilize reverse geocoding to learn about their customers' habits of shopping. Urban planners can link address information to population density to determine the best location to build public infrastructure.

The Reverse Geocode tool turns point locations in a feature class into addresses by searching for the nearest intersection or address based upon the search distance. It can be used to reverse geocode one or more points or multiple points in a batch. Its output is well-structured and able to be integrated into other systems or tools.

It supports standard formats and custom formats for address data. This includes the standardized attributes X andY from the Point Address feature, as well as the identifiers for POIs (Points of Interest). You can also specify the location type of the matching geometry--it can be a routing area that is a side-of-street location that can be used to route or the rooftop parcel centroid of an address.

You can also use the tool to create composite locators by connecting together two or more locators. If it fails to find the address using the local information, the resulting locator will rely on ArcGIS World Geocoding.

Reverse geocoding is costly, particularly if you're working with large quantities of coordinates. You'll need to keep your usage under Esri's free usage threshold--which is about 200 thousand requests each month--or you'll incur costs. Another option is to purchase an application that converts coordinates into addresses in bulk for you.

In conclusion it is crucial to confirm the accuracy of any address information you get from customers using reverse geocoding. This can be accomplished by using an address verification API that's CASS certified, like PostGrid. This will ensure that the addresses that you use in your direct mail campaigns can be delivered and can be delivered to your customers.

Data Assistant Add-in

The Data Assistant addin contains a set of tools that can aid you in moving data between different datasets that have different data structures. You can use these tools to accomplish various tasks, including merging multiple sources into a single target field or splitting the string into multiple fields to be used as targets.

Installing the Data Assistant is required before you can use it. To do this you need to click Start then select Control Panel, and then select Add or Remove Programs. Uninstall Microsoft Data Assistant 1.0 by following the directions on the screen.

After the Data Assistant add-in is installed you can set it up to create a source-target configuration files and then load or substitute data from that file. The Data Mapping tool includes a variety of ways to convert data to different formats and handling special characters.

Read How to use Data Assistant Add-in to learn more about how it can help you with your requirements for address collection. This solution explains how to make use of the Data Assistant add in and how to use tasks to collect data from parcels and update the parcel data and populate community layer.

Data Validation Tool

A reliable tool for verifying addresses is an effective tool that helps companies maintain accuracy of their data and operational efficiency. It ensures that mail goes to the correct address and invoices are sent to the correct customer and marketing campaigns reach their intended audience, thus improving the accuracy of delivery systems and improving overall satisfaction of users. When selecting a validation tool, look for one with broad coverage across all countries and seamless integration into business processes. Consider the pricing structure and pick tools that provide a good return on investment.

Whether taking addresses from handwritten forms at a retailer store, during digital inputs during checkout online or via integrated data coming in from CRM systems, accurate initial data entry is essential in reducing shipping errors and returns and thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This is more than using a standard postal code or ZIP code lookup; it requires a process of here thorough address verification and collection.

This process starts with a sophisticated data parsing program that breaks down the address into its component parts, such as street name, city name, and postal code. Next, the tool matches these pieces to commercial databases to confirm their accuracy. It then standardizes the address in order to conform to the global postal norms for example, changing extended forms into standard abbreviations and capitalization.

The address is then geocoded in order to confirm its location. This is crucial for businesses who operate globally. It allows them to estimate shipping costs with accuracy and provide transparency for customers, reducing the chance of delays that are costly due to inaccurate or insufficient information. A robust geocoding API can aid businesses in complying with international shipping regulations and avoid customs issues.

After the address is verified, it's updated automatically in CRM systems and enterprise resource planning systems to ensure that every customer contact or shipment delivery is based on accurate data. The precise information about addresses can also speed up logistics operations by reducing the logistics, procurement and delivery of services.