<s>
Address	B-Application
geocoding	I-Application
,	O
or	O
simply	O
geocoding	B-Application
,	O
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
taking	O
a	O
text-based	O
description	O
of	O
a	O
location	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
an	O
address	O
or	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
a	O
place	O
,	O
and	O
returning	O
geographic	O
coordinates	O
,	O
frequently	O
latitude/longitude	O
pair	O
,	O
to	O
identify	O
a	O
location	O
on	O
the	O
Earth	O
's	O
surface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reverse	O
geocoding	B-Application
,	O
on	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
converts	O
geographic	O
coordinates	O
to	O
a	O
description	O
of	O
a	O
location	O
,	O
usually	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
a	O
place	O
or	O
an	O
addressable	O
location	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
relies	O
on	O
a	O
computer	O
representation	O
of	O
address	O
points	O
,	O
the	O
street	O
/	O
road	O
network	O
,	O
together	O
with	O
postal	O
and	O
administrative	O
boundaries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocode	O
(	O
noun	O
)	O
:	O
is	O
a	O
code	O
that	O
represents	O
a	O
geographic	O
entity	O
(	O
location	O
or	O
object	O
)	O
.In	O
general	O
is	O
a	O
human-readable	O
and	O
short	O
identifier	O
;	O
like	O
a	O
nominal-geocode	O
as	O
ISO	B-Language
3166-1	I-Language
alpha-2	I-Language
,	O
or	O
a	O
grid-geocode	O
,	O
as	O
Geohash	O
geocode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoder	B-Application
(	O
noun	O
)	O
:	O
a	O
piece	O
of	O
software	O
or	O
a	O
(	O
web	O
)	O
service	O
that	O
implements	O
a	O
geocoding	B-Application
process	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
include	O
building	O
centroids	O
,	O
land	O
parcel	O
centroids	O
,	O
interpolated	B-Algorithm
locations	O
based	O
on	O
thoroughfare	O
ranges	O
,	O
street	O
segments	O
centroids	O
,	O
postal	O
code	O
centroids	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
–	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
Geographic	B-Application
Information	I-Application
System	I-Application
(	O
GIS	B-Application
)	O
spatial	O
analysis	O
–	O
has	O
been	O
a	O
subject	O
of	O
interest	O
since	O
the	O
early	O
1960s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1960	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
operational	O
GIS	B-Application
–	O
named	O
the	O
Canada	O
Geographic	B-Application
Information	I-Application
System	I-Application
(	O
CGIS	O
)	O
–	O
was	O
invented	O
by	O
Dr.	O
Roger	O
Tomlinson	O
,	O
who	O
has	O
since	O
been	O
acknowledged	O
as	O
the	O
father	O
of	O
GIS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
GRID	O
,	O
and	O
SYMAP	O
–	O
all	O
of	O
which	O
were	O
sources	O
for	O
commercial	O
development	O
of	O
GIS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1967	O
,	O
a	O
team	O
at	O
the	O
Census	O
Bureau	O
–	O
including	O
the	O
mathematician	O
James	O
Corbett	O
and	O
Donald	O
Cooke	O
–	O
invented	O
Dual	O
Independent	O
Map	O
Encoding	O
(	O
DIME	O
)	O
–	O
the	O
first	O
modern	O
vector	O
mapping	O
model	O
–	O
which	O
ciphered	O
address	O
ranges	O
into	O
street	O
network	O
files	O
and	O
incorporated	O
the	O
"	O
percent	O
along	O
"	O
geocoding	B-Application
algorithm	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Still	O
in	O
use	O
by	O
platforms	O
such	O
as	O
Google	B-Application
Maps	I-Application
and	O
MapQuest	O
,	O
the	O
"	O
percent	O
along	O
"	O
algorithm	O
denotes	O
where	O
a	O
matched	O
address	O
is	O
located	O
along	O
a	O
reference	O
feature	O
as	O
a	O
percentage	O
of	O
the	O
reference	O
feature	O
's	O
total	O
length	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
late	O
1970s	O
,	O
two	O
main	O
public	O
domain	O
geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
were	O
in	O
development	O
:	O
GRASS	B-Application
GIS	I-Application
and	O
MOSS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
early	O
1980s	O
saw	O
the	O
rise	O
of	O
many	O
more	O
commercial	O
vendors	O
of	O
geocoding	B-Application
software	O
,	O
namely	O
Intergraph	O
,	O
ESRI	O
,	O
CARIS	O
,	O
ERDAS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
MapInfo	O
Corporation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
platforms	O
merged	O
the	O
1960s	O
approach	O
of	O
separating	O
spatial	B-Application
information	I-Application
with	O
the	O
approach	O
of	O
organizing	O
this	O
spatial	B-Application
information	I-Application
into	O
database	O
structures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1986	O
,	O
Mapping	O
Display	O
and	O
Analysis	O
System	O
(	O
MIDAS	O
)	O
became	O
the	O
first	O
desktop	O
geocoding	B-Application
software	O
,	O
designed	O
for	O
the	O
DOS	B-Device
operating	I-Device
system	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
was	O
elevated	O
from	O
the	O
research	O
department	O
into	O
the	O
business	O
world	O
with	O
the	O
acquisition	O
of	O
MIDAS	O
by	O
MapInfo	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MapInfo	O
has	O
since	O
been	O
acquired	O
by	O
Pitney	O
Bowes	O
,	O
and	O
has	O
pioneered	O
in	O
merging	O
geocoding	B-Application
with	O
business	O
intelligence	O
;	O
allowing	O
location	O
intelligence	O
to	O
provide	O
solutions	O
for	O
the	O
public	O
and	O
private	O
sectors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
20th	O
century	O
had	O
seen	O
geocoding	B-Application
become	O
more	O
user-oriented	O
,	O
especially	O
via	O
open-source	O
GIS	B-Application
software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mapping	O
applications	O
and	O
geospatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
had	O
become	O
more	O
accessible	O
over	O
the	O
Internet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
the	O
mail-out/mail	O
-back	O
technique	O
was	O
so	O
successful	O
in	O
the	O
1980	O
Census	O
,	O
the	O
U.S.	O
Bureau	O
of	O
Census	O
was	O
able	O
to	O
put	O
together	O
a	O
large	O
geospatial	O
database	O
,	O
using	O
interpolated	B-Algorithm
street	O
geocoding	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
database	O
–	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
Census	O
 '	O
nationwide	O
coverage	O
of	O
households	O
–	O
allowed	O
for	O
the	O
birth	O
of	O
TIGER	B-Application
(	O
Topologically	O
Integrated	O
Geographic	O
Encoding	O
and	O
Referencing	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Containing	O
address	O
ranges	O
instead	O
of	O
individual	O
addresses	O
,	O
TIGER	B-Application
has	O
since	O
been	O
implemented	O
in	O
nearly	O
all	O
geocoding	B-Application
software	O
platforms	O
used	O
today	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
1990	O
Census	O
,	O
TIGER	B-Application
"	O
contained	O
a	O
latitude/longitude	O
-coordinate	O
for	O
more	O
than	O
30	O
million	O
feature	O
intersections	O
and	O
endpoints	O
and	O
nearly	O
145	O
million	O
feature	O
'	O
shape	O
 '	O
points	O
that	O
defined	O
the	O
more	O
than	O
42	O
million	O
feature	O
segments	O
that	O
outlined	O
more	O
than	O
12	O
million	O
polygons.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
TIGER	B-Application
was	O
the	O
breakthrough	O
for	O
"	O
big	O
data	O
"	O
geospatial	O
solutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
2000s	O
,	O
geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
were	O
also	O
able	O
to	O
support	O
multiple	O
datasets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2003	O
,	O
geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
were	O
capable	O
of	O
merging	O
postal	O
codes	O
with	O
street	O
data	O
,	O
updated	O
monthly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Beginning	O
in	O
2005	O
,	O
geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
included	O
parcel-centroid	O
geocoding	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parcel-centroid	O
geocoding	B-Application
allowed	O
for	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
precision	O
in	O
geocoding	B-Application
an	O
address	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
parcel-centroid	O
allowed	O
a	O
geocoder	B-Application
to	O
determine	O
the	O
centroid	O
of	O
a	O
specific	O
building	O
or	O
lot	O
of	O
land	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
APN	O
is	O
important	O
for	O
geocoding	B-Application
an	O
area	O
which	O
is	O
covered	O
by	O
a	O
gas	O
or	O
oil	O
lease	O
,	O
and	O
indexing	O
property	O
tax	O
information	O
provided	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2006	O
,	O
Reverse	O
Geocoding	B-Application
and	O
reverse	O
APN	O
lookup	O
were	O
introduced	O
to	O
geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
involved	O
geocoding	B-Application
a	O
numerical	O
point	O
location	O
–	O
with	O
a	O
longitude	O
and	O
latitude	O
–	O
to	O
a	O
textual	O
,	O
readable	O
address	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
2008	O
and	O
2009	O
saw	O
the	O
growth	O
of	O
interactive	O
,	O
user-oriented	O
geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
–	O
namely	O
MapQuest	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
Maps	I-Application
,	O
Bing	O
Maps	O
,	O
and	O
Global	O
Positioning	O
Systems	O
(	O
GPS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
2010s	O
saw	O
vendors	O
fully	O
support	O
geocoding	B-Application
and	O
reverse	O
geocoding	B-Application
globally	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cloud-based	O
geocoding	B-Application
application	O
programming	O
interface	O
(	O
API	O
)	O
and	O
on-premises	O
geocoding	B-Application
have	O
allowed	O
for	O
a	O
greater	O
match	O
rate	O
,	O
greater	O
precision	O
,	O
and	O
greater	O
speed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
now	O
a	O
popularity	O
in	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
geocoding	B-Application
being	O
able	O
to	O
influence	O
business	O
decisions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
the	O
integration	O
between	O
the	O
geocoding	B-Application
process	O
and	O
business	O
intelligence	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
future	O
of	O
geocoding	B-Application
also	O
involves	O
three-dimensional	O
geocoding	B-Application
,	O
indoor	O
geocoding	B-Application
,	O
and	O
multiple	O
language	O
returns	O
for	O
the	O
geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
is	O
a	O
task	O
which	O
involves	O
multiple	O
datasets	O
and	O
processes	O
,	O
all	O
of	O
which	O
work	O
together	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
geocoder	B-Application
is	O
made	O
of	O
two	O
important	O
components	O
:	O
a	O
reference	O
dataset	O
and	O
the	O
geocoding	B-Application
algorithm	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Without	O
understanding	O
how	O
these	O
geocoding	B-Application
processes	O
work	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
difficult	O
to	O
make	O
informed	O
business	O
decisions	O
based	O
on	O
geocoding	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Input	O
data	O
are	O
the	O
descriptive	O
,	O
textual	O
information	O
(	O
address	O
or	O
building	O
name	O
)	O
which	O
the	O
user	O
wants	O
to	O
turn	O
into	O
numerical	O
,	O
spatial	O
data	O
(	O
latitude	O
and	O
longitude	O
)	O
–	O
through	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
geocoding	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
relative	O
geocode	O
is	O
address-interpolation	O
using	O
areal	O
units	O
or	O
line	O
vectors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
platforms	O
often	O
do	O
not	O
support	O
such	O
relative	O
locations	O
,	O
but	O
advances	O
are	O
being	O
made	O
in	O
this	O
direction	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
there	O
is	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
variability	O
in	O
the	O
way	O
addresses	O
can	O
be	O
represented	O
–	O
such	O
as	O
too	O
much	O
input	O
data	O
or	O
too	O
little	O
input	O
data	O
–	O
geocoders	B-Application
use	O
address	O
normalization	O
and	O
address	O
standardization	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
resolve	O
this	O
problem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
simple	O
method	O
of	O
geocoding	B-Application
is	O
address	O
interpolation	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
method	O
makes	O
use	O
of	O
data	O
from	O
a	O
street	O
geographic	B-Application
information	I-Application
system	I-Application
where	O
the	O
street	O
network	O
is	O
already	O
mapped	O
within	O
the	O
geographic	O
coordinate	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
takes	O
an	O
address	O
,	O
matches	O
it	O
to	O
a	O
street	O
and	O
specific	O
segment	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
block	O
,	O
in	O
towns	O
that	O
use	O
the	O
"	O
block	O
"	O
convention	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
then	O
interpolates	O
the	O
position	O
of	O
the	O
address	O
,	O
within	O
the	O
range	O
along	O
the	O
segment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
attempting	O
to	O
geocode	O
new	O
addresses	O
for	O
a	O
street	O
that	O
is	O
not	O
yet	O
added	O
to	O
the	O
geographic	B-Application
information	I-Application
system	I-Application
database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
accuracy	O
can	O
be	O
greatly	O
improved	O
by	O
first	O
utilizing	O
good	O
address	O
verification	O
practices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finally	O
,	O
several	O
caveats	O
on	O
using	O
interpolation	B-Algorithm
:	O
</s>
<s>
Interpolation	B-Algorithm
assumes	O
that	O
the	O
given	O
parcels	O
are	O
evenly	O
distributed	O
along	O
the	O
length	O
of	O
the	O
segment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interpolation	B-Algorithm
also	O
assumes	O
that	O
the	O
street	O
is	O
straight	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
from	O
sources	O
such	O
as	O
TIGER	B-Application
)	O
includes	O
a	O
maximum	O
upper	O
bound	O
for	O
addresses	O
and	O
is	O
interpolated	B-Algorithm
as	O
though	O
the	O
full	O
address	O
range	O
is	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
interpolation	B-Algorithm
implementations	O
will	O
produce	O
a	O
point	O
as	O
their	O
resulting	O
address	O
location	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
consider	O
geocoding	B-Application
the	O
address	O
of	O
a	O
shopping	O
mall	O
–	O
the	O
physical	O
lot	O
may	O
run	O
a	O
distance	O
along	O
the	O
street	O
segment	O
(	O
or	O
could	O
be	O
thought	O
of	O
as	O
a	O
two-dimensional	O
space-filling	O
polygon	O
which	O
may	O
front	O
on	O
several	O
different	O
streets	O
—	O
or	O
worse	O
,	O
for	O
cities	O
with	O
multi-level	O
streets	O
,	O
a	O
three-dimensional	O
shape	O
that	O
meets	O
different	O
streets	O
at	O
several	O
different	O
levels	O
)	O
but	O
the	O
interpolation	B-Algorithm
treats	O
it	O
as	O
a	O
singularity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
geocoding	B-Application
process	O
used	O
for	O
U.S.	O
Census	O
TIGER	B-Application
datasets	O
,	O
5	O
–	O
7.5	O
%	O
of	O
the	O
addresses	O
may	O
be	O
allocated	O
to	O
a	O
different	O
census	O
tract	O
,	O
while	O
a	O
study	O
of	O
Australia	O
's	O
TIGER-like	O
system	O
found	O
that	O
50%	O
of	O
the	O
geocoded	O
points	O
were	O
mapped	O
to	O
the	O
wrong	O
property	O
parcel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
study	O
by	O
a	O
group	O
of	O
Iowa	O
researchers	O
found	O
that	O
the	O
common	O
method	O
of	O
geocoding	B-Application
using	O
TIGER	B-Application
datasets	O
as	O
described	O
above	O
,	O
can	O
cause	O
a	O
loss	O
of	O
as	O
much	O
as	O
40%	O
of	O
the	O
power	O
of	O
a	O
statistical	O
analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
alternative	O
is	O
to	O
use	O
orthophoto	B-General_Concept
or	O
image	O
coded	O
data	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Address	O
Point	O
data	O
from	O
Ordnance	O
Survey	O
in	O
the	O
UK	O
,	O
but	O
such	O
datasets	O
are	O
generally	O
expensive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
this	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
quite	O
important	O
to	O
avoid	O
using	O
interpolated	B-Algorithm
results	O
except	O
for	O
non-critical	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interpolated	B-Algorithm
geocoding	B-Application
is	O
usually	O
not	O
appropriate	O
for	O
making	O
authoritative	O
decisions	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
if	O
life	O
safety	O
will	O
be	O
affected	O
by	O
that	O
decision	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Emergency	O
services	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
do	O
not	O
make	O
an	O
authoritative	O
decision	O
based	O
on	O
their	O
interpolations	B-Algorithm
;	O
an	O
ambulance	O
or	O
fire	O
truck	O
will	O
always	O
be	O
dispatched	O
regardless	O
of	O
what	O
the	O
map	O
says	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
traffic	O
accidents	O
,	O
geocoding	B-Application
to	O
a	O
street	O
intersection	O
or	O
midpoint	O
along	O
a	O
street	O
centerline	O
is	O
a	O
suitable	O
technique	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
also	O
possible	O
to	O
use	O
a	O
combination	O
of	O
these	O
geocoding	B-Application
techniques	O
—	O
using	O
a	O
particular	O
technique	O
for	O
certain	O
cases	O
and	O
situations	O
and	O
other	O
techniques	O
for	O
other	O
cases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
geocoding	B-Application
of	O
structured	O
postal	O
address	O
records	O
,	O
toponym	B-Application
resolution	I-Application
maps	O
place	O
names	O
in	O
unstructured	O
document	O
collections	O
to	O
their	O
corresponding	O
spatial	O
footprints	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geohash	O
,	O
a	O
public	O
domain	O
system	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
Morton	O
Z-order	B-Algorithm
curve	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Research	O
has	O
introduced	O
a	O
new	O
approach	O
to	O
the	O
control	O
and	O
knowledge	O
aspects	O
of	O
geocoding	B-Application
,	O
by	O
using	O
an	O
agent-based	O
paradigm	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
the	O
new	O
paradigm	O
for	O
geocoding	B-Application
,	O
additional	O
correction	O
techniques	O
and	O
control	O
algorithms	O
have	O
been	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
recent	O
advance	O
in	O
Deep	O
Learning	O
and	O
Computer	O
Vision	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
geocoding	B-Application
workflow	O
,	O
which	O
leverages	O
Object	O
Detection	O
techniques	O
to	O
directly	O
extract	O
the	O
centroid	O
of	O
the	O
building	O
rooftops	O
as	O
geocoding	B-Application
output	O
,	O
has	O
been	O
proposed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoded	O
locations	O
are	O
useful	O
in	O
many	O
GIS	B-Application
analysis	O
,	O
cartography	O
,	O
decision	O
making	O
workflow	O
,	O
transaction	O
mash-up	O
,	O
or	O
injected	O
into	O
larger	O
business	O
processes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
web	O
,	O
geocoding	B-Application
is	O
used	O
in	O
services	O
like	O
routing	O
and	O
local	B-Application
search	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Geocoding	B-Application
,	O
along	O
with	O
GPS	O
provides	O
location	O
data	O
for	O
geotagging	O
media	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
photographs	O
or	O
RSS	O
items	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
proliferation	O
and	O
ease	O
of	O
access	O
to	O
geocoding	B-Application
(	O
and	O
reverse-geocoding	O
)	O
services	O
raises	O
privacy	O
concerns	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Law	O
enforcement	O
agencies	O
have	O
experimented	O
with	O
alternative	O
geocoding	B-Application
techniques	O
that	O
allow	O
them	O
to	O
mask	O
a	O
portion	O
of	O
the	O
locational	O
detail	O
(	O
e.g.	O
,	O
address	O
specifics	O
that	O
would	O
lead	O
to	O
identifying	O
a	O
victim	O
or	O
offender	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
