Australia (AUS)

This chapter defines the supported Geocode datasets, operations, and input and output field information for Australia.

Supported GeoCode Datasets

The following table lists the supported Geocode dataset(s) with the available geocoding levels for Australia.

Supported Operations

The following operations are supported for Australia:

• Geocoding—Takes one or more addresses as input and returns latitude/longitude coordinates and other information.
• Reverse Geocoding—Takes one or more latitude and longitude coordinates as input and returns the address of the location.

Input Fields

Australian addresses may contain some or all of the following address elements.

Address Guidelines for Australia

Follow these suggestions to ensure that your input address data is in the best format possible for optimum matching and geocoding. For additional information on Australia addresses, see the Australia Post website: www.auspost.com.au.

• Required fields—Addresses must contain either a city or a postal code.
• House numbers and unit information—The house number pinpoints the location of the address. Unit input can be in one of two formats, as shown in the following examples:
  • Apt 99, 123 Main St., where Apt is the unit type and 99 is the unit number. In this format, you must specify a valid unit type, otherwise the address will not be geocoded correctly. For a listing of valid unit types, see www.auspost.com.au.
  • 99-123 Main St. For an address derived from the GNAF database, this address is a unique house number and is geocoded as a single delivery point, not as a range.
• Directional suffixes—Use directional suffixes wherever possible. This is especially true in towns and cities that consist mainly of numbered streets. These streets can only be distinguished by their directional suffixes and street types. They also distinguish addresses on streets that change direction. For example: 123 Queen St W and 123 Queen St E would have very different coordinates.
• Street types—These distinguish different streets of the same name. For example, Main Avenue and Main Street are two entirely different entities. Using types is not essential, but it adds precision to your data. For a listing of street types, see www.auspost.com.au.
• City/suburb name—Enter the city/suburb name in the areaName3 field. Note that all input addresses must contain either a city or a postal code. If the geocoder does not make a match on the street in the specified suburb, it can make a match on the Local Government Area (LGA). Local Government Area (LGAs) do not encompass all of Australia. For example, LGAs do not cover extensive northern parts of South Australia, a large part of the Northern Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory. An LGA can include a number of official suburbs. It is best to use the suburb name for geocoding purposes, but it is possible to get a match on the LGA (or to return LGA information) in geocoded results.
• Postal code—All postcodes consist of four digits. While there are exceptions, the general format of postcodes is as follows:
  Note: These are general guidelines, and there are exceptions to these postcode number ranges.
  • Digit 1 represents the state or territory, within the following general conventions:

    2	NSW
    2600 and 2900	ACT
    3	VIC
    4	QLD
    5	SA
    6	WA
    7	TAS
    0	NT

  • Digit 2 represents a region within the state. State or territorial capitals usually have a 0 or 1 as the second digit.
  • Digits 3 and 4 represent towns. Major towns usually have a 0 as the last digit (or sometimes as the last two digits).

Address Range Input

Street range data represents a range of house numbers that can possibly exist but are not guaranteed to exist. For addresses derived from the Street Range Address database, house number matching is more relaxed compared to the GNAF database. Also, the candidate house number may be changed based on how the input house number matches the suffix/range data.

The following table shows geocoding match results with house number ranges from a Street range data source:

GNAF Range Address Matching

Australian addresses originating from the GNAF database may contain house number ranges, but these records still represent single address delivery points. These range addresses may also have alphabetic suffixes. For example, the following house address numbers each represent a single address. GNAF suffix address matching GNAF range address matching

10-12 10A-10C 10-10A

The Geocode API validates and geocodes these point source addresses. If the criteria are met and the reliability of the match is 1 or 2, the Geocode API returns point matches with an S8 result code.

If a complete house number range/suffix is specified for input, candidates from a point data source must be fully matched. If partial house number information is given (without complete range or suffix information), then candidates with non-conflicting range/suffix information (or no range/suffix information) will match.

The following table shows geocoding match results with house number ranges from a point data source (GNAF database.). The matching rules are based on the Address Matching Approval System (AMAS®) developed by Australia Post.

Specifying Unit Information in an Address

When you use the GNAF database, the geocoder recognizes several formats of unit types (such as unit, suite, floor, and flat address prefix) in an address, as illustrated below:

• "Unit 5 6 Macleay Street"—Full unit description used in conjunction with unit value and address number.
• "U 5 6 Macleay Street"—Abbreviated unit description used in conjunction with unit value and address number.
• "5/6 Macleay Street"—No Unit abbreviation with unit number and address number separated by a forward slash notation.

Exact matches on unit and address are placed first in the list of returned candidates.

Specifying Level Information in an Address

If you use the GNAF database the geocoder can return level information for some addresses. Level information identifies the floor or level of a multi-storey building. The GNAF database includes level information for some states. Level information may be associated with unit information, but not necessarily. If the GNAF database contains multiple records with the same level, the level information is returned only if the input address contains unique content (such as a unit number).

If the GNAF database has level information for an address, the geocoder returns that information with the matched candidate. The correct level information is returned (when available) even if the input address did not include level information, or if the input had the wrong level information.

If the input address has level information but the GNAF database does not include level information for the matching address, then the input level information is discarded since it is not validated in the GNAF data.

Following are several examples of partial addresses that contain level information. The level component is indicated in bold.

Suite 3 Level 7, 17 Jones Street (Suite 3 is a unit)

Floor 2, 17 Jones Street

Level 7, 17-19 Middleborough Road

Single Line Input

Instead of entering each address element in separate fields, you can enter the entire address in the mainAddress input field.

For best results, put a comma between street information and the lastline (e.g. city and postal) information.

Custom Options

The following table lists the options that are unique for Australia. These custom fields are optional input parameters, and unless otherwise noted, they are available for both Geocoding and Reverse Geocoding.

Parsed Address Output Fields

The following table lists the parsed address fields returned for a candidate located in Australia.

Custom Output Fields

The following table lists the output fields that are unique for Australia. Unless otherwise noted, these fields can be returned for both forward and reverse geocoding.