China (CHN)

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

Supported Geocode Datasets

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

Note: The Geocoder does not support Chinese characters.
Geocode Dataset Maximum Precision Postcode Language Geocode Level
Map King International Street Centroid Yes

Simplified Chinese, latinized Chinese

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Supported Operations

The following operations are supported for China:
  • 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

The input address may contain some or all of the following address elements.

Field Name Parameter Type Description
placeName String Specifies the building name, place name, Point of Interest (POI), company or firm name associated with the input address. Optional.
mainAddress String Single Line Input—If no other address field is populated, then the mainAddress entry will be treated as a single line input. Single line input can consist of multiple input address fields; these should be entered in the typical address order for the country. For more details, refer to the section "Single Line Input" below.

Street Address—If the post address components (city, postalCode, etc.) are provided separately or in the lastLine field, then the contents of mainAddress will be treated as the street address part and can include company name, house number, building names and street names. Optional.

Street Intersection Input—To enter an intersection, specify the two street names separated by a double ampersand (&&).
lastLine String The last line of the address. Optional. For example:

109 Jianguomenwai Avenue
Beijing 100089
areaName1 String Specifies the province. Optional.
areaName2 String Not used.
areaName3 String Specifies the city or town.
areaName4 String Specifies the locality. Optional.
postalCode String China has a six-digit postcode system. The first two digits indicate the province. The third digit and fourth digits indicate the district and city/town. The final two digits represent the postal delivery zone or prominent location. Larger provinces or cities might be assigned more than one block of codes. For example, Guangdong Province is assigned 51 and 52 as the first two digits.
Note: For China, postal centroid geocoding as well as the use of the Fallback to Postcode option require the complete six-digit postcode. However, when a postal code is provided as part of an address for street geocoding, only four-digit postal codes are returned.
country String ISO 3166-1 Alpha-3 country code or country name. For China, the country code is CHN. Required for forward geocoding.

Address Guidelines for China

Follow these suggestions to ensure that your input address data is in the best format possible for optimum matching and geocoding. For additional information about the Chinese postal system, see the China Post website: www.chinapost.cn.

  • Required fields—Addresses must contain either a city or a postal code.
  • Abbreviations in addresses—The geocoder recognizes common words, directionals, house number indicators, and abbreviations used in addresses and can geocode these addresses successfully.
  • Numbers, Numeric Equivalents, and Ordinals—Numbered streets are mapped to the named equivalents. Ordinals are also recognized in input addresses.

Single Line Input

Instead of entering each address component in separate fields, you can enter the entire address in the mainAddress input field with the address elements ordered as follows:

[address_number][street_info][area_name_4][area_name_3][post_code]

Where:
  • [address_number] is optional.
  • [street_info] consists of the street name, street type and any unit type, unit value or pre- or post-directional information (e.g. East, West, etc.).
  • [area_name_4] is the locality.
  • [area_name_3] is the city or town.
  • [postal_code] is the postal code.

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

Custom Options

There are no options specific to China.

Parsed Address Output Fields

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

Note: The placeName, addressNumber, unitType and unitValue field values are only returned when the Geocode dataset that supports street address interpolation is installed.
Field Name Description
mainAddressLine The street address which may include company name, house number, building names and street names.
addressLastLine The last line of the address.
placeName The building name, place name, Point of Interest (POI), company or firm name associated with the address.
areaName1 The province.
areaName2 Not used.
areaName3 The city or town.
areaName4 The locality.
postCode1 The six-digit postal code.
postCode2 Not used.
country The three-letter ISO 3166-1 Alpha-3 country code. For China, the country code is CHN.
addressNumber The address number.
streetName The street or road name.
unitType The unit type such as APT, STE, etc.
unitValue The unit value/number, such as "3B".
customFields China does not have any custom output fields.