Data Sources and Coverage

Geocode Address Geocode Address World relies on several data sources to build its comprehensive worldwide address databases. If an input address cannot be located using one of these data sources, then Geocode Address World Geocode Address World uses one of the other data sources. The best available candidate is returned.

These data sources (for both geographic and postal data) are used in the listed order:
  • TomTom data
  • GeoNames data
  • Pitney Bowes World data

Geocode Address Geocode Address World is partitioned into six databases based on continent. The geographic and postal data is integrated into each address dictionary to support both geographic geocoding and postal geocoding.

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • NorthAmerica
  • Oceana
  • SouthAmerica

See Geographic Geocoding for a description and examples of geographic geocoding. See Postal Geocoding for a description and examples of postal geocoding.

The postal source data can access the geographic content, which can be used to refine postal results. That is, geographic information (country name and administrative divisions) can be used to help evaluate close matches when the same postal code can be found in different countries.

Depending on the source of the postal data, the following geographic information is available to help refine postal results:

  • TomTom source: Country, StateProvince
  • GeoNames source: Country, StateProvince and City
  • Pitney Bowes World source: Country, StateProvince, County, City, and Locality
Note: The Geocode Address Geocode Address World data set contains data licensed from the GeoNames Project (http://www.geonames.org) provided under the Creative Commons Attribution License (“Attribution License”) located at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode. Your use of the GeoNames data (described in the Spectrum User Manual) is governed by the terms of the Attribution License, and any conflict between your agreement with PBSI and the Attribution License will be resolved in favor of the Attribution License solely as it relates to your use of the GeoNames data.