Matching Options
Matching options let you set match restrictions, fallback, and multiple match settings so that the matching can be as strict or relaxed as you need. The strictest matching conditions require an exact match on house number, street name, postal code and no fallback to postal code centroids. The geocoder looks for an exact street address match within the postal code in the input address. Relaxing the conditions broadens the area in which it searches for a match. For example, by relaxing the postal code, the geocoder searches for candidates outside the postal code but within the city of your input address.
Option Name |
Description |
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Keep multiple matches |
Specifies whether to return results when the address matches to multiple candidates in the database. If this option is not selected, an address that results in multiple candidates will fail to geocode. If you select this option, specify the maximum number of candidates to return next to the check box. Specify -1 (minus one) to return all possible candidates. |
Return ranges |
Specifies whether to return address range information. If you enable this option, the output field Ranges will be included in the output. A range is a series of addresses along a street segment. For example, 5400-5499 Main St. is an address range representing addresses in the 5400 block of Main St. A range may represent just odd or even addresses within a segment, or both odd and even addresses. A range may also represent a single building with multiple units, such as an apartment building. |
Maximum ranges per candidate |
If you choose to return ranges, this option specifies the maximum number of ranges to return for each candidate. Since the geocoder returns one candidate per segment, and since a segment may contain multiple ranges, this option allows you to see the other ranges in a candidate's segment. |
Maximum units per range |
If you choose to return ranges, this option specifies the maximum number of units (for example, apartments or suites) to return for each range. For example, if you were to geocode an office building at 65 Main St. containing four suites, there would be a maximum of four units returned for the building's range (65 Suite 1, 65 Suite 2, 65 Suite 3, and 65 Suite 4. If you were to specify a maximum number of units as 2, then only two units would be returned instead of all four. |
Close matches only |
Specifies whether to return only those geocoded results that are close match candidates. For example, if there are 10 candidates and two of them are close candidates, and you enable this option, only the two close matching candidates would be returned instead of all 10. To specify what is considered a close match, use the Close match criteria options. Address candidates are ranked according to how closely the input address matches these preferences. |
Match mode |
Specifies how to determine whether a candidate is a close match. One of the following:
|
All input |
Specifies whether candidates must match all non-blank input fields to be considered a close match. For example, if an input address contains a city and postal code, then candidates for this address must match the city and postal code to be considered a close match. |
House number |
Specifies whether candidates must match the house number to be considered a close match. The Africa and Middle East countries do not generally have house numbers in the data source. If you select this option you should also require an exact match on street name. This option does not significantly affect performance. It does, however, affect the type of match if the candidate address corresponds to a segment that does not contain any ranges. The type of match can also be affected when the house number range for a candidate does not contain the input house number. If you relax the house number, you should set the maximum ranges to be returned to a value higher than 0. |
Street |
Specifies whether candidates must match the street name to be considered a close match. If a close match is found, the geocoder attempts expanded street name manipulation, which looks for candidates with names that sound like the input address or that are spelled improperly. This slows down performance but increases the match rate . If the geocoding database is indexed, the performance impact is reduced. |
Locality |
Specifies whether candidates must match the locality (or equivalent) to be considered a close match. The meaning of Locality varies for different countries. If you do not require exact matches on locality, the geocoder searches on the street address matched to the particular postal code, and considers other localities that do not match the name, but do match the postal code. The majority of African and Middle East countries do not use locality or equivalent as part of an address. If a locality is matched it can contribute to a higher candidate ranking, but there is no penalty if locality is omitted or unmatched.
|
City |
Specifies whether candidates must match the city to be considered a close match. If you do not require exact matches on city, the geocoder searches on the street address matched to the particular postal code, and considers other cities that do not match the name, but do match the postal code. |
County |
Specifies whether candidates must match the county (or equivalent) to be considered a close match. The meaning of county varies for different countries. The majority of countries in the Middle East database (XM1) do not use a county or equivalent as part of an address.
|
State/Province |
Specifies whether candidates must match the state or province (or equivalent) to be considered a close match. The majority of African and Middle East countries do not use a state/province or equivalent as part of an address. If a state/province is matched it can contribute to a higher candidate ranking, but there is no penalty if state/province is omitted or unmatched.
|
Postal code |
Specifies whether candidates must match the postal code to be considered a close match. If you do not require exact match on postal codes, the geocoder searches a wider area for a match. While this results in slower performance, the match rate is higher because the request does not need to match exactly when it compares match candidates. Specifies whether candidates must match the postal code to be considered a close match. If you do not require exact match on postal codes, the geocoder searches a wider area for a match. While this results in slower performance, the match rate is higher because the request does not need to match exactly when it compares match candidates. The majority of African countries and Middle Eastern countries do not include postal code data, and therefore do not support postal centroid geocoding. |
Postal district |
Specifies whether the postal district portion of the postcode must match in order for the match to be considered a close match. UK postcodes are divided into two sections: the outward code, which is to the left of the space, and the inward code, which is to the right. The outward code represents the postal district. For example, in the postcode CB3 OHH, the postal district is CB3, which is Cambridge. |
Sort candidates using locale |
This is a Reverse geocoding option that applies to Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and any
other country that supports dual character sets (such as the Middle
East countries). Specifies whether candidates are sorted and returned based on the input language. That is, if the input was in Russian, the Russian character candidate is returned first followed by the English language candidate. This will override the dictionary order. |
You may want to use a balanced strategy between match rate and geographic precision. That is, you may want to geocode as many records as possible automatically, but at the same time want to minimize the number of weaker matches (false positives). For example, false positives can occur when the geocoder:
- finds a street that sounds like the input street.
- finds the same street in another city (if postal code match is not required).
- finds the street but with a different house number (if house number is not required).
The following settings may achieve a good balance between match rate and precision:
- Close matches only—Select this option.
- Close match criteria—Select House number and Street only.
- Postal centroid—Do not select this fallback level.