Address Guidelines for Australia

Enterprise Geocoding offers several AUS databases including the PSMA street G-NAF point databases. Contact your sales representative for more information about licensing these databases. Your Enterprise Geocoding database release notes identify the current database vintages.

Follow these guidelines to provide input that Geocode Address Global can successfully geocode. For additional information about 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:
    • Flat 2, 17 Jones St.
    • Apt 19, 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 G-NAF 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 City field. Note that all input addresses must contain either a city or a postal code. If the geocoder does not make a close match on the street in the specified suburb, it can make a close 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).