Geocoding Options

Geocoding is the process of determining the latitude/longitude coordinates of a given address. Address coordinates are used as the basis for determining the tax jurisdictions for an address. Geocoding options control how Assign GeoTAX Info determines address latitude/longitude coordinates.

Note: As the Spectrum Enterprise Tax transitions its administrative tasks to a web-based Management Console, labels for the options may use different wording than what you see in Enterprise Designer. There is no difference in behavior.


Option Name	Description
Latitude/Longitude placement: These options can be set for the geocode result.
Offset	Indicates the offset distance in feet from the street center line. The offset distance is used in street-level geocoding to prevent the geocode from being in the middle of a street. It compensates for the fact that street-level geocoding returns a latitude and longitude point in the center of the street where the address is located. Since the building represented by an address is not on the street itself, you do not want the geocode for an address to be a point on the street. Instead, you want the geocode to represent the location of the building which sits next to the street. For example, an offset of 40 feet means that the geocode will represent a point 40 feet back from the center of the street. The distance is calculated perpendicular to the portion of the street segment for the address. Offset is also used to prevent addresses across the street from each other from being given the same point. The diagram below shows an offset point in relation to the original point. None No offset. (default) 20 Twenty feet offset from street centerline. 40 Forty feet offset from street centerline. (recommended) 60 Sixty feet offset from street centerline.
Squeeze	Specifies if the street end points should be "squeezed" when determining the geocode of an address in street-level matching. When Squeeze is enabled, both street and end points are moved closer to the center of the segment by 50 feet. The diagram below compares the end points of a street segment to the squeezed end points of a street segment.
Latitude/Longitude format	Indicates the desired format for the returned latitude/longitude. One of the following: Degrees, minutes, seconds For example, 90 00 00N180 00 00W. Decimal degrees Latitude/longitude in decimal degrees. (default) Include decimal point If not selected, the return value is similar to 90000000-180000000 or 090000000N180000000W. If selected, the return value is similar to 90.000000-180.000000 or 090.000000N180.000000W. (default) Use directional indicator (N,S,E,W) If selected, the return value is similar to 090000000N180000000W or 090.000000N180.000000. (default) Use signed latitude/longitude If selected, the return value is similar to 90000000-180000000 or 90.000000-180.000000
Expanded Geocoding options: These options enable additional geocoding functionality.
Address point interpolation	Address point interpolation uses a patented process that improves upon regular street segment interpolation by inserting point data into the interpolation process. Note: This feature is only for use with point-level geocoding. A match is first attempted using the loaded points data. If an exact point match is found in the points data, then searching ceases and the point match is returned. If an exact point match was not found, Spectrum Enterprise Tax attempts to find high and low boundary address points to use for address point interpolation.
Minimum geocode quality	Sets the minimum level of accuracy for the geocode result. Do not fallback Returns the centroid level requested and will not attempt to geocode to a higher level geographic centroid. (default) Street centroid If an input street address cannot be found using the street number and name, Spectrum Enterprise Tax searches the input ZIP Code or city/state for the closest match. If Spectrum Enterprise Tax is able to locate the street, it returns a geocode along the matched street segment rather than the geocode for the entered ZIP Code or ZIP + 4. When using street locator geocoding, if no exact matching house number is found, a match code of either `E029` (no matching range, single street segment found), or `E030` (no matching range, multiple street segment) returns. For example, if you enter Main St and there are both an E Main St and a W Main St within the input ZIP Code, then an `E030` returns and the location code returned is reflective of the input ZIP Code. The location code returned begins with a "`C`" when matched to a single street segment, indicated by `E029`. Spectrum Enterprise Tax does not change the street name on the output address. Geographic centroid If a definitive match cannot be made, the next higher level geographic centroid will be returned. Note: This feature should only be used for exception processing or research. It should not be used in a production process.
Boundary matching: These options can be set when matching to a boundary file such as SPD, IPD, PAY, Place and MCD or user-defined.
Distance units	Specifies the units in which to measure distance. One of the following: Feet Distances are measured in feet. (default) Meters Distances are measured in meters.
Tax district boundary	Specifies the buffer width to use for tax district boundary files. The tax district boundary files are the Special Purpose District (SPD) file, the Insurance Premium District (IPD) file, the Payroll Tax District (PAY) file, and Place and MCD files. The distance units used are specified in the Distance units field. For more information about buffers, see Buffering.
User-defined boundary	Specifies the buffer width to use for user-defined boundary files. Specify the distance in the units of measurement specified in the Distance units option. For information about buffers, see Buffering. The default buffer width that you specify here can be overridden on a record-by-record basis using the BufferWidth input field. Note: To use buffers, the user-defined boundary file must support buffers.