Geocoding Options

This table lists the options that control how a location's coordinates are determined.

Parameter

Description

Option.OffsetFromCorner

Specifies the distance to offset the street end points in street-level matching. The distance is specified in the units you specify in the OffsetUnits option.This value is used to prevent addresses at street corners from being given the same geocode as the intersection. The Default offset is 7 meters.

Option.OffsetUnits

Specifies the unit of measurement for the street offset and corner offset options.

One of these:

• ft (Feet)

• mi (Miles)

• m (Meters)

• km (Kilometers)

The default value m (Meters).

Option.MaxCandidates

If you select this option, specify the maximum number of candidates to return using the MaxCandidates option.

Default value is 1.

Option.CoordinateSystem

A coordinate system is a reference system for the unique location of a point in space. Cartesian (planar) and Geodetic (geographical) coordinates are examples of reference systems based on Euclidean geometry. Spectrum Technology Platform supports systems recognized by the European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG).

Each country supports different coordinate systems. Depending on the country, you have one or more of these ptions:

Legal Values: EPSG:4326

EPSG:4326 Also known as the WGS84 coordinate system. Default

Option.OffsetFromStreet

Indicates the offset distance from the street segments to use in street-level geocoding. The distance is specified in the units you specify in the OffsetUnits option. The default value varies by country. For most countries, the default is 7 meters.

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.

Option.FallbackToPostal

Specifies whether to attempt to determine a postal code centroid when an address-level geocode cannot be determined. Candidate coordinates are based on postcodes when an address level geocode cannot be determined.

Y
Yes, determine a postal code centroid when an address-level centroid cannot be determined. Default.
N
No, do not determine a postal code centroid when an address-level centroid cannot be determined.

Legal Values: Y = Yes, N = No

Default: Y = Yes

Option.GeocodeLevel

Specifies how precisely you want to geocode addresses. One of these:

Street address
The geocoder attempts to geocode addresses to a street address, but some matches may end up at a less precise location such as a postal code centroid, intersection, or shape path.
Postal centroid
If postal code data is available, the geocoder attempts to geocode addresses to the most precise postal code it finds. The advantage of postal code centroid matching is the speed of the operation. The disadvantage of postal code matching is that the geocoder only examines the PostalCode field. If you use street address precision, the geocoder looks at both the street name and the PostalCode field and attempts to return street-level coordinates and optionally fall back to postal code coordinates.
Geographic centroid

The geocoder attempts to geocode addresses to the geographic centroid of a city or state.

Option.FallbackToGeographic

Specifies whether to attempt to return a city, county, or state centroid when an address-level geocode cannot be determined. The geocoder returns the most precise geographic centroid that it can based on the input. For example, if the input contains a valid city and state, a city centroid would be returned.

Geographic centroid geocodes are indicated by value in the LocationCode output field that begins with "G". For more information, see Geographic Centroid Location Codes.

Option.GNAFPointType

Specifies whether to return the parcel latitude/longitude or the street frontage latitude/longitude. This option is only available if you have the G-NAF database installed. This option only affects addresses matched to the G-NAF database.

One of these:
Parcel
In a street address match, return the exact location of the parcel. This is the standard G-NAF point which is the exact authoritative point returned by the G-NAF database. Default.
Street frontage
In a street address match, return the street frontage point for the parcel. The street frontage point is 12.5 metres from the front boundary of the parcel. Street frontage points are more suitable for routing applications.
Legal Values:
  • P = Return the exact parcel location
  • S = Return the street frontage location, useful for routing purpose

Default Value: P = Return the exact parcel location.

Option.Interpolation

Specifies whether to perform address point interpolation. This option only works if you have a point database installed. This option is available for selected countries only.

Address point interpolation uses point data to refine geocode results. By default, the geocoding process estimates the location of an address based on the street numbers at either end of street segment. For example, if a street segment runs from 100 Main St. to 200 Main St., then a request for 150 Main St. will return a location in the middle of the segment. With interpolation, the geocoder finds the position of 180 Main St. in the point data, and it is about two-thirds of the way down the street. Using this information, the geocoder can estimate the position of 150 Main St. based on 100 and 180 Main St. In this case, the geocoder estimates the location of the address slightly away from the center of the segment.

Y
Yes, perform address point interpolation.
N
No, do not perform address point interpolation.

Legal values: Y = Yes, N = No

Default value: N = No

Option.PreferPostalCodeOverCity

Specifies whether to return a close match when the postal code and street match exactly but the city does not. If you enable this option, the City input field is ignored if the postal code and street address are an exact match. If you do not enable this option, there may be situations where street address and postal code input are an exact match but the city name is not, and close matches are not returned. For example, without this option enabled, the below input address would return no close matches:

5 East St GLENROY VIC 3046

With this option enabled, this same input address would return this close match:

5 EAST ST HADFIELD VIC 3046

Legal Values: Y = Yes, N = No

Default: N = No

Option.Return8DecimalPlaceParcelLatLong

This option is available for Australia only.

Specifies whether to return the original latitude and longitude, precise up to eight digits after the decimal. This is the latitude/longitude that the candidate matched to in the G-NAF database. These are the original coordinates directly from the G-NAF data prior to truncation or rounding. This option is available only if you have the G-NAF database installed, and the database selected in the Database list on the Data tab includes the G-NAF database. This option only affects addresses matched to the G-NAF database.

Option.ReturnStreetAbbreviation

Controls whether candidates return standard street type abbreviations or fully spelled out street types. Select Return Street Type Abbreviation if you prefer candidates to return the abbreviated street type (for example, ST instead of STREET).

Y
AUS Return Street type abbreviation.
N
Default option.

Legal values: Y = Yes, N = No

Default value: N = No