Single Line Input

Instead of entering each address element in separate fields, you may enter the entire address in the AddressLine1 input field.

For all countries except Japan, you can enter addresses in one or more of these single-line formats.

Note: Not all formats work may work for every country.

StreetAddress;PostalCode;City

StreetAddress;City;PostalCode

StreetAddress;City

StreetAddress;City;StateProvince;PostalCode

StreetAddress;Locality

StreetAddress;County;City

PostalCode;StreetAddress

PostalCode;StreetAddress;City

City;PostalCode;StreetAddress

Where:

  • StreetAddress can be house number and street name in either order (with street type immediately before or after the street name).
  • City is the town.
  • StateProvince is the postal abbreviation for the state or province.
  • PostalCode is the complete postcode.
Note: Not all of these address elements are used in every country.

Other single-line formats may also be acceptable for many countries.

The matching accuracy for single line input is comparable to that of structured address input. The performance of single line input addresses may be slightly slower than that of structured address input.

For best results, use delimiters (comma, semicolon, or colon) between each address element. For example,

26 Wellington Street East;Toronto;ON;M5E 1S2

If the input address is missing delimiters, spaces are recognized as separators and internal parsing rules identify address elements. In the example above, the address would still successfully geocode even if some or all of the delimiters were missing in the input.

Note: Non-delimited or partially-delimited single line addresses may take longer to geocode and may not produce the same results as delimited single line input. This is especially true for addresses with multi-word street names or cities. To optimize single line geocoding, use delimiters between address elements (particularly between street name and city).

Punctuation is ignored for geocoding purposes.

Guidelines for Single Line Input

  • For Canada, if you omit the postal code and country, the geocoder still geocodes the address based on street address, city, and province.
  • Punctuation is generally ignored, however you may improve results and performance by using separators (such as commas, semicolons) between different address elements.
  • The country is not required. Each country geocoder assumes that the address is in its country.
  • Firm information (placename, building name, or government building) is returned if available.