Input

GeocodeAddressUSA takes an address as input. To obtain the best performance with GeocodeAddressUSA and the most possible matches, your input address should be as complete as possible and free of misspellings and incomplete information. Input addresses should be as close to USPS standards as possible for the highest match rate. For information about USPS standards, see the USPS website http://www.usps.com.

Input addresses should contain a street address line and a lastline, or a single line with both address and lastline elements. This helps GeocodeAddressUSA accurately identify an area in which to search for a match candidate, based on the city, state, and ZIP Code. However, matching can still be performed in cases where only a city is input in the lastline rather than a full lastline containing the city, state and ZIP Code elements. For more information, see City-only Lastline Matching.

GeocodeAddressUSA also accepts a street address line with individual city, state, and ZIP Code lines instead of a last line. You should only use this type of input if you are confident that the input address is free of misspellings and incomplete information.

If you are using GeocodeAddressUSA for address standardization, input addresses must have at least a street name, and either a city and state or a ZIP Code to obtain a match. If you are using GeocodeAddressUSA to obtain geocoding information, input addresses only need to contain a ZIP + 4 Code to receive geocoding information.

This table summarizes the address formats and input address field(s) used for each address matching methodology.

Address Matching Methodology Address Format Notes
Standard Input Data. AddressLine1
Data. AddressLine2 Optional.
Data. LastLine or Data.City, Data.State, Data.PostalCode
Single-line Data. AddressLine1 Contains address elements in a single line. The minimum information required in the last line component is a ZIP Code or a valid city and state combination.
City-only Lastline Data. AddressLine1
Data. AddressLine2 Optional.
Data. LastLine or Data.City Contains only the city.
Multi-line The address elements are separated into multiple lines. Recommended only for use with free-form address data entry.
Important: The multi-line format cannot use the Data.LastLine field or the parsed last line element fields: Data.City, Data.State, or Data.PostalCode.
Data. AddressLine1
Data. AddressLine2
Data. AddressLine3
Data. AddressLine4 Optional.
Data. AddressLine5 Optional.
Data. AddressLine6 Optional.

This table provides information about the format and layout of GeocodeAddressUSA input.

GeocodeAddressUSA Input Data

Parameter Format Description

Data.AddressLine1

String

The first address line or a street intersection.

To specify a street intersection, use and, &, at, or @. For example, PEARL & 28th. GeocodeAddressUSA does not match intersections when processing in CASS mode.

You may enter an address range instead of an individual address number. For example, 10-12 FRONT ST. For additional information, see Address Range Matching.

Data.AddressLine2

String

The second address line or a street intersection.

To specify a street intersection, use and, &, at, or @. For example, PEARL & 28th. GeocodeAddressUSA does not match intersections when processing in CASS mode.

Data.AddressLine3

String

Third address line.

Data.AddressLine4

String

Fourth address line.

Data.AddressLine5

String

Fifth address line.

Data.AddressLine6

String

Sixth address line.

Data.City

String

The name of the municipality, such as a city or town.

Note: If there is any data in the input fields AddressLine3, AddressLine4, AddressLine5, or AddressLine6, GeocodeAddressUSA will ignore data in the City input field.

Data.FirmName

String

The name of a business. The geocoding process attempts to match the input firm name to the recognized firm names in the USPS data for a higher quality match. If the firm name is not in the USPS data, the firm name is ignored when matching and is returned with the output.

Data.InputKeyValue

String

 The input key value

Data.LastLine

String

The last line of an address containing the city, state, and ZIP Code.

Data.Latitude

String

Input latitude for matching using the Predictive Lastline feature. The required input format is an integer value; for example, 40018301. Decimal is not a valid input format.

For more information, see Predictive Lastline.

Data.Longitude

String

Input longitude for matching using the Predictive Lastline feature. The required input format is an integer value; for example: -105240976. Decimal is not a valid input format.

For more information, see Predictive Lastline.

Data.PostalCode

String

The 5-digit ZIP Code or the 9-digit ZIP + 4 code.

Note: If there is any data in the input fields AddressLine3, AddressLine4, AddressLine5, or AddressLine6, GeocodeAddressUSA will ignore data in the PostalCode input field.

Data.StateProvince

String

The name or abbreviation of the state.

Note: If there is any data in the input fields AddressLine3, AddressLine4, AddressLine5, or AddressLine6, GeocodeAddressUSA will ignore data in the StateProvince input field.