How Addresses are Searched

The following features and behavior exist when searching for addresses in Spectrum Spatial Analyst.
Wildcards End users can search using wildcards. Users can specify a single character wildcard “?” or a multiple character wildcard “*”.

Previously a dataset that was using the “UK Specific” search logic would not have supported the use of wildcards at all whereas the “generic” search logic would have always inserted a * into the users search phrase. Now, the user has control over whether to use wildcards or not.
Special Characters Users are able to search any special characters present in an address. For example, addresses or property numbers that includes a “\”, “/” or “~” character are searchable.
Apostrophes Searching for phrases that end with apostrophe and then “s” will always return results regardless of whether the user specifies the apostrophe. For example, a user can search for “king’s” or “kings” and they will always have results returned that include “king’s Cross Road” and “Kings Road”.
Number Ranges Number ranges are handled differently. For example, a user can search for any of the following string:
  1. “8-12 High Street”
  2. “8 High Street”
  3. “12 High Street”
  4. “8 12 High Street”

In all cases the results will include those where both 8 and 12 are present. A user searching “8 High Street” will see results 1,2 and 4 and similarly searches for “12 High Street” would return results 1,3 and 4. Searches for 10 High Street however would not return the above results.

UK Postcodes A user can specify a UK postcode with or without spaces. For example, searching “WC1H8EQ” or “WC1H 8EQ” will return results for “WC1H 8EQ”. Note however that data which is uploaded should always include a space between the inner and outer postcode. This ensures that a user can still search for either the inner or outer code. For reference the following are the rules that are implemented for searching postcodes without spaces where “A” represents an alphabetic character and “9” represents a numeric character:
  • Searching for “A99AA” will find post codes of the form “A9 9AA”
  • Searching for “A999AA” will find post codes of the form “A99 9AA”
  • Searching for “A9A9AA” will find post codes of the form “A9A 9AA”
  • Searching for “AA99AA” will find post codes of the form “AA9 9AA”
  • Searching for “AA999AA” will find post codes of the form “AA99 9AA”
  • Searching for “AA9A9AA” will find post codes of the form “AA9A 9AA”
AND Operations Where a user enters multiple phrases such as “Kings Cross Road” the search will return results that include all of the phrases. For example, “5 Kings Cross Road” and “Euston Road, Kings Cross” would be returned as they include all 3 phrases. Results that include only 1 or 2 of the phrases will not be returned. For example, “5 Kings Road” and “Holborn Mansions, Kings Cross” would not be returned.
Ordering of Results Result ordering is usually based on the underlying order of the data in the CSV. We therefore advise that customers to order their CSV in the order they wish to see addresses returned. For example, ordering by property number first, then street name, then by locality or postcode.
Brackets Some Spectrum Spatial Analyst addresses include terms within brackets. Often this used to denote the type of address each record is. For example, if all the addresses for underground stations include the term “(underground)” then the user must specifically search for “(underground)” and searching for “underground” without the brackets would not return these results.
Commas Commas inside the address are retained in the uploaded CSV but do not affect searching. A user can specify a search term without needing to include a comma. For example, searching for “Aberdeen Mansions” will find “Aberdeen Mansions, 5 High Street”. If however the user enters a comma then only results that include the comma will return. Searching for “Dundee Mansion, High Street” with a comma added will not return any results such as “Dundee Mansion High Street” which have no comma after the word “Mansion”.