Address Collection - How to Make Sense of Your Data
Address collection may seem like an overwhelming task. Whether you're collecting addresses for weddings, parties, or holiday cards, it's essential to keep your data clean.
Businesses can save time and money by using valid addresses. Incorrect addresses can result in returned mail, additional fees and missed opportunities. Address verification tools reduce costs by ensuring addresses are entered correctly.
ArcGIS Solutions for State and Local Government
Address collection is crucial for local government. It is also an essential element in geospatial management. Many governments have difficulty managing authoritative address repositories. They require simple workflows to capture the physical location at an early stage in the process of developing an address, standard map products that inform decision makers and the public about the quality and accuracy of their addresses, and tools to share authoritative address with other agencies.
Local government employees employ Esri solutions to meet these requirements. These pre-built maps and applications are designed to work with specific workflows, making it simple for local governments of all sizes and levels of geospatial expertise to use them for better efficiency and greater insight.
Scott Oppmann is the State and Local Government Solutions Team Leader at Esri. According to the team leader, solutions are arranged in categories that reflect "the common needs of state and local government agencies." Click here for the complete list of capabilities.
For instance, a program called Maintaining an Authoritative Address Repository contains a series of tasks that allow you to create a layer of address from a list of verified proposed sites that you have collected via an online form or captured in the field using Address Field Inventory. The feature layers can be used to generate USNG coordinates and a mailing address. The solution allows you to split a street at a specified point, calculate municipal boundaries, and then update address attributes in the master road table.
Managing Address Field Operations is another Esri solution that can be used to assist address authority staff collect missing or inaccurate information from both internal and external stakeholders. It allows office staff assign tasks to their field employees to make use of the address crowdsourcing app on their mobile devices. They can then check the submitted addresses and capture any new addresses they find while out in the field. This information is automatically inserted into appropriate database tables to be processed before being published.
The solution also allows office staff to assign a task with the option to validate an existing set of address data using a specified accuracy threshold, which helps them identify mistakes, such as duplicates or duplicate addresses in the database. This information can be incorporated into the master database to improve the data quality and make it more accurate.
Reverse Geocode Geoprocessing Tool
Reverse geocoding is a method to make sense of data regardless of whether you're trying to locate the location of a company or just want to find out which area is the most profitable. Many mobile apps, such as Uber or Lyft rely on reverse geocoding to transform raw GPS coordinates into something drivers can understand. Retail chains use it to understand the habits of their customers when shopping, and urban planners can connect the address data to population density to decide which areas to build public facilities.
The Reverse Geocode tool turns point locations in a feature class into addresses by searching for the closest intersection or address based upon the distance of search. It can be used to reverse geocode individual points or multiple points in batches. Its output is well-structured and able to be integrated into other tools or systems.
It supports both custom and standard formats for address data, such as the standardized X, Y attribute values of a Point Address feature, as well as the IDs for POIs (Point of Interest). You can also specify the location type of the geometry that matches it. It could be either a routing location or a street side location that can be used for routing or the rooftop or parcel centroid of an address.
You can also make use of the tool to create composite locators by connecting together two or more locators. The resultant locator will fall back to the ArcGIS World Geocoding service if it fails to find an address with your own local information.
Reverse geocoding is a costly process. This is particularly relevant if you work with a large amount of coordinates. You'll have to keep within Esri's free usage limit, which is around 200 thousand monthly requests or you'll be charged. Another option is to purchase an application that converts coordinates into addresses in bulk for you.
In conclusion it is crucial to confirm the accuracy of any address information you get from customers using reverse geocoding. You can do this by using a CASS-certified address verification API like PostGrid. This will ensure that the addresses that you use in your direct mail campaigns are deliverable and can be delivered to your customers.
Data Assistant Add-in
The Data Assistant addin contains a set of tools that can aid you in moving data between datasets with different data structures. These tools can be used to perform various tasks, including concatenating multiple source fields into a single target field or splitting a string into several fields of target.
To use the Data Assistant add-in, you must first install it. Click Start then select Control Panel, then Add or remove programs. Then, search for Microsoft Data Assistant 1.0 and follow the instructions on screen to remove it.
Once the Data Assistant addin is installed, it can be configured to create the source/target configuration files. You can then load or replace data with this file. The Data Mapping tool includes a variety of ways to convert data to different formats and handling special characters.
To find out more about the Data Assistant add-in, including how it can help you with your address collection requirements, read How to make use of the Data Assistant add-in. This guide explains how to make use of the Data Assistant add in and how to carry out work flows to collect parcel data and update data on parcels and populate the community layer.
Data Validation Tool
A reliable address verification tool is a powerful tool that can help businesses to maintain accuracy in their data and operational efficiency. It ensures that the correct address is used for mailing and invoices go to the correct customer, and marketing campaigns are delivered to their intended recipients. When choosing a validation tool, look for one with broad coverage across all countries and seamless integrations into business processes. You should also consider pricing structures and select tools that have a high ROI.
If you are taking addresses from handwritten forms at a retail store, through digital inputs during the checkout process online or via integrated data flowing in from CRM systems, accurate initial data entry is essential in reducing shipping errors and returns, ultimately boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty. This is more than using a conventional postal code or ZIP code lookup, it involves a process of thorough address collection and verification.
This process begins with an advanced data parsing tool that breaks down an address into its various components, such as the street name, city name, and postal code. The tool then compares these parts with commercial databases to verify their accuracy. The tool then standardizes the address in order to conform to the global postal norms for example, converting extended forms to standardized abbreviations and capitalization.
The address is then geocoded in order to confirm its location. This is crucial for companies operating globally. It helps them calculate shipping costs accurately and to be transparent to customers. This decreases the chance of costly delays resulting from incorrect or insufficient data. A robust geocoding API can aid businesses in complying with international shipping laws and avoid issues with customs.
Once the address is verified, it's updated automatically in CRM 주소주라 systems and enterprise resource planning systems, ensuring that every contact with a customer or shipment delivery is based on accurate information. Precise address data can also streamline the logistical side of business by reducing the procurement and logistics processes, which saves time and money.