Address Collection - How to Make Sense of Your Data
Address collection can be an overwhelming task. It's important to collect clean information, whether you're collecting information for weddings, holiday cards, or even for parties.
Businesses can save time and money by using valid addresses. Invalid addresses can lead to delays in delivery of mail, additional fees, and missed opportunities. Address verification tools reduce the cost of these issues by ensuring that addresses are correct.
ArcGIS Solutions for State and Local Government
Address collection is crucial for local governments and is a crucial component of geospatial data management. Many governments are struggling to manage authoritative address repositories. They require simple workflows to aid in capturing the physical location of an address earlier in the process of developing it and standard map tools to inform decision makers and the general public about the quality of their addresses, as well as tools for sharing authoritative addresses with other agencies.
Local government employees employ Esri solutions to meet these needs. These pre-built applications and maps are customised to specific workflows. This makes it easy for local government staff of all sizes and levels of geospatial expertise, to adopt them.
According to Scott Oppmann, State and Local Government Solutions Team Director, Esri, solutions are classified into categories that cover "the most commonly-used requirements in the state and local governments." Click here to see the complete list of capabilities.
Address Field Inventory for example, includes an array of tasks to assist you in creating an address layer that is based on a list of verified sites collected via an online form. This feature layer can be used to create USNG coordinates and a related mailing address. Additionally, the solution also enables you to split a road at a defined point, calculate municipal boundaries, and update address characteristics in the master road name table.
Another example of an Esri solution is Managing Address Field Operations, designed to help address authority staff solicit addresses that are not correct or incomplete from internal and external stakeholders. Office staff can assign a task for their field employees to utilize the address crowdsourcing application on their mobile devices. They can then check the submitted addresses and capture any new addresses they find when they are out in the field. The information is automatically entered into the appropriate database tables to be processed before being published.
The solution permits office personnel to assign tasks by giving them the option of confirming existing set of address data with the specified accuracy level. This helps them identify errors, such as duplicates or mismatched addresses, in the database. This information can be transferred into the master address database to improve the data quality and make the database more accurate.
Reverse Geocode Geoprocessing Tool
Reverse geocoding can be used to interpret data regardless of whether you're trying to find the location of a company or just want to find out which areas are most profitable. Many mobile apps, like Uber or Lyft rely on reverse geocoding to turn raw GPS coordinates into something drivers can understand. Retail chains use reverse geocoding to better understand their customers' shopping habits. Urban planners can also link address information to the density of people to determine where to construct public facilities.
The Reverse Geocode tool turns point locations in a feature class into addresses by searching for the nearest intersection or address based on the distance of search. It can be used to reverse geocode individual points or multiple points in batches. Its output is organized and ready for integration into other tools and systems.
It supports standard formats and custom formats for address data. This includes the standard attributes X and Y from a Point Address feature, as well as the identifiers of POIs (Points of Interest). You can also specify what kind of geometries the location is. It could be an address location for routing (a street side location that can be used to direct traffic) or the parcel's centroid, or the rooftop of an address.
You can also use the tool to create composite locators by connecting together two or more locators. The resultant locator will be back on the ArcGIS World Geocoding service if it cannot find an address matching your own local information.
Reverse geocoding is an expensive process. This is particularly when you're working with a lot of coordinates. Esri offers a free usage limit of 200 thousand requests per month. If you exceed this, you will incur charges. Another option is to purchase a service that will convert coordinates into addresses in bulk for you.
As a final note it is crucial to confirm the accuracy of any address information you receive from customers through reverse geocoding. This can be done by using an address verification API more info that is CASS certified, such as PostGrid. This will ensure that the addresses you use for your direct mail campaigns will be delivered to your customers.
Data Assistant Add-in
The Data Assistant add-in contains a collection of tools that aid you in transferring data from one dataset to another that may have distinct data structure. These tools can be used to complete various tasks, such as concatenating several source fields into one target field, or splitting the string into multiple fields of target.
Installing the Data Assistant is required before you can use it. To do this you need to click the Start button then select Control Panel, and then select Add or Remove Programs. Uninstall Microsoft Data Assistant 1.0 by following the directions on screen.
Once the Data Assistant add-in is installed, you can configure it to create a source-target configuration files and load or replace data from the file. The Data Mapping tool also includes several methods that you can employ to convert data between various formats and handle special characters.
Read How to use Data Assistant Add-in to learn more about how it can help you in meeting your address collection needs. This guide explains how to utilize the Data Assistant add in and how to perform work flows to collect data from parcels and update the parcel data and populate the community layer.
Data Validation Tool
A reliable tool for verifying addresses is an effective tool that helps businesses to maintain accuracy in their data and operational efficiency. It ensures that the correct address is used to mail, invoices go to the right customer and marketing campaigns are delivered to their intended recipients. When choosing a validation software, choose one that offers seamless integration into business processes as well as extensive coverage across all countries. Be aware of the pricing structure and choose tools that have a high return on investment.
Whether taking addresses from handwritten forms at a retail store, during digital inputs at the checkout process online or through integrated data that is flowing into CRM systems, accurate initial data entry is vital to reducing shipping errors and returns, ultimately boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty. This is more than the simple postal code or ZIP lookup. It requires a thorough approach to address collection and validation.
The process starts with an advanced data parsing program that breaks down the address into its individual elements, including street name, city and postal code. Next, the tool matches these pieces to commercial databases to confirm their accuracy. Then, it standardizes the address in order to conform to global postal norms including the conversion of extended forms to standard abbreviations and capitalization.
The address is geocoded to verify its location. This is especially important for companies that are globally-based. It allows them to estimate shipping costs accurately and arrange transparency for customers, minimizing the possibility of costly delays due to inaccurate or insufficient data. A robust geocoding API can aid businesses in complying with international shipping laws and avoid customs issues.
Once the address has been verified, it is automatically updated in CRM systems and enterprise resource planning systems to ensure that every contact with a customer, shipment, or service delivery is based on accurate data. The precise information about addresses can also help streamline logistics processes by simplifying logistics, procurement and service delivery processes.